Progress achieved in the research on carbon dioxide hydrogenation to formic acid at Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics

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Progress achieved in the research on hydrogenation of carbon dioxide to produce formic acid at Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics. Author/Source: Date: 11-14-2017. Clicks: 16. Recently, Huang Yanqiang, a researcher at the Aerospace and New Materials Research Laboratory of the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yang Xiaofeng, an associate researcher, and Wang Xinkui, an associate professor at Dalian University of Technology, made new progress in the research on hydrogenation of carbon dioxide to produce formic acid; the relevant findings were published online in Nature Communications. The hydrogenation of CO2 to form formic acid is an atom-economical reaction; the resulting formic acid is an important chemical raw material and can also serve as an ideal liquid hydrogen storage material. The carbon atom in a CO2 molecule is in its highest oxidation state and has relatively inert chemical properties; effectively activating it is key to achieving efficient conversion of CO2. The team designed a *fuine-modified nanogold catalyst, which utilizes the nitrogen atom in the *fuine group to form weak interactions with CO2 to generate carbamate zwitterions; these then undergo hydrogenation on the nanogold catalyst to produce formic acid. Experimental results show that, unlike the hydrogenation pathway of bicarbonates using traditional heterogeneous catalysts, gaseous CO2 can be directly hydrogenated on alkali-modified gold catalysts to form formic acid; under reaction conditions of 90°C and 8.0 MPa, the conversion rate of formic acid can reach 14,470 (over 12 hours). *The weak interaction mode between the base and CO2 provides a new approach for the low-temperature activation of CO2. The research was funded by the **Key Research and Development Program, the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Pilot Program, and the National Natural Science Foundation**.