Sun-simulated-driven production of high-purity methanol from carbon dioxide

CO 2 conversion to CH 3 OH under mild conditions is of particular interest yet rather challenging. Both electro- and thermo-catalytic CO 2 reduction to CH 3 OH can only produce CH 3 OH in low concentration (typically mixed with water), requiring energy-intensive purification processes. Here we design a sun-simulated-driven tandem catalytic system comprising CO 2 electroreduction to syngas, and further photothermal conversion into high-purity CH 3 OH (volume fraction > 97%). We construct a self-supporting electrocatalyst featuring dual active sites of Ni single atoms and encapsulated Co nanoparticles, which could produce syngas with a constant H 2 :CO ratio of ~2 via solar-powered CO 2 electroreduction. The generated syngas is subsequently fed into the photothermal module, which could produce high-purity CH 3 OH under 1 sun-light irradiation, with a rate of 0.238 g CH3OH g cat –1 h –1 . This work demonstrates a feasible and sustainable route for directly converting CO 2 into high-purity CH 3 OH.