Reconstruction of interface oxygen vacancy for boosting CO2 hydrogenation by Cu/CeO2 catalysts with thermal treatment

The interfacial structure of metal and oxide support plays a pivotal role in reverse water gas shift (RWGS). However, rare work investigated the factor of the metal-oxide interface during RWGS reaction. In this work, the interface of Cu/CeO 2 catalysts was designed through the thermal treatment of copper nitrate salt on CeO 2 with an H 2 atmosphere under different temperatures, and CO 2 hydrogenation performance was studied at 400 °C to investigate the effect of interfacial structure on RWGS reaction. Among these prepared catalysts, Cu/CeO 2 -400 catalysts achieved the best CO 2 conversion activity (CO production rate 1.23 mol/g cat . h). Cu interacted with CeO 2 to form Cu-O-Ce interface and induced more oxygen vacancy formation. The oxygen vacancy around the Cu-CeO 2 interface enhanced CO 2 adsorption and promoted CO 2 conversion. CO 2 reacted with active hydrogen to COOH, then COOH species dissociated into CO and OH adsorbed on the surface of Cu-CeO 2 . These results gave insights into the design of a highly effective catalyst for CO 2 hydrogenation.