The use of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) as a novel support for the CuO-ZnO-ZrO 2 -Al 2 O 3 /rGO (CZZA/rGO) catalyst in forming methanol by carbon dioxide hydrogenation has been studied herein. Furthermore, the CuO-ZnO-ZrO 2 -Al 2 O 3 (CZZA) catalyst was also prepared to compare catalytic performance. The catalysts were characterized using BET specific surface area, X-ray diffraction (XRD), H 2 -temperature-programmed reduction (H 2 -TPR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), H 2 -temperature-programmed desorption (H 2 -TPD) and CO 2 -temperature-programmed desorption (CO 2 -TPD) techniques and were evaluated by a fixed-bed reactor for methanol synthesis from the hydrogenation of carbon dioxide. The characterization results show that the surface area of the CZZA/rGO catalyst was 125.6 m 2 /g and the adsorption capacity of H 2 and CO 2 increased remarkably due to the support of rGO. Moreover, the CO 2 conversion over the CZZA/rGO catalyst was 14.7% under optimum reaction conditions (a temperature of 513 K, a pressure of 20 bar, and a space velocity of 6075 h −1 ). The methanol yield was 11.6%, while that of CZZA catalyst without rGO support was only 9.8%. The superior activity of the CZZA/rGO catalyst could be attributed to its large surface area and high H 2 and CO 2 adsorption capacity, which prevent the catalyst sintering and led to a higher CO 2 conversion and methanol selectivity.
