Catalytic CO ₂ Conversion and H ₂ /Syngas Production via Thermal, Plasma, and Membrane Processes

Abstract Three processes are covered in this work for the catalytic CO 2 conversion and H 2 /syngas production, namely thermal catalysis, plasma‐assisted catalysis, and membrane‐assisted catalysis. In the thermal catalysis, four catalyst modification strategies (size control, interface engineering, surface regulation, and oxygen species) are critically illustrated by referring the structure–performance relationships, reaction pathways (molecule activation and intermediate transformation), and catalyst deactivation (coking, sintering, and poisoning). In the plasma‐ and membrane‐assisted catalytic processes, the synergy of catalyst‐plasma and catalyst‐membrane is respectively discussed based on the reaction category (plasma‐assisted decomposition, plasma‐assisted reforming, and plasma‐assisted CO 2 reduction) and gas to be permeated (membranes for H 2 , O 2 , CO 2, and H 2 O separation). In summary, to ensure a highly efficient and stable catalytic process for CO 2 transformation into value‐added products and selective production of H 2 and syngas, a smart design of catalysts is necessary, which are expected to possess a small size and high dispersion, multifunctional metal–metal or metal–support interfaces, balanced surface acidity and basicity, abundant oxygen species, and fast oxygen mobility. To further enhance the conversion rate, yield, selectivity, catalyst robustness, energy efficiency, and operation cost‐effectiveness, a synergistic combination of catalysts with plasma or membrane would be favorable mainly due to the extra high‐energy species generated in plasma and high chemical gradient at both sides of membrane.