We demonstrated that electrochemical CO2 reduction can allow us to separate the heavier stable isotope of carbon, 13C, in a significantly more cost-effective way and less energy-intensive than the currently applied process in the industry (cryogenic distillation). Building on this pioneering work, we are interested in unveiling the fundamental science behind this surprisingly high isotope effect and as well, exploring the opportunities to leverage the isotope separation capabilities to deploy CO2 reduction to synthesize isotope-labelled compounds. These compounds, e.g. 13C-urea are used in medical diagnosis, R&D sector, and have a limited supply and a very high cost, opening interesting opportunities for electrochemical separation methods.

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