The electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide to value-added chemical products has been heavily explored as a promising strategy for carbon utilization. However, the direct synthesis of multi-carbon (C₂₊) products suffers from undesired side reactions and relatively low selectivity. Electrochemically converting CO₂ to single-carbon products is much more effective and being commercially deployed. Recent studies have shown that CO can be electrochemically transformed further to C₂₊ at high reaction rates, high C₂₊ selectivity and inherently improved electrolyte stability, raising the prospect of a two-step pathway to transform CO₂. In this Perspective, the progress towards high-rate CO conversion is shown alongside mechanistic insights and device designs that can improve performance even further. A techno-economic analysis of the two-step conversion process and cradle-to-gate lifecycle assessment shows the economic feasibility and improved environmental impact of a high-volume commercial process generating acetic acid and ethylene compared to the current state of the art.

二氧化碳被电化学转化为高附加值化学产品已被广泛研究，这是一种有前途的碳利用策略。然而，多碳（C ₂₊）产物的直接合成遭受不希望的副反应和相对低的选择性的困扰。将CO ₂电化学转化为单碳产物更为有效，并已投入商业应用。最近的研究表明，CO可以在高反应速率，高C ₂₊选择性和固有地改善的电解质稳定性的条件下进一步电化学转化为C ₂₊，从而提高了两步法转化CO ₂的前景。。在此“透视图”中，显示了向高速率CO转化的进展以及可以进一步提高性能的机械原理和设备设计。对两步转化过程的技术经济分析和从摇篮到大门的生命周期评估显示，与现有技术相比，大规模生产乙酸和乙烯的商业化方法具有经济可行性并改善了环境影响。