More than 95% (in volume) of all today's chemical products are manufactured through catalytic processes, making research into more efficient catalytic materials a thrilling and very dynamic research field. In this regard, Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) offer great opportunities for the rational design of new catalytic solids, as highlighted by the unprecedented number of publications appearing over the last decade. In this review, the recent advances in the application of MOFs in heterogeneous catalysis are discussed. MOFs with intrinsic thermo-catalytic activity, as hosts for the incorporation of metal nanoparticles, as precursors for the manufacture of composite catalysts and those active in photo and electrocatalytic processes are critically reviewed. The review is wrapped up with our personal view on future research directions.

We report the synthesis of a highly active and stable metal‐organic framework derived Ni‐based catalyst for the photothermal reduction of CO2 to CH4. Through the controlled pyrolysis of MOF‐74 (Ni), the nature of the carbonaceous species and therefore photothermal performance can be tuned. CH4 production rates of 488 mmol g−1 h−1 under UV‐visible‐IR irradiation are achieved when the catalyst is prepared under optimized conditions. No particle aggregation or significant loss of activity were observed after ten consecutive reaction cycles or more than 12 hours under continuous flow configuration. Finally, as a proof‐of‐concept, we performed an outdoor experiment under ambient solar irradiation, demonstrating the potential of our catalyst to reduce CO2 to CH4 using only solar energy.

Dry reforming of methane (DRM) involves the conversion of CO2 and CH4, the most important greenhouse gases, into syngas, a stoichiometric mixture of H2 and CO that can be further processed via Fischer–Tropsch chemistry into a wide variety of products. However, the devolvement of the coke resistant catalyst, especially at high pressures, is still hampering commercial applications. One of the relatively new approaches for the synthesis of metal nanoparticle based catalysts comprises the use of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) as catalyst precursors. In this work we have explored MOF-74/CPO-27 MOFs as precursors for the synthesis of Ni, Co and bimetallic Ni-Co metal nanoparticles. Our results show that the bimetallic system produced through pyrolysis of a Ni-Co@CMOF-74 precursor displays the best activity at moderate pressures, with stable performance during at least 10 h at 700 °C, 5 bar and 33 L·h−1·g−1.

The direct hydrogenation of CO 2 to higher alcohols has the potential to turn the main contributor of global warming into a valuable feedstock. However, for this technology to become attractive, more efficient and, especially, selective catalysts are required. Here we present a high throughput study on the influence of different promoters on the CO 2 hydrogenation performance of RhÀ SiO 2 catalysts. Fe and K promoters were found to improve ethanol selectivity at the expense of undesired CH 4 . The best-performing catalyst, with a composition 2 wt.% K, 20 wt.% Fe, and 5 wt.% Rh, displays an EtOH selectivity of 16 % at CO 2 conversion level of 18.4 % and CH 4 selectivity of 46 %. The combination of different characterization techniques and catalyst screening allowed us to unravel the role of each catalyst component in this complex reaction mechanism.

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