Catalyst stability is the most important parameter for industrial application. For example, Cu is a prestigious CO2 catalyst, but its durability is partially limited by the sintering of Cu nanoparticles under high temperature. Increasing the Cu-support interaction can enhance stability, which is typically realized on reducible metal oxides via in-situ migration to partial Cu coverage. In a recent work, Wei and Geoff developed an alternative method to expand the strong metal-support interaction to non-reducible silica supported Cu. Within the novel design, a two-dimensional multi-layer SiO2 support is prepared by topological exfoliation of CaSi2 with CuCl2 and thereafter calcination Cu nanoparticles, and thus Cu nanoparticles are encapsulated and confined between layers. The prepared Cu-SiO2 catalysts exhibit excellent activity and long-term stability in high-temperature CO2 hydrogenation reactions. See full story at Advanced Science.