Recent advancements and perspectives of the CO2 hydrogenation reaction

Abstract

Owing to excessive carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, which cause severe environmental issues, the conversion and utilization of CO2 have received increasing attention. Owing to its high efficiency and potential for industrial applications, converting CO2 into high value-added chemicals via thermocatalytic hydrogenation is a highly effective route among electrocatalytic, photocatalytic, and thermocatalytic CO2 conversion. In the past two decades, our group has developed novel CO2 hydrogenation technologies to produce chemicals such as aliphatic hydrocarbons, methanol (MeOH), ethanol, and aromatics (especially para-xylene, PX). In this review, we summarize the strategy for CO2 hydrogenation conversion and the novel rational design of catalysts, including low-temperature MeOH synthesis and capsule catalysts for tandem catalysis. We also discuss the challenges and opportunities of CO2 hydrogenation, such as CO2 capture, H2 prices, and carbon taxes. We hope to inspire new ideas for CO2 hydrogenation to produce high value-added chemicals through the design of catalysts and the exploration of reaction paths.

Keywords

• CO2 hydrogenation
• Novel reaction pathways
• Catalyst design