Spinel-structured nanocatalysts: New opportunities for CO2 hydrogenation to value-added chemicals

The flexible framework and tunable composition of spinel-structured nanocatalysts afford distinctive surface properties for effective interaction with gas molecules. In CO2 hydrogenation, spinel-structured nanocatalysts provide numerous advantages of accelerating CO2 bond breaking and enhancing catalytic performance through active site formation and stabilization. In the last few years, major breakthroughs have been witnessed in the development of spinel-structured catalysts and their related nanocomposites for effective activation and hydrogenation of CO2 into a variety of high-value chemicals such as light-olefins, α-olefins, DME and alcohols, aromatics, gasoline, diesel, and jet-range fuels. Therefore, this review provides a comprehensive overview of the latest research and advances in developing spinel-structured nanocatalysts for CO2 hydrogenation, with emphasis on their properties, nanofabrication, key strategies for improving their performance, structure-performance relationship, and existing mechanistic evidence. In addition, various process parameters that drive the CO2 hydrogenation reaction over spinel nanocatalysts are elucidated. Lastly, current underlying challenges and future direction in the development of high-performance spinel-based catalysts for CO2 hydrogenation are presented.