Designing Dual-Site Catalysts for Selectively Converting CO 2 into Methanol

• Published in: Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2024-08, Vol.63 (32), p.e202407733
• Main Authors: Cui, Wenjie, Wang, Fei, Wang, Xiao, Li, Yuou, Wang, Xiaomei, Shi, Yi, Song, Shuyan, Zhang, Hongjie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1433-7851; 1521-3773
• DOI: 10.1002/anie.202407733

The variability of CO hydrogenation reaction demands new potential strategies to regulate the fine structure of the catalysts for optimizing the reaction pathways. Herein, we report a dual-site strategy to boost the catalytic efficiency of CO -to-methanol conversion. A new descriptor, τ, was initially established for screening the promising candidates with low-temperature activation capability of CO , and sequentially a high-performance catalyst was fabricated centred with oxophilic Mo single atoms, who was further decorated with Pt nanoparticles. In CO hydrogenation, the obtained dual-site catalysts possess a remarkably-improved methanol generation rate (0.27 mmol g  h ). For comparison, the singe-site Mo and Pt-based catalysts can only produce ethanol and formate acid at a relatively low reaction rate (0.11 mmol g  h for ethanol and 0.034 mmol g  h for formate acid), respectively. Mechanism studies indicate that the introduction of Pt species could create an active hydrogen-rich environment, leading to the alterations of the adsorption configuration and conversion pathways of the *OCH intermediates on Mo sites. As a result, the catalytic selectivity was successfully switched.