Synergistic interface engineering in Cu-Zn-Ce catalysts for efficient CO2 hydrogenation to methanol
2025-12-16
(Press-News.org) The excessive emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) leads to environmental problems such as global warming, and its catalytic conversion into high value-added chemicals and fuels has become a research hotspot. Methanol (CH3OH), as a saturated monohydrate, has excellent properties such as high energy density and high octane number, making it an ideal carrier for "green hydrogen". In addition, CH3OH, as an extremely important basic chemical raw material, is widely used in the synthesis of a series of important industrial chemicals and fuels. The hydrogenation of CO2 to CH3OH not only effectively reduces the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere, but also alleviates the problem of energy shortage, which has attracted widespread attention from researchers.
Recently, a research team led by Prof. Li Tan from Fuzhou university, China and Prof. Qinhong Wei from Zhejiang Ocean University, China published the latest research result on CO2 hydrogenation to methanol.This work reports the synthesis of Cu-Zn-Ce ternary catalyst using urea assisted grinding strategy, which breaks through the interface limitation problem caused by the difference in metal precipitation kinetics in traditional co-precipitation method, optimizes the interface synergistic effect, and exhibits excellent performance in CO2 hydrogenation to CH3OH reaction.The results were published in Chinese Journal of Catalysis (DOI:10.1016/S1872-2067(25)64773-5)
This study presents an innovative synthesis of a Cu-Zn-Ce ternary catalyst (denoted as CZC-G) via a urea-assisted grinding strategy, which effectively overcomes the interfacial limitations caused by differing metal precipitation kinetics in conventional co-precipitation methods, thereby achieving optimized interfacial synergy. During the grinding and subsequent heat treatment, urea facilitates the high dispersion and intimate contact of Cu, Zn, and Ce species at the nanoscale, leading to the formation of abundant Cu/Zn–Ov–Ce ternary interfaces. After optimization of the preparation method, the CZC-G catalyst exhibits a CH3OH selectivity of up to 96.8%, with no significant deactivation observed during a 100-hour continuous stability test.
Based on the valence state distribution of Cu species, the active site is identified as a composite structure consisting of Cu0-Zn2+-Ov-Ce3+. Metallic Cu is responsible for H2 activation, while oxygen vacancies associated with Zn2+ and Ce3+ efficiently capture and activate CO2 molecules. It is proposed that in CZC-G catalysts with rich Cu–Zn–Ce ternary interfaces, Zn species donate electrons to Cu species, resulting in increased proportions of Cu0 and Zn2+ on the catalyst surface. In situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) reveals that the reaction primarily follows the formate pathway, with the conversion of HCOO* to CH3O* as the rate-determining step. The synergistic interaction among Cu, Zn, and Ce at the ternary interface is identified as the key factor enabling efficient CO2activation and selective methanol synthesis.
About the Journal
Chinese Journal of Catalysis is co-sponsored by Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Chemical Society, and it is currently published by Elsevier group. This monthly journal publishes in English timely contributions of original and rigorously reviewed manuscripts covering all areas of catalysis. The journal publishes Reviews, Accounts, Communications, Articles, Highlights, Perspectives, and Viewpoints of highly scientific values that help understanding and defining of new concepts in both fundamental issues and practical applications of catalysis. Chinese Journal of Catalysis ranks among the top six journals in Applied Chemistry with a current SCI impact factor of 17.7. The Editors-in-Chief are Profs. Can Li and Tao Zhang.
At Elsevier http://www.journals.elsevier.com/chinese-journal-of-catalysis
Manuscript submission https://mc03.manuscriptcentral.com/cjcatal
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[Press-News.org] Synergistic interface engineering in Cu-Zn-Ce catalysts for efficient CO2 hydrogenation to methanol
