Emerging spinel ferrite catalysts for driving CO₂ hydrogenation to high-value chemicals

Spinel ferrite catalysts (SFCs) have demonstrated significant benefits as excellent materials for the sustainable production of high-value chemicals from CO₂ hydrogenation thanks to their flexible structure, tunable composition, and thermal stability. They can promote the activation, adsorption, and reactivity of CO₂ with high conversion efficiencies and stable performances. These have triggered the exponentially growing attention they have received in the last few years. Here, current developments in catalytic CO₂ hydrogenation to olefins, alcohols, aromatics, and other liquid hydrocarbons are discussed in terms of fabrication, modification strategies, and structure-performance relationships under various categories of SFCs, namely Fe₃O₄ (magnetite)-based, transition-metal-based, alkaline-earth metal-based, and Al-based SFCs. Furthermore, the review reveals key performance-influencing factors and provides insights into selectivity control mechanisms during the SFC-promoted CO₂ hydrogenation reaction. In the end, current underlying challenges and recommendations to motivate further design of more high-performance SFCs with long lifespans for CO₂ hydrogenation are provided.