MOF-Derived In₂O₃-CeO₂ Composite Catalyst with Abundant Oxygen Vacancies for Photothermal CO₂ Reduction

The conversion of CO₂ into value-added chemicals using photothermal catalysis is an attractive approach for achieving carbon neutrality. However, the limited visible-light absorption and rapid charge carrier recombination of CeO₂ hinder its photothermal catalytic performance. Herein, a series of In₂O₃-modified CeO₂ (In₂O₃-CeO₂) are fabricated from a Ce-BTC metal-organic framework (MOF) precursor and applied to photothermal CO₂ hydrogenation. This approach not only effectively modulates the pore structure but also generates abundant oxygen vacancies (O_v). As a result, CO₂ adsorption and activation, charge separation and photothermal catalytic performance over In₂O₃-CeO₂ are significantly enhanced. The 3% In₂O₃-CeO₂ (3% denotes amounts of In) composite catalyst exhibits the optimal catalytic performance with a CO yield of 92.35 mmol·g^-1·h^-1 and a remarkable 100% selectivity. A mechanistic study reveals that the Ov-rich interface facilitates electron transfer and promotes CO₂ conversion through a CO₂ → *COOH → *CO reaction pathway. This work provides an effective strategy for designing high-efficiency MOF-derived composites to achieve carbon utilization.