Highly active catalyst for CO2 methanation derived from a metal organic framework templateElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Experimental section and more structure and performance characterization. See DOI: 10.1039/c7ta00958e

The conversion of CO 2 into chemicals of commercial interest is a rapidly expanding area of research. Here, we present a highly active and stable CO 2 methanation catalyst that is derived from a Ru-impregnated zirconium-based metal-organic framework (MOF) material. The Ru-doped MOF is transformed, under reaction conditions, into an active catalyst which yields CO 2 conversions of 96% and a CH 4 selectivity of 99%. We demonstrate that the final catalyst was composed of a mixture of Ru-nanoparticles supported on monoclinic and tetragonal ZrO 2 nanoparticles. Notably, such catalytic activity has only been achieved using the MOF templating strategy. Catalysts of the same composition were synthesized via different methods but were less active for CO 2 methanation. MOF-derived nanocatalysts activated under reaction conditions display remarkable activity when compared to several controls.