助力“碳中和”！华东师大路勇教授课题组在二氧化碳加氢合成甲醇的研究中取得重要进展 ECNU researchers make progress in synthesizing methanol by carbon dioxide hydrogenation

The research team led by Professor Lu Yong of the School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of ECNU achieved a breakthrough in the research of efficient synthesis of methanol by carbon dioxide hydrogenation. The title of their work is “Oxygen-deficient metal oxides supported nano-intermetallic InNi₃C_0.5towards efficient CO₂hydrogenation to methanol”. It was published inScience Advances(2021, 7(32), eabi6012).

Meng Chao, a doctoral student, is the first author of the paper, and Professor Lu Yong and Associate Professor Zhao Guofeng of East China Normal University (ECNU) with Associate Professor Shi Xuerong of Shanghai University of Engineering and Technology are the paper’s co-correspondents. ECNU was granted the first completion unit.

Direct CO₂hydrogenation to methanol using renewable energy–generated hydrogen is attracting intensive attention, but qualifying catalysts represents a grand challenge.

For instance, the pure-/multi-metallic systems used for this task contain low catalytic activity. The researchers tailored a highly active and selective InNi₃C_0.5/ZrO₂catalyst by tuning the performance-relevant electronic metal-support interaction (EMSI), which is closely linked with the ZrO₂type–dependent oxygen deficiency. Highly oxygen-deficient monoclinic-ZrO₂support imparts high electron density to InNi₃C_0.5because of the considerably enhanced EMSI, thereby enabling InNi₃C_0.5/monoclinic-ZrO₂with an intrinsic activity three or two times as high as that of InNi₃C_0.5/amorphous-ZrO₂or InNi₃C_0.5/tetragonal-ZrO₂.

Moreover, the EMSI-governed catalysis observed in the InNi₃C_0.5/ZrO₂system is extendable to other oxygen-deficient metal oxides, in particular InNi₃C_0.5/Fe₃O₄, achieving 25.7% CO₂conversion with 90.2% methanol selectivity at 325^oC, 6.0 MPa, 36,000 ml g_cat⁻¹hour⁻¹, and H₂/CO₂= 10:1.

This affordable catalyst is stable for at least 500 hours and is also highly resistant to sulfur poisoning.

Paper Link: https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/7/32/eabi6012.full

Author: Xu Xincheng

Copy Editor: Joshua Mayfiled

Editor: Li Mengjie