Different types of carbon-iron electro-catalysts have been prepared, exhaustively characterized, and tested as cathodes for the electro-catalytic reduction of CO₂ at atmospheric pressure. Commercial iron and graphite sheets have also been tested as cathodes for comparison.

All these electro-catalysts promoted the formation of C1 to C4 hydrocarbons showing a high selectivity to C3 hydrocarbons within this group of compounds. The iron particle size seems to be a very important parameter involved in the hydrocarbon formation. A linear correlation between mean iron particle sizes determined by XRD and the faradaic efficiency of the materials has been found: the smaller the iron particle size, the higher the faradaic efficiency. Iron nano-particles smaller than 4 nm increased significantly the formation of hydrocarbons.

已经制备了不同类型的碳-铁电催化剂，对其进行了详尽的表征，并作为大气压下电催化还原CO _2的阴极进行了测试。商用铁和石墨片也已作为阴极进行了测试，以进行比较。

所有这些电催化剂都促进了C1至C4烃的形成，显示出在这组化合物中对C3烃的高选择性。铁的粒径似乎是烃形成过程中非常重要的参数。已经发现，通过XRD确定的平均铁粒度与材料的法拉第效率之间存在线性关系：铁粒度越小，法拉第效率越高。小于4 nm的铁纳米颗粒显着增加了碳氢化合物的形成。