Oxygen vacancy promoted carbon dioxide activation over Cu/ZrO2 for CO2-to-methanol conversion†

Oxygen vacancy-enriched ultrafine tetragonal ZrO₂ was introduced as a support for copper nanoparticles to enhance the energy efficiency of CO₂ hydrogenation for methanol synthesis. In situ spectroscopic techniques confirmed the oxygen vacancy-mediated single-electron CO₂ activation. The resulting highly efficient catalyst yielded a methanol production rate of 550 mg g_cat⁻¹ h⁻¹ at 200 °C, outperforming state-of-the-art Cu-based catalysts.