Synergistic effect of cobalt and indium on tuning Cu microstructure for enhanced CO2 hydrogenation to ethanol

This study developed a ternary CuCoIn/Al 2 O 3 catalyst for the direct hydrogenation of CO 2 to ethanol. The incorporation of Co and In species created a synergistic effect that enhanced CO 2 interaction and activation. This synergy also modulated the electronic state of surface Cu atoms, increasing the proportion of Cu + species, which promoted the non-dissociative adsorption of CO and the formation of *HCOO intermediates. These changes significantly enhanced C C coupling, leading to the generation of key ethoxy intermediates. The optimized catalyst, with a Co/(Co + Cu) ratio of 0.08 and 1.5 wt% In loading, achieved over 90% ethanol selectivity among total alcohols at 260 °C, along with a relatively high ethanol production rate of 33.0 g EtOH kg cat −1  h −1 . This work presented an effective strategy for designing high-performance, non-precious metal catalysts for selective CO 2 -to-ethanol conversion.