Photocatalytic Hydrogenation of Carbon Dioxide with High Selectivity to Methanol at Atmospheric Pressure

By Lu Wang, M. Ghoussoub, Hong Wang, Yue Shao, Wei Sun, A. A. Tountas, T. Wood, H. Li, J. Loh, Yuchan Dong and 10 more. Joule, 2018

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Summary The production of solar methanol, directly from gaseous CO 2 and H 2 , is important for the development of a sustainable energy economy. Despite growing activity in the field, very few photocatalysts exist that can efficiently and stably hydrogenate gaseous CO 2 to methanol at ambient pressure with high selectivity. Here, we report that a defect-laden indium oxide, In 2 O 3−x (OH) y , with a rod-like nanocrystal superstructure, can photocatalyze the hydrogenation of CO 2 to methanol with 50% selectivity under simulated solar irradiation. Notably, the solar methanol production of the In 2 O 3−x (OH) y nanocrystal superstructures can be stabilized at a rate of 0.06 mmol g cat −1 h −1 at atmospheric pressure. This is 120 times higher than that of the best-known photocatalysts. This discovery bodes well for the development of a low-pressure solar methanol process using CO 2 and renewable H 2 feedstocks.

Subfields: Catalysis, Materials Chemistry, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/b73650ca69a9b21f834fac4ae1ec5d1049b707f3