Carbon‐Modified CuO/ZnO Catalyst with High Oxygen Vacancy for CO2 Hydrogenation to Methanol

CO 2 hydrogenation to methanol is a prospective approach to alleviate both global warming and energy problems. CuO/ZnO is proven to be an efficient catalyst, in which ZnO carriers prepared by different methods directly affect the catalytic activity. Herein, a novel method is used to apply a zeolite imidazolate framework‐8 (ZIF‐8)‐derived ZnO to the carrier of copper‐based catalyst. In the process of thermal transformation from ZIF‐8 to ZnO, the carrier ZnO‐400 is specially modified by carbon inherited from ZIF‐8, and the corresponding CuO/ZnO‐400 catalyst still has special carbon modification, which is confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Raman spectroscopy. Meanwhile, the pyrolysis temperature of ZIF‐8 affects the surface oxygen defects of ZnO and the CuO/ZnO‐400 catalyst has a large oxygen vacancy concentration, which is proven by X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and XPS. Consequently, the CuO/ZnO‐400 catalyst achieves the best CO 2 conversion and methanol selectivity due to more oxygen vacancies and carbon modification.