Chinese Journal of Catalysis ›› 2026, Vol. 85: 1-12.DOI: 10.1016/S1872-2067(26)65036-X

• Perspective •     Next Articles

Phase to performance: The advancing role of molybdenum carbides in reverse water-gas shift reaction

Fleur A. E. Bruekers, Tess I. van Benthem, Rajamohanan Sobhana Anju(), N. Raveendran Shiju()   

  1. Catalysis Engineering Group, Van ‘t Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1090GD Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • Received:2025-09-22 Accepted:2025-12-12 Online:2026-06-18 Published:2026-05-18
  • Contact: *E-mail: a.rajamohanansobhana@uva.nl (R. S. Anju),
    n.r.shiju@uva.nl (N. R. Shiju).
  • About author:Dr. Anju Rajamohanan Sobhana (University of Amsterdam), was a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2024-2025). Dr. Anju serves as Assistant Professor at NSS College, Ottapalam, India since 2018. She received her Ph.D. degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras (India) in 2015. She carried out postdoctoral research at Gulf University for Science and Technology (Kuwait), Texas A&M University at Qatar, and Qatar Energy Environment and Research Institute (Qatar). Her research interests mainly focus on organometallic chemistry, boron cluster chemistry, catalysis and CO2 valorisation. She has published 23 peer-reviewed research articles in leading international journals.
    Shiju Raveendran leads the Catalysis Engineering Group at the University of Amsterdam. He earned his Ph.D. in catalysis from the National Chemical Laboratory in Pune, India, and was subsequently awarded a prestigious Royal Society (UK) Postdoctoral Fellowship. He carried out postdoctoral research in both the United Kingdom and the United States before joining the University of Amsterdam as a faculty member. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Elsevier journal Sustainable Chemistry for Climate Action and is a member of the editorial boards of FlatChem and EnergyChem. His honors include the Amsterdam Science Park Ideas Prize and the J. N. Mukherjee Memorial Award from the Indian Chemical Society, recognizing his societally impactful contributions to Chemical Engineering and Green Chemistry. His research centres on the development of sustainable technologies by integrating reaction engineering, chemistry, and materials science.

    1Contributed equally to this work.

Abstract:

Molybdenum carbides (MoCx) are rapidly emerging as efficient catalysts for the reverse water-gas shift (RWGS) reaction, outperforming conventional transition metals with their unique blend of noble-metal-like reactivity, exceptional thermal stability, and scalability. Recent advances in 2024-2025 have unlocked the excellent potential of the previously underexplored α-MoC phase, revealing unprecedented activity, robust CO selectivity, and dynamic carbidic carbon participation in CO2 activation. These advances, alongside in situ mechanistic insights and phase-activity correlations, make a compelling case for MoCx as a transformative platform for RWGS and downstream CO2 valorization. Despite these advances, critical questions remain regarding the precise role of surface carbon vacancies, the long-term stability of MoCx under dynamic RWGS conditions, the scalability of synthesis methods, and the durability for industrial deployment. This perspective provides the first focused synthesis of recent developments, while outlining current challenges and future research opportunities needed to position MoCx catalysts at the forefront of circular carbon technologies and industrial CO2 utilization.

Key words: Molybdenum carbide, Reverse water-gas shift, CO2 utilization, Catalysis, CO2 hydrogenation