Lattice-Confined Cu-TiO2 Catalysts with Significantly Improved Activity and Thermal Stability for CO2 Hydrogenation

• Published in: ACS sustainable chemistry & engineering Vol. 11; no. 51; pp. 18112 - 18122
• Main Authors: Chen, Hanming, Li, Shuyi, Ma, Peijie, Chang, Kuan, Zhao, Zhiying, Lai, Yingjie, Zheng, Kun, Kuang, Qin, Xie, Zhaoxiong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 25.12.2023
• Subjects: lattice confinement; Cu-TiO2; thermal stability; metal−support interaction; CO2 hydrogenation
• ISSN: 2168-0485; 2168-0485
• DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.3c06781

Cu-based catalysts have shown promising prospects in the CO2 hydrogenation reaction but suffer from a significant sintering problem, especially under high temperatures and a reducing atmosphere. Herein, we propose a lattice confinement strategy to fabricate a highly dispersed and thermally stable Cu-TiO2 catalyst through a facile ion exchange and calcination reconstruction method. The intrinsic CH3OH formation rate for the optimal Cu-TiO2-600 catalyst reached 55.5 mmol gCu –1 h–1 at 240 °C and 3 MPa. The structural analysis demonstrated that the catalyst maintained an excellent Cu dispersion even at 400 °C and H2 conditions, which exhibited an outstanding sintering resistance property and achieved high activity and thermal stability for CO2 hydrogenation. This work could be potentially extended to construct other lattice-confined catalysts in a heterogeneous catalytic reaction.