In-situ synthesis of interfacial In-O-Mn lewis acid-base pairs for low-temperature photothermal CO2 hydrogenation to methanol

CO2 hydrogenation into methanol suffers from a huge obstacle of low methanol yield due to the leverage effect of CO2 conversion and methanol selectivity. Here, we report an In2O3-MnCO3 catalyst consisting of In2O3 covalently linked to MnCO3 for efficiently photothermal CO2 hydrogenation into methanol. Covalent linkage, the O atoms of In2O3 occupy the oxygen vacancies of MnCO3, enables the formation of In-O-Mn Lewis acid-base pairs at the In2O3-MnCO3 interface. Both light irradiations and heatings improve the electron excitations and transfers from In to O, promoting CO2 activation and methanol production. The In2O3-MnCO3 containing 30 mol.% In achieves 67.5% methanol selectivity and 13.5% CO2 conversion at 150 °C, 4.0 MPa, and 14400 mL·h−1·g−1 with a high stability for at least 500 h on stream. This study provides a serial In-Mn catalyst design and understanding of the molecular-level structure-mediated photothermal catalytic hydrogenation. A In2O3-MnCO3 catalyst is constructed to form interfacial In-O-Mn Lewis acid-base pairs. Both light irradiation and heating strengthen the In-O-Mn Lewis acid-base pairs and drives photothermal CO2 hydrogenation to methanol at low temperature.