The Synergistic Effect of CuZnCeOx in Controlling the Formation of Methanol and CO from CO2 Hydrogenation

Graphical CO 2 to CO, too : CeO x promotes the activation of CO 2 and the adsorption of oxidative species, resulting in the improvement of the catalytic performances and the formation of methanol, while ZnO is favorable to the production of carbon monoxide. Both the methanol and carbon monoxide can be highly efficient produced from carbon dioxide hydrogenation relying on the synergistic effect of Cu, ZnO, and CeO x present in the CuZnCeO x catalyst. CO 2 hydrogenation will be essential for a sustainable society if methanol and CO can be efficiently obtained using appropriate catalysts. In this paper, a highly efficient CuZnCeO x catalyst was synthesized using a parallel flow coprecipitation method, and was evaluated in CO 2 hydrogenation to produce methanol and CO. Interestingly, the catalyst shows excellent activity and stability, and the selectivity of the products can be controlled by the amount of CeO x . Characterization results show that a significant synergistic effect between Cu and metal oxides (ZnO and/or CeO x ) was observed at the composite catalysts. Cu plays a critical role in the activation of H 2 , and CeO x strongly adsorbs CO 2 . CeO x improved the dispersion of Cu nanoparticles and promoted the spillover of atomic hydrogen, which was beneficial to the generation of methanol. Meanwhile, ZnO exhibited weak adsorption ability for CO 2 , which was beneficial for the generation of CO. In addition, ZnO can significantly improve the dispersion of the CeO x nanoparticles. Both the dispersion of active sites and the activation abilities of CO 2 are critical for catalyst activity and product selectivity. Thus, the ternary catalyst CuZnCeO x shows higher performance than the binary catalysts (CuZnO x and CuCeO x ) in the CO 2 hydrogenation reaction. This paper provides a viable way to produce selectively methanol or CO from CO 2 hydrogenation.