Fast‐Response Nickel‐Promoted Indium Oxide Catalysts for Carbon Dioxide Hydrogenation from Intermittent Solar Hydrogen

Abstract

Abstract Construction of a “net‐zero‐emission” system through CO 2 hydrogenation to methanol with solar energy is an eco‐friendly way to mitigate the greenhouse effect. Traditional CO 2 hydrogenation demands centralized mass production for cost reduction with mass water electrolysis for hydrogen supply. To achieve continuous reaction with intermittent and fluctuating flow of H 2 on a small‐scale for distributed application scenarios, modulating the catalyst interface environment and chemical adsorption capacity to adapt fluctuating reaction conditions is highly desired. This paper describes a distributed clean CO 2 utilization system in which the surface structure of catalysts is carefully regulated. The Ni catalyst with unsaturated electrons loaded on In 2 O 3 can reduce the dissociation energy of H 2 to overcome the slow response of intermittent H 2 supply, exhibiting a faster response (12 min) than bare oxide catalysts (42 min). Moreover, the introduction of Ni enhances the sensitivity of the catalyst to hydrogen, yielding a Ni/In 2 O 3 catalyst with a good performance at lower H 2 concentrations with a 15 times adaptability for wider hydrogen fluctuation range than In 2 O 3 , greatly reducing the negative impact of unstable H 2 supplies derived from renewable energies.