An Insight into Synergistic Metal-Oxide Interaction in CO2 Hydrogenation to Methanol over Cu/ZnO/ZrO2

The metal-oxide interaction is of significance to the construction of active sites for Cu-catalyzed CO2 hydrogenation to methanol. This study examines the effect of ZnO and ZrO2 composition on the Cu/ZnO/ZrO2 catalyst structure and surface properties to further tune the catalytic activity for methanol synthesis. The ZnO/ZrO2 ratio can impact the CuZn alloy formation from strong Cu-ZnO interactions and the surface basic sites for CO2 adsorption at the Cu-ZrO2 interface. The proportional correlation of the CuZn alloy content and CO2 desorption amount with the space-time yield (STY) of methanol reveals a synergistic interaction between Cu and oxides (ZnO and ZrO2) that enhances methanol synthesis. The optimized Cu/ZnO/ZrO2 catalyst exhibits higher STY relative to the traditional Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst. The obtained results presented herein can provide insight into the catalyst design for methanol synthesis from CO2.