CATCH-ITN: Establishing the structure-reactivity relations for copper-CATalyzed CO2 Hydrogenation

Capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air and using it to make synthetic fuel may be the ultimate solution to climate change. One of the most promising approaches is the direct reduction of CO2 to methanol. Although this reaction is catalyzed industrially by chemically prepared Cu/ZnO nanoparticles supported on Al2O3, it  still requires high pressures and high temperatures making this technology expensive. Improving the catalyst performance is now a crucial step to scale up this technology to alter CO2 levels in the atmosphere. However, the nature of the active sites and the reaction mechanism in the Cu/ZnO catalyst are still being debated and this lack of knowledge hampers a rational design strategy to develop more performant catalysts.