Czech researchers from Charles University, Prague, led by Pavla Eliášová, have developed an advanced photocathode that helps convert the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into pure ethanol using sunlight. The new technology solves a long-standing problem of material degradation in water, achieves record conversion efficiency, and opens the way toward sustainable production of green fuels.Converting carbon dioxide (CO2) into useful fuels using solar energy represents the holy grail of modern green chemistry. The device enabling this conversion is called a solar reactor. Its key element is a photocathode: a material that absorbs light and enables the chemical reaction. Cuprous oxide long appeared to be an ideal material because it is inexpensive, readily available, and excels at capturing solar rays. In practice, however, it faced a fundamental obstacle: in an aqueous environment under light, it transforms and degrades extremely rapidly—much like iron undergoing swift corrosion—and loses its functionality within just tens of minutes.The team from the Chemistry Section of the Faculty of Science, CU, led by Pavla Eliášová, in collaboration with Tomáš Hrbek from the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, CU, resolved this issue by creating a unique "nano-sandwich". The scientists combined cuprous oxide with advanced two-dimensional materials called MXenes and, through precisely controlled heating, created an ultrathin layer of titanium dioxide on their surface. MXene modified in this way can rapidly drain electric charge from the cuprous oxide, thereby slowing down its decomposition. At the same time, it uses the charge further to convert carbon dioxide into liquid fuel."Surface-engineered MXene combined with cuprous oxide allowed us to unite the best of both materials. The copper base enables maximum utilization of light energy, while the conductive MXene framework ensures that the material remains active even after many hours of operation," explains research team leader Pavla Eliášová from the Chemistry Section of the Faculty of Science, Charles University.In laboratory tests, the new photocathode achieved a record solar-energy-to-ethanol conversion efficiency of 2,74 %. A crucial improvement is the formation of only a single product. While other systems often produce a mixture of byproducts, the material designed by the research team produces pure ethanol as its sole liquid product, which significantly simplifies its potential industrial application."This is a major step forward for us. On our laboratory scale, the system works very well and produces ethanol over many hours. In the next step, we want to further reinforce the stability of the entire photocathode and begin testing on a larger scale and under real daylight conditions," adds physical chemist Pavla Eliášová.The research was conducted within the international European project DESIRED (Horizon Europe), with support from the Charles University Research Centre (UNCE) and the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science program.<blockquote><h4>Article</h4><h4><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aenm.71469">Surface-Engineered Ti3C2Tx MXene/Cu2O Photocathodes for Highly Selective Photoelectrocatalytic CO2 Reduction to Ethanol</a></h4>Luis A. M. Carrascosa, Magdaléna Linková, Monika Remzová, Tomáš Hrbek, Pavla EliášováAdv. Energy Mater., 2026, 16, e71469<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.71469">https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.71469</a><h6>licenced under <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC-BY 4.0</a></h6></blockquote><h4>Abstract</h4>Cu2O is an inexpensive p-type semiconductor that promotes the photoelectrocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction (PEC CO2RR). While its low bandgap enables photoexcitation by visible light, long-term stability remains limited due to quick charge recombination and photocorrosion. Here, we enhanced charge separation and extraction by combining Cu2O with surface-engineered MXenes. In this novel architecture, TiO2 grows in situ on the surface of Ti3C2Tx and serves as a charge-transport layer, forming a junction with Cu2O. On the other side, the outer TiO2 surface exposed to the CO2-saturated electrolyte offers catalytically active sites for CO2 reduction. Acting as a central layer, the MXene conductive backbone provides an electronically continuous pathway for electron transport. In PEC CO2RR, the photocathode containing 50 wt.% of MXene and a balanced amount of TiO2 on the Ti3C2 surface outperformed the best Cu/CuxO-based systems operating in non-organic electrolytes reported in the literature. The FTO/Cu2O/ml-Ti3C2Tx-350-N2 photocathode reached 8.4&nbsp;µmol&nbsp;cm−2 h−1 ethanol production rate and 2.74% solar-to-ethanol efficiency after 2&nbsp;h. Moreover, pairing TiO2-MXene with Cu2O significantly stabilized the photocathode, which maintained 76% of the ethanol production rate after 6 h. Overall, our results establish surface-engineered Cu2O/TiO2-MXene heterostructures as a solid platform for highly selective, visible-light-driven ethanol production with significantly improved operational stability.

