Inside Back Cover: Selectivity of CO2 Reduction on Copper Electrodes: The Role of the Kinetics of Elementary Steps (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 9/2013)

CO2 electroreduction on copper is described by M. J. Janik, A. Asthagiri, and co-workers in their Communication on page 2459 ff. DFT calculations (incorporating the role of water solvation) of the activation barriers of elementary steps reveal a new path: Instead of proceeding through a CHO intermediate (which leads to methanol), methane formation goes through reduction of CO to COH, which eventually leads to CHx species that can produce both methane and ethylene, as observed experimentally.