Hydrogenation of CO2 to form methanol utilizing green hydrogen is a promising route to realizing carbon neutrality. However, the development of catalyst with high activity and selectivity to methanol from the CO2 hydrogenation is still a challenge due to the chemical inertness of CO2 and its characteristics of multi-path conversion. Herein, a series of highly active carbon-confining molybdenum sulfide (MoS2@C) catalysts were prepared by the in-situ pyrolysis method. In comparison with the bulk MoS2 and MoS2/C, the stronger interaction between MoS2 and the carbon layer was clearly generated. Under the optimized reaction conditions, MoS2@C showed better catalytic performance and long-term stability. The MoS2@C catalyst could sustain around 32.4% conversion of CO2 with 94.8% selectivity of MeOH for at least 150 h.

In the processes of hydrogenation, the accurate control of product distribution is crucial to the high-value conversion of furfural. Herein, Ni3P catalysts were prepared by phase separation synthesis with porous hollow nanospheres and employed as catalysts for the hydrogenation of furfural. Over the Ni3P-400 catalyst, furfural could be transformed completely with 95.6% selectivity toward furfuryl alcohol under 120 °C and 1.6 MPa for 4 h. The deactivation of the Ni3P-400 catalyst was not observed during 8-run recycling tests. Moreover, using other carbonyl compounds derived from biomass as substrates, excellent catalytic performance was also obtained. Such exceptional features make the Ni3P-400 catalyst promising for industrial applications not only in hydrogenation of furfural but also in hydrogenation of other carbonyl substrates.