Selective Methanol Synthesis from CO2 Hydrogenation over an In2O3/Co/C-N Catalyst

In this study, an In2O3/Co/C-N catalytic system was developed for selective methanol synthesis from CO2 hydrogenation. The selectivity of methanol reached 95.9% at a CO2 conversion of 4.6% at 225 °C, and it was still high (88.4%) at a CO2 conversion of 9.4% at 300 °C and 2 MPa. In contrast, the use of two single In2O3 and Co/C-N catalysts with the mechanical mixing method produced methane with a selectivity higher than 80%. Thus, the appropriate proximity of In2O3 and Co/C-N is crucial. More importantly, our developed In2O3/Co/C-N catalyst demonstrated a highly stable activity and methanol selectivity without deactivation of any catalyst within 50 h at 300 °C, showing a promising application in methanol synthesis from CO2 hydrogenation.