Spinel-structured nanocatalysts: New opportunities for CO₂ hydrogenation to value-added chemicals

The flexible framework and tunable composition of spinel-structured nanocatalysts afford distinctive surface properties for effective interaction with gas molecules. In CO₂ hydrogenation, spinel-structured nanocatalysts provide numerous advantages of accelerating CO₂ bond breaking and enhancing catalytic performance through active site formation and stabilization. In the last few years, major breakthroughs have been witnessed in the development of spinel-structured catalysts and their related nanocomposites for effective activation and hydrogenation of CO₂ into a variety of high-value chemicals such as light-olefins, α-olefins, DME and alcohols, aromatics, gasoline, diesel, and jet-range fuels. Therefore, this review provides a comprehensive overview of the latest research and advances in developing spinel-structured nanocatalysts for CO₂ hydrogenation, with emphasis on their properties, nanofabrication, key strategies for improving their performance, structure-performance relationship, and existing mechanistic evidence. In addition, various process parameters that drive the CO₂ hydrogenation reaction over spinel nanocatalysts are elucidated. Lastly, current underlying challenges and future direction in the development of high-performance spinel-based catalysts for CO₂ hydrogenation are presented.