Fabrication of PdZn alloy catalysts supported on ZnFe composite oxide for CO2 hydrogenation to methanol

A PdZn alloy catalyst supported on ZnFe composite oxide is fabricated for methanol synthesis from CO 2 hydrogenation and the linearity between the methanol production rate and PdZn alloy sites amount proves the essential role of PdZn alloy in methanol synthesis. The conversion of CO 2 to methanol is of great significance for providing a means of CO 2 fixation and the development of future fuels. Supported Pd catalysts have been demonstrated to be active for CO 2 hydrogenation to methanol and PdZn alloy plays a key role in this reaction. Therefore, using ZnO-enriched support to increase the amount of nanometric PdZn alloy particles on the surface is an effective strategy to develop ideal catalysts. Herein, we fabricated a PdZn alloy catalyst supported on ZnO-enriched ZnFe 2 O 4 spinel for efficient CO 2 hydrogenation to methanol. The amount of formed PdZn alloy and catalyst structure influenced by ZnO concentration on ZnFe 2 O 4 were explored to obtain the best Pd-Z 1 FO catalyst, which achieves a methanol space-time yield (STY) of 593 g kg cat −1 h −1 (12 g g Pd −1 h −1 ) with CO 2 conversion of 14% under reaction conditions of 290 °C, 4.5 MPa and 21600 mL g −1 h −1 . Furthermore, the amount of exposed PdZn alloy sites were measured by using CO-pulse chemisorption and we find a linearity between methanol production rate and PdZn alloy sites.