Gas-Dependent Active Sites on Cu/ZnO Clusters for CH3OH Synthesis

Weifeng Tu; Pengchao Ren; Yuanjie Li; Yongpeng Yang; Yun Tian; Zhenzhou Zhang; Minghui Zhu; Ya-Huei Cathy Chin; Jinlong Gong; Yi-Fan Han

doi:10.1021/jacs.2c13784

Gas-Dependent Active Sites on Cu/ZnO Clusters for CH₃OH Synthesis

J Am Chem Soc. 2023 Apr 26;145(16):8751-8756. doi: 10.1021/jacs.2c13784. Epub 2023 Mar 21.

Authors

Weifeng Tu¹, Pengchao Ren¹, Yuanjie Li¹, Yongpeng Yang¹, Yun Tian¹, Zhenzhou Zhang¹, Minghui Zhu², Ya-Huei Cathy Chin³, Jinlong Gong⁴, Yi-Fan Han^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Engineering Research Center of Advanced Functional Material Manufacturing, Ministry of Education, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China.
³ Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E5, Canada.
⁴ Key Laboratory for Green Chemical Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), Tianjin 300072, China.

PMID: 36943737
DOI: 10.1021/jacs.2c13784

Abstract

This study describes an instantaneously gas-induced dynamic transition of an industrial Cu/ZnO/Al₂O₃ catalyst. Cu/ZnO clusters become "alive" and lead to a promotion in reaction rate by almost one magnitude, in response to the variation of the reactant components. The promotional changes are functions of either CO₂-to-CO or H₂O-to-H₂ ratio which determines the oxygen chemical potential thus drives Cu/ZnO clusters to undergo reconstruction and allows the maximum formation of Cu-Zn²⁺ sites for CH₃OH synthesis.