Researchers from Charles University, Prague, Have Developed a New Photocathode for Efficient Conversion of CO2 into Ethanol

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Autumn has already turned the leaves into vibrant shades, and with the end of the year approaching, we would like to thank you - before the first snowflakes arrive - for your trust, cooperation, and continued interest in our products and services.As a long-standing distributor of Thermo Scientific Finnpipette products, we know that the accuracy and reliability of laboratory results often begin with seemingly small details. 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Waters ACQUITY UPC2 System

Waters ACQUITY UPC2 System allows the manipulation of fluids with a wide range of polarities and enables scientists to separate, analyze, and understand compounds that have challenged all other LC and GC technologies.

<div><div><h4>The ease of reversed-phase meets the power of normal-phase</h4></div></div><div><div>In reversed-phase chromatography, polar compounds are eluted first, causing routine and complex separation challenges. With convergence chromatography, however, polar compounds are retained and eluted last - providing the separation power of normal-phase liquid chromatography (LC) with the ease-of-use of reversed-phase LC.<div><div><div><div>Using green and non-toxic compressed liquid CO₂ as a primary mobile phase, the ACQUITY UPC2® System delivers the ability to precisely vary mobile phase strength, pressure, and temperature. The ability to fine-tune the resolving power and selectivity of the system enables better control over the retention of analytes for separating, detecting, and quantifying structural analogs, isomers, and enantiomeric and diastereomeric mixtures – all compounds that are often a challenge to separate by any other means.<ul><li>The chromatographic principles and selectivity of normal-phase LC</li><li>The ease of use and method development simplicity of reversed-phase LC</li><li>The use of gradients across the widest polarity range</li><li>Chiral and achiral separations in one system, with unequaled speed and confidence</li></ul></div></div><div><div><h5>Recommended Use</h5>To solve routine and complex separations challenges that require unparalleled selectivity and ease-of-use.<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/Waters_ACQUITY_UPC_2_System_43f37e1130.jpg" alt="Waters ACQUITY UPC2 System: ACQUITY UPC2 System gives scientists the ability to precisely vary mobile phase strength, pressure, and temperature." srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_Waters_ACQUITY_UPC_2_System_43f37e1130.jpg 234w," sizes="100vw" width="1024" height="682"><div><div><h3>Bringing ease of use to normal-phase LC</h3>By providing the ability to precisely vary mobile phase strength, pressure, and temperature, the Waters ACQUITY UPC2 System gives scientists the power to better control the retention of analytes for separating, detecting, and quantifying structural analogs, isomers, and enantiomeric and diastereomeric mixtures.<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/Waters_ACQUITY_UPC_2_System_6_c2a18a19b3.jpg" alt="Waters ACQUITY UPC2 System: Separation of propranolol and hydroxy metabolites. Note that each hydroxy metabolite has an R and S form." srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_Waters_ACQUITY_UPC_2_System_6_c2a18a19b3.jpg 235w," sizes="100vw" width="1024" height="681"></div></div><div><div><h3>The world's first convergence chromatography system</h3>Unique in its capabilities, the pioneering ACQUITY UPC2 System delivers what the rest of the industry never could – a system, based on the principles of normal-phase LC, with the ease-of-use of reversed-phase LC, and purposefully built for analytical performance, placing convergence chromatography atop the list of separations tools in the kit of all analytical chemists.