Preparation and activity of Cu/Zn/Al/Zr catalysts via hydrotalcite-containing precursors for methanol synthesis from CO2 hydrogenation

A series of Cu/Zn/Al/Zr catalysts were synthesized by calcination of hydrotalcite-containing precursors with different Cu2+/Zn2+ atomic ratios (n). Two other catalysts (n = 2) were also prepared via phase-pure hydrotalcite-like and conventional rosasite precursors for comparison. XRD and UV-Vis-NIR DRS characterizations demonstrate that most Cu2+ of hydrotalcite-containing materials did not enter the layer structure. The Cu dispersion of the catalysts decreases with the increase of Cu content, while both the exposed Cu surface area and the Cu+ and Cu0 content on the reduced surface reach a maximum when n is 2. The catalytic performance for the methanol synthesis from CO2 hydrogenation was also tested. The catalytic activity and selectivity of the catalysts (n = 0.5–4) via hydrotalcite-containing precursors rise first and then decrease with increasing Cu2+/Zn2+ ratios, and the optimum performance is obtained over the catalyst with Cu2+/Zn2+ = 2. Moreover, the Cu/Zn/Al/Zr catalyst (n = 2) via hydrotalcite-containing precursor exhibits the best catalytic performance, which is mainly due to the maximum content of active species compared with another two catalysts derived from different precursors.