  The synthesis of solar methanol through direct CO2 hydrogenation using solar
energy is of great importance in advancing a sustainable energy economy. In
this study, non-precious NiZn intermetallic/ZnO catalyst is reported to
catalyze the hydrogenation of CO2 to methanol using sunlight irradiation
(1sun). The NiZn-ZnO interface is identified as the active site to stabilize
the key intermediates of HxCO*. At ambient pressure, the NiZn-ZnO catalyst
demonstrates a methanol production rate of 127.5 umol g-1h-1 from solar driven
CO2 hydrogenation, with a remarkable 100% selectivity towards methanol in the
total organic products. Notably, this production rate stands as the highest
record for photothermic CO2 hydrogenation to methanol in continuous-flow
reactors with sunlight as the only requisite energy input. This discovery not
only paves the way for the development of novel catalysts for CO2 hydrogenation
to methanol but also marks a significant stride towards a full solar-driven
chemical energy storage.
