The future of chemistry is ‘electrifying.’ With the increasing availability of electrical energy from renewable sources, it will be possible in the future to drive many chemical processes using an electric current. This will facilitate the use of sustainable methods to manufacture products or fuels, replacing current processes based on fossil fuels. However, exactly how these electrocatalysts work is not yet fully understood. This could now all change with a new method developed by researchers from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) and the Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy (HI ERN).