One of the main challenges of the 21st century is to reduce CO2 emissions in the atmosphere. To overcome this problem, fossil fuels can be replaced by renewable energy sources. Methanol is one of the sustainable key compounds that can be directly used as a low-density fuel or as a feedstock for valuable chemicals. To date, efforts to perform CO2 hydrogenation to methanol under mild reaction conditions have not achieved high enough selectivity at reasonable conversion values. Heterogeneous catalysts are robust and easy to recover but usually yield low selectivity due to the difficult control of the active sites. In contrast, homogeneous catalysts feature well-defined active sites amenable to logical optimization and selectivity design, but inefficient catalyst recovery and decomposition are huge shortcomings for industrial implementation. A promising strategy to combine benefits from both approaches is to immobilize well-defined catalysts on solid porous materials, such as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs).
TUNEMOF’s goal is the preparation of functionalized MOFs bearing earth-abundant metals (Mn and Cu) as catalysts for CO2 hydrogenation to methanol. In addition, TUNEMOF aims to gain insight into the key steps of the catalytic cycle, identifying the potential key intermediates and processes of catalyst deactivation.