Photocatalytic Hydrogenation of Carbon Dioxide with High Selectivity to Methanol at Atmospheric Pressure

The production of solar methanol, directly from gaseous CO2 and H2, is important for the development of a sustainable energy economy. Despite growing activity in the field, very few photocatalysts exist that can efficiently and stably hydrogenate gaseous CO2 to methanol at ambient pressure with high selectivity. Here, we report that a defect-laden indium oxide, In2O3−x(OH)y, with a rod-like nanocrystal superstructure, can photocatalyze the hydrogenation of CO2 to methanol with 50% selectivity under simulated solar irradiation. Notably, the solar methanol production of the In2O3−x(OH)y nanocrystal superstructures can be stabilized at a rate of 0.06 mmol gcat−1 h−1 at atmospheric pressure. This is 120 times higher than that of the best-known photocatalysts. This discovery bodes well for the development of a low-pressure solar methanol process using CO2 and renewable H2 feedstocks.