Enhanced methanol production from photothermal CO₂ reduction via multilevel interface design

Photothermal CO₂ hydrogenation is a promising route to produce methanol as a sustainable liquid solar fuel. However, most existing catalysts require a combination of solar irradiation and additional heat input to achieve a satisfactory reaction rate. For the few that can be driven solely by light, their reaction rates are one order of magnitude lower. We develop a photothermal catalyst with multilevel interfaces that achieves improved methanol production from photothermal CO₂ hydrogenation without external heat. The catalyst features a layered structure comprising Cu/ZnO/Al₂O₃ (CZA) covered by oxidized carbon black (oCB), where the oCB/CZA interface promotes efficient heat generation and transfer, and the Cu/oxide interface contributes to high catalytic activity. Under a mild pressure of 8 bar, our oCB/CZA catalyst shows a methanol selectivity of 64.7% with a superior production rate of 4.91 mmol·g_cza −₁·h⁻¹, at least one order of magnitude higher than other photothermal catalysts solely driven by light. This work demonstrates a photothermal catalyst design strategy for liquid solar fuel production.