Research Progress on the Design, Preparation and Properties of Catalysts for CO2 Hydrogenation to Alcohols

CO2, as one of the most important renewable C1 resource and oxygen resource, has the advantages of abundant reserves, low price, safe and non-toxic, etc. CO2 can be converted into high-value chemicals and fuels such as alcohols with the help of the heterogeneous thermal-catalytic technologies, which have attracted widespread attention and developed rapidly in both academic research and industrial applications.In particular, the design and preparation of the catalysts with satisfactory catalytic CO2 hydrogenation performance (high activity, selectivity and stability) at mild condition still remain a huge challenge.In recent years, the structural design of catalysts for CO2 hydrogenation to alcohols has been widely reported, in which great advances have been achieved in the metal-based and metal oxide-based catalysts.In this review, the basic reaction steps and reaction mechanism for the hydrogenation reaction of carbon dioxide to methanol, ethanol and other C2+ alcohols are overviewed in details.The structural characteristic, catalytic performance and structure-activity relationship are analyzed and categorized from the perspective of metals, metal oxide, metal carbide and metal sulfide components.Finally, the challenges and potential research directions of CO2 hydrogenation to alcohols are elucidated and prospected in the future.