There is a general desire to improve the configuration of industrial catalysts to take advantage of the intrinsic properties of metal oxides. On an inverse oxide/metal catalyst, the reactants can interact with defect sites of the oxide nanoparticles, metal sites, and the metal-oxide interface. In this study, we have investigated the hydrogenation of carbon dioxide (CO2 + 3H2 ---&gt; CH3OH+ H2O) on a series of inverse ZnO/Cu(111) surfaces prepared in different ways. Our results show that, the mode of growth, size and shape of the ZnO nanoparticles are strongly dependent on the Zn deposition temperature. In a set of experiments, Zn was deposited on Cu(111) at 300 K with subsequent exposure to O2 at higher temperatures (400-550 K) which exhibited small particles of ZnO (5-40 nm in size) on the surface. The deposition of Zn onto Cu(111) at elevated temperatures (450-600 K) in an oxygen ambient produced large ZnO islands (300-650 nm in size) which were very rough and spread over several terraces of Cu(111). Catalytic tests showed that all these surfaces were active for the hydrogenation of CO2 to methanol but only the large ZnO islands prepared at 600 K displayed long term stability under reaction conditions.

Growth, structure and catalytic properties of ZnO grown on Cu(111)

2019 Spring National Meeting

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