In Situ Carbon-Confined MoSe 2 Catalyst with Heterojunction for Highly Selective CO 2 Hydrogenation to Methanol.

The synthesis of methanol from CO ₂ hydrogenation is an effective measure to deal with global climate change and an important route for the chemical fixation of CO ₂ . In this work, carbon-confined MoSe ₂ (MoSe ₂ @C) catalysts were prepared by in situ pyrolysis using glucose as a carbon source. The physico-chemical properties and catalytic performance of CO ₂ hydrogenation to yield methanol were compared with MoSe ₂ and MoSe ₂ /C. The results of the structure characterization showed MoSe ₂ displayed few layers and a small particle size. Owing to the synergistic effect of the Mo ₂ C-MoSe ₂ heterojunction and in situ carbon doping, MoSe ₂ @C with a suitable C/Mo mole ratio in the precursor showed excellent catalytic performance in the synthesis of methanol from CO ₂ hydrogenation. Under the optimal catalyst MoSe ₂ @C-55, the selectivity of methanol reached 93.7% at a 9.7% conversion of CO ₂ under optimized reaction conditions, and its catalytic performance was maintained without deactivation during a continuous reaction of 100 h. In situ diffuse infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy studies suggested that formate and CO were the key intermediates in CO ₂ hydrogenation to methanol.