The transformation of CO2 into alcohols or other hydrocarbon compounds is challenging because of the difficulties associated with the chemical activation of CO2 by heterogeneous catalysts. Pure metals and bimetallic systems used for this task have usually trouble binding CO2 and, thus, low catalytic activity. Here, we will discuss a series of in-situ studies investigating the mechanism of CO2 hydrogenation on inverse oxide/metal catalysts generated by the deposition of nanoparticles of ZnO and CeO2 on surfaces of copper. They illustrate the advantages of oxide-metal interfaces when aiming at the conversion of CO2 into methanol. CeOx/Cu(111) and ZnO/Cu(111) exhibit an activity for the CO2 → CH3OH conversion that is 2-3 times higher than that of model Cu/CeO2 and Cu/ZnO catalysts. In the inverse oxide/metal configuration the interactions between the oxide and metal are quite strong. For these CeOx-copper and ZnO-copper interfaces, the combination of metal and oxide centers affords complementary chemical properties that lead to special reaction pathways for methanol synthesis.

Unconventional oxide/metal catalysts for CO2 activation and conversion

255th National Meeting (2018)

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