Current advances in bimetallic catalysts for carbon dioxide hydrogenation to methanol

The continuous growth in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions has caused serious environmental issues. To solve this problem, catalytic hydrogenation of CO2 to methanol by efficient catalysts supplies a promising method to reduce the greenhouse effect and produce value-added chemicals and fuels. The tunability provided by the formation of bimetallic compounds helps to develop catalysts with superior activity, selectivity, and stability to single metals. Thus, bimetallic catalysts have been arising as a promising candidate for methanol production recently, and a timely review is highly desired. Herein, we mainly discussed the advances of the bimetallic catalysts (Ni, Cu, and Pd-based bimetallic system) for methanol production in recent years and summarized the various strategies to enhance the catalytic activity, including regulating the active species, nanoparticles size, and catalysts support. Mechanistic insights for methanol production over the bimetallic catalysts are also included, which commonly proceed via the formate or CO pathway. This review summarizes progress in these aspects and provides ideas for the future design of bimetallic catalysts with high CO2 conversion and methanol selectivity.