Artificial Carbon Neutrality Through Aprotic CO2 Splitting

Abstract Global climate change mitigation necessitates global efforts to reduce CO 2 emissions. Natural photosynthesis exemplifies an ingenious approach to carbon neutrality, converting CO 2 into O 2 and glucose through light and dark reactions. Inspired by the hydrogen‐involved processes in photosynthesis, an aprotic electrochemical strategy for CO 2 splitting into O 2 and carbon using lithium as a reducing mediator is presented. The designed electrochemical device features a gas cathode with a nanoscale Co catalyst and a metallic lithium anode. When CO 2 is introduced to the cathode, it undergoes a two‐step lithium‐related electrochemical reduction, converting it sequentially into Li 2 CO 3 and Li 2 O. Li 2 O is then oxidized to produce O 2 gas at the expense of renewable electrical energy. This process achieves an impressive O 2 yield exceeding 94.7%, significantly outperforming the efficiency of natural photosynthesis. Moreover, the O 2 yield can be further increased to 98.6% by employing an optimized RuCo catalyst. This study offers a new practical and controllable pathway to produce O 2 from CO 2 , strongly promoting the sustainable development of human society for realizing carbon neutrality as well as exploring and conquering nature.