CO₂Hydrogenation over Copper/ZnO Single‐Atom Catalysts: Water‐Promoted Transient Synthesis of Methanol

Abstract

The hydrogenation of CO₂ by renewable power-generated hydrogen offers a promising approach to a sustainable carbon cycle. However, the role of water during CO₂ hydrogenation is still under debate. Herein, we demonstrated that either too low or too high contents of water hampered the methanol synthesis over Cu/ZnO based catalysts. For Cu single atoms on ZnO supports, the optimal content of water was 0.11 vol. % under 30 bar (CO₂ : H₂ =1 : 3) at 170 °C. Upon the introduction of optimal-content water, the methanol selectivity immediately became 99.1 %, meanwhile the conversion of CO₂ underwent a volcano-type trend with the maximum of 4.9 %. According to mechanistic studies, water acted as a bridge between H atoms and CO₂ /intermediates, facilitating the transformation of COOH* and CH₂ O*. The enhanced activity induced the generation of more water to react with CO via water-gas shift reaction, resulting in the increase in methanol selectivity.