Turning CO₂ into methane using renewable electricity is a promising alternative to biogas production. Electrochemistry can provide the solution. The CO₂ molecule, long considered as waste, can be transformed into many products at the electrode surface depending on the number of protons and electrons brought to it. The most common and simplest reactions involve only two electrons and two protons to form, for example, synthesis gas or formic acid. It is also possible to produce methane from CO₂, but the reaction to obtain it directly is more complex, involving eight electrons and eight protons.

This challenge was taken up by teams of researchers from the IRIG, the Department of Molecular Chemistry at the University of Grenoble Alpes, and the Indian association for the cultivation of science in Kolkata (India), who have just described a nickel-iron-based catalyst capable of carrying out this reaction. Directly inspired by the active site of enzymes, the catalysts of the living world, this unique compound has a selectivity comparable to the best metal-based materials described so far.