Efficient methanol synthesis is considered a promising approach for carbon resource recycling. Hydrogenation of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) to methanol is thermodynamically favored at low temperatures, but the sluggish activation kinetics of CO 2 under such conditions lead to low catalytic activity. Higher temperatures can enhance reaction rates but also promote the reverse water-gas shift side reaction, which reduces methanol selectivity. This "seesaw" effect between activity and selectivity has long limited improvements in methanol yield.
In a recent study published in Chem , a research team led by Prof. SUN Jian and Prof. YU Jiafeng from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) proposed a novel design strategy that spatially decouples active sites through a strong metal-support interaction (SMSI)-driven overlayer structure, enabling efficient methanol synthesis from CO 2 .
By reconstructing the catalyst surface structure and modifying the adsorption and dissociation modes of reactants as well as the reaction pathway, the researchers achieved a space-time yield of 1.2 g·g cat -1 ·h -1 under reaction conditions of 300 ℃ and 3 MPa, which is about three times higher than that of conventional commercial Cu/Zn/Al catalysts.
The researchers found that this strategy could direct CO 2 to preferentially adsorb and activate on zirconia (ZrO 2 ), guiding the reaction toward methanol synthesis via the formate pathway. Unlike the conventional activation mode on Cu sites, which involved breaking the C=O bond before hydrogenation, this strategy employed an alternative mechanism, allowing hydrogenation to occur first on ZrO 2 sites, followed by C=O bond cleavage. This fundamental shift effectively suppresses the formation of CO by-product while retaining the high efficiency of Cu sites for H 2 dissociation.
"Our study may provide a new pathway to addressing the long-standing trade-off between activity and selectivity in methanol synthesis from CO 2 ," said Prof. SUN.
Chem
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Disentangling the activity-selectivitytrade-off in CO₂ hydrogenation to methanol
13-Mar-2026