New black indium oxide—tandem photothermal CO2-H2 methanol selective catalyst
Zeshu Zhang, Chengliang Mao, Debora Meira, Paul N. Duchesne, Athanasios A. Tountas, Zhao Li, Chenyue Qiu, Sanli Tang, Rui Song, Xue Ding, Junchuan Sun, Jiangfan Yu, Jane Y. Howe, Wenguang Tu, Lu Wang, Geoffrey A. Ozin
Abstract
Abstract It has long been known that the thermal catalyst Cu/ZnO/Al 2 O 3 (CZA) can enable remarkable catalytic performance towards CO 2 hydrogenation for the reverse water-gas shift (RWGS) and methanol synthesis reactions. However, owing to the direct competition between these reactions, high pressure and high hydrogen concentration (≥75%) are required to shift the thermodynamic equilibrium towards methanol synthesis. Herein, a new black indium oxide with photothermal catalytic activity is successfully prepared, and it facilitates a tandem synthesis of methanol at a low hydrogen concentration (50%) and ambient pressure by directly using by-product CO as feedstock. The methanol selectivities achieve 33.24% and 49.23% at low and high hydrogen concentrations, respectively.