Sun-simulated-driven production of high-purity methanol from carbon dioxide.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 39833142.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-56101-8 and PMC identifier 11747295.
- Licence recorded as CC BY-NC-ND.
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Abstract
CO<sub>2</sub> conversion to CH<sub>3</sub>OH under mild conditions is of particular interest yet rather challenging. Both electro- and thermo-catalytic CO<sub>2</sub> reduction to CH<sub>3</sub>OH can only produce CH<sub>3</sub>OH in low concentration (typically mixed with water), requiring energy-intensive purification processes. Here we design a sun-simulated-driven tandem catalytic system comprising CO<sub>2</sub> electroreduction to syngas, and further photothermal conversion into high-purity CH<sub>3</sub>OH (volume fraction > 97%). We construct a self-supporting electrocatalyst featuring dual active sites of Ni single atoms and encapsulated Co nanoparticles, which could produce syngas with a constant H<sub>2</sub>:CO ratio of ~2 via solar-powered CO<sub>2</sub> electroreduction. The generated syngas is subsequently fed into the photothermal module, which could produce high-purity CH<sub>3</sub>OH under 1 sun-light irradiation, with a rate of 0.238 g<sub>CH3OH</sub> g<sub>cat</sub><sup>-1</sup> h<sup>-1</sup>. This work demonstrates a feasible and sustainable route for directly converting CO<sub>2</sub> into high-purity CH<sub>3</sub>OH.