Discovery of a Ni-Ga catalyst for carbon dioxide reduction to methanol

The use of methanol as a fuel and chemical feedstock could become very important in the development of a more sustainable society if methanol could be efficiently obtained from the direct reduction of CO2 using solar-generated hydrogen. If hydrogen production is to be decentralized, small-scale CO2...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature chemistry 2014-04, Vol.6 (4), p.320-324
Main Authors: Studt, Felix, Sharafutdinov, Irek, Abild-Pedersen, Frank, Elkjær, Christian F, Hummelshøj, Jens S, Dahl, Søren, Chorkendorff, Ib, Nørskov, Jens K
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Carbon dioxide
Catalysis
Copper
Hydrogen
Intermetallic compounds
Metals
Photovoltaic cells
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Summary:The use of methanol as a fuel and chemical feedstock could become very important in the development of a more sustainable society if methanol could be efficiently obtained from the direct reduction of CO2 using solar-generated hydrogen. If hydrogen production is to be decentralized, small-scale CO2 reduction devices are required that operate at low pressures. Here, we report the discovery of a Ni-Ga catalyst that reduces CO2 to methanol at ambient pressure. The catalyst was identified through a descriptor-based analysis of the process and the use of computational methods to identify Ni-Ga intermetallic compounds as stable candidates with good activity. We synthesized and tested a series of catalysts and found that Ni5Ga3 is particularly active and selective. Comparison with conventional Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalysts revealed the same or better methanol synthesis activity, as well as considerably lower production of CO. We suggest that this is a first step towards the development of small-scale low-pressure devices for CO2 reduction to methanol.
ISSN:1755-4330
1755-4349
DOI:10.1038/nchem.1873