Given the increasing level of CO2 in the atmosphere and the rapid exploitation of fossil fuels, it is favourable to incorporate the ambient air as a CO2 source with tandem conversion processes to realize the capture and utilization of CO2. This work presents a one-pot two-step process to convert CO2 into C1 products in water with an 80% yield, catalyzed by a novel Au(0) catalyst: Au nanoparticles supported by mesoporous silica nanobeads. In the presence of Lewis acids and the Au(0) catalyst, amine-captured CO2 is hydrogenated to methanol, formate, and formamide in the absence of organic solvents. The mechanistic study featuring isotope labelling suggests that methanol production in the catalytic process is due to the direct hydrogenation of formate. The Au(0) catalyst can be reused four times without purification or reactivation or loss of catalytic activity. Most importantly, this process can generate C1 products from various carbon sources including the direct use of ambient CO2, providing inspiration for utilizing direct air capture (DAC) to synthesize value-added products.

Au-catalyzed one-pot hydrogenation of CO2 from air in water

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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