## 1 Introduction  
Due to the growing concern about climate change and its consequences, most countries worldwide seem determined to take action against this problem. The relation of human-related activities with climate change is clear. Indeed, in the fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), these human activities are stated as the dominant cause with an extreme likelihood [1]. The impact of humankind on the climate system has been evidenced one more time during the outbreak and spread of COVID-19 disease in 2020. The confinement measurements adopted by most countries to slow down the expansion of this disease have produced a significant reduction of air pollution and CO\({}_{2}\) emissions due to the decline in human activity [2; 3; 4]. With the aim of unifying the response to mitigate climate change, the parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) reached the Paris Agreement at the 21 st session of the Conference of Parties (COP21) in December 2015. It is nowadays ratified by more than 180 countries and its main aim is to keep the global temperature rise below 2 \({}^{\circ}\)C above preindustrial levels [5]. In order to fulfill this aim, global net anthropogenic CO\({}_{2}\) emissions should decline by about 25% by 2030 and reach net zero around 2070. Therefore, the reduction of CO\({}_{2}\) emissions is urgently required [6]. Among the alternatives reported for the carbon capture, storage and utilization (CCSU), CO\({}_{2}\) hydrogenation appears as a feasible way to produce fuels and chemicals and, simultaneously, reduce CO\({}_{2}\) anthropogenic emissions and storage renewable energy surplus. In particular, the hydrogenation of CO\({}_{2}\) towards methane has gained renewed interest recently. CO\({}_{2}\) methanation (also known as Sabatier reaction) is a highly exothermic reaction and although it is thermodynamically favorable [7; 8], the use of a catalyst is needed to activate at low temperatures the stable molecule of CO\({}_{2}\) and selectively form methane. In the last years, catalysts containing transition metals mainly of groups 8-11 of the periodic table (Ni, Ru, Rh, Co) have been found to be active for CO\({}_{2}\) methanation reaction [9; 10; 11; 12]. Because of its high activity and selectivity as well as its comparatively low price, Ni-based catalysts are the most widely investigated materials. Generally, these active metals are widespread on another material to enlarge the active area of the catalyst. The material used as support not only plays a key role in the state of the active phase, but also usually influences itself the adsorption and catalytic properties of the catalyst. Common supports for CO\({}_{2}\) methanation catalysts are oxides such as Al\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\), CeO\({}_{2}\), ZrO\({}_{2}\), TiO\({}_{2}\) or SiO\({}_{2}\), among others [9; 10; 11; 12]. Preparation of highly dispersed and stable supported metal catalysts is generally one of the main aims. This can be achieved by the addition of promoters. For example, [PERSON] et al. [13] found that the addition of VO\({}_{\rm x}\) enhanced the catalytic properties of the material by the improvement in Ni dispersion. The use of La\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\) is also reported to enhance Ni reducibility and dispersion as well as the presence of moderate basic sites [14; 15]. Another parameter influencing metal dispersion is the surface area of the support. For CeO\({}_{2}\), the catalytic activities increased with increasing surface area of CeO\({}_{2}\)[16]. For this reason, the use of supports with high surface area has also been considered. [PERSON] et al. [17] reported a Ni catalyst supported on mesostructured silica nanoparticles (MSN), which was found to be more active than other similar samples supported on MCM-41, HY, SiO\({}_{2}\) and \(\gamma\)-Al\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\). Zeolites are another kind of potential material to prepare catalysts for CO\({}_{2}\) methanation.