Congratulations to Jari and Jennifer for their paper in Chem. Mater.!

Understanding the impact of composition and interfaces between metals and oxides is a goal of interest for many chemical reactions. Herein, we propose the synthesis of well-defined Cu-MOx core–shell nanoparticles to investigate and compare the behavior of Cu-ZrOx, Cu-MgOx, and Cu-TiOx. We find that the cathodic stability of the formed interfaces is determined by the operating potential and phase stability of the pure oxides and by their chemical interaction with copper. We learn that the interplay between these factors shapes the restructuring pathways for Cu-MOx catalysts and eventually drives their selectivity in the CO₂RR. The developed understanding can be applied beyond this reaction, and the developed nanomaterials can be used beyond catalysis.

Read more here!