<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/Waters_ACQUITY_UPC_2_System_7_2efdc13cd5.jpg" alt="Waters ACQUITY UPC2 System: UPC2 analysis can be 30x faster and use 75x less solvent per run - all with 100x lower cost per analysis." srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_Waters_ACQUITY_UPC_2_System_7_2efdc13cd5.jpg 182w," sizes="100vw" width="1024" height="879"></div></div><div><div><h3>Unparalleled resolving power and selectivity</h3>With its separation potential for a far broader chemical spectrum of applications than that of reversed-phase LC-based instrumentation, the ACQUITY UPC2 System leverages convergence chromatography to enable superior performance, using inexpensive, compressed CO₂ as a non-toxic mobile-phase.<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/Waters_ACQUITY_UPC_2_System_8_655b0ad41e.jpg" alt="Waters ACQUITY UPC2 System: The ACQUITY UPC2-MS FFA analysis provides a simple and fast method with a significant reduction in analysis time compared to alternative techniques such as GC-MS, which requires FAME derivatization." srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_Waters_ACQUITY_UPC_2_System_8_655b0ad41e.jpg 232w," sizes="100vw" width="1024" height="691"></div></div><div><div><h3>Retention mechanisms and orthogonality to RPLC</h3>Harnessing what's now known as convergence chromatography, an evolution of the traditional SFC technique, the ACQUITY UPC2 System has the power to create selective separations of structurally similar chiral and achiral compounds.The miscibility of CO₂ with a wide range of polar and non-polar organic solvents has made the liquid CO₂-based mobile phase versatile enough to separate a much wider range of compounds than reversed-phase LC, especially for mixtures containing polar compounds. Not only can CO₂-based solvents be used with both polar and non-polar stationary phases, but chromatography can be influenced by modulating solvent gradients with a much wider choice of columns using the same mass spectrometry-compatible co-solvents.Being orthogonal to reversed-phase LC, UPC2 separations often show an inverse order of elution among groups of analytes. In combination with various detection techniques, this orthogonality is valuable for confirming analyte identity in complex matrices.<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/Waters_ACQUITY_UPC_2_System_9_dc03654861.jpg" alt="Waters ACQUITY UPC2 System: With ACQUITY UPC2 System, orthogonality to the most commonly used high/low pH approach in reversed-phase can be clearly seen as a useful addition to the separation challenges faced by synthesis analysis." srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_Waters_ACQUITY_UPC_2_System_9_dc03654861.jpg 200w," sizes="100vw" width="1024" height="801"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/Waters_ACQUITY_UPC_2_System_2_454af0c6e1.jpg" alt="Waters ACQUITY UPC2 System: ACQUITY UPC2 System with ACQUITY QDa Detector." srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_Waters_ACQUITY_UPC_2_System_2_454af0c6e1.jpg 234w," sizes="100vw" width="1024" height="682"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/Waters_ACQUITY_UPC_2_System_3_72c8ad4d63.jpg" alt="Waters ACQUITY UPC2 System: ACQUITY UPC2 System with Xevo TQ-XS." srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_Waters_ACQUITY_UPC_2_System_3_72c8ad4d63.jpg 234w," sizes="100vw" width="1024" height="682"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/Waters_ACQUITY_UPC_2_System_4_e2672f200d.jpg" alt="Waters ACQUITY UPC2 System: ACQUITY UPC2 System with ACQUITY UPLC ELS, ACQUITY UPC2 PDA, and ACQUITY QDa Detectors." srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_Waters_ACQUITY_UPC_2_System_4_e2672f200d.jpg 234w," sizes="100vw" width="1024" height="682"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/Waters_ACQUITY_UPC_2_System_5_18c501a159.jpg" alt="Waters ACQUITY UPC2 System: ACQUITY UPC2 System with Xevo G2-XS QTof." srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_Waters_ACQUITY_UPC_2_System_5_18c501a159.jpg 234w," sizes="100vw" width="1024" height="682"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>

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Equip Your Laboratory for Autumn at a Better Price

Researchers from Charles University, Prague, Have Developed a New Photocathode for Efficient Conversion of CO2 into Ethanol

News from LabRulezLCMS Library - Week 42, 2026