Interfacial catalysis of metal-oxide nanocatalysts in CO2 hydrogenation to value-added C1 chemicals

Abstract Catalytic CO 2 hydrogenation to valuable chemicals is an excellent approach to address the increasingly serious “greenhouse effect” caused by CO 2 emission generated from the utilizations of nonrenewable fossil energies, while such a process is limited by chemical inertia and thermal stability of the CO 2 molecule and complex hydrogenation routes. In this review, we first summarized the recent progresses of metal-oxide nanocatalysts considered as a category of the most promising catalysts in CO 2 hydrogenation to value-added C1 chemicals including CH 4 /CO, formic acid/formate, and methanol. These studies involve with different structural factors affecting the metal-oxide interfacial catalysis including the structures of both the metals (type, particle size, morphology/crystal plane, and bimetal alloy) and the supports (type, particle size, crystal phase, morphology/crystal plane, and composite) and their (strong) metal-support interactions so as to identify the key factor determining the reaction activity, product selectivity, and catalytic stability in CO 2 hydrogenation. Finally, we further discuss challenging coupling with future research opportunities for tunable interfacial catalysis of metal-oxide nanocatalysts in CO 2 conversion.