Tailored support reduction of Cu/SrTiO₃ catalysts for enhanced methanol production


Loading...

Date

2025-05-07

Publication Type

Journal Article

ETH Bibliography

yes

Citations

Altmetric

Data

Abstract

Copper supported on strontium titanate is explored as a catalyst in the hydrogenation of carbon dioxide to methanol. We used combined H2-TPR, O2-TPO, XPS, and STEM-EDX to identify the support defects, tailored by the activation procedure. Strontium titanate forms oxygen vacancies under high-temperature reductive treatments. The extent of its reduction is a function of the copper content and of the pressure; the highest extent is achieved at 2 wt% copper and 20 bar hydrogen. The catalytic data agree with a direct relationship between the methanol selectivity and the concentration of the oxygen vacancies, with the best results being: 90% (10% towards carbon monoxide) and an associated methanol space time yield of 0.49 gMeOH gcat-1 h-1. The selectivity is higher than that achieved on a typical copper catalyst on zinc oxide alumina, while keeping the competitive productivity value, despite having thirty times lower copper content. Post-reaction characterisation suggests that these sites are stable under reaction conditions. We propose a dual-site surface mechanism based on oxygen vacancies formed at the copper-support interface and via long-distance hydrogen spillover.

Publication status

published

Editor

Book title

Volume

15 (9)

Pages / Article No.

2722 - 2732

Publisher

Royal Society of Chemistry

Event

Edition / version

Methods

Software

Geographic location

Date collected

Date created

Subject

Organisational unit

03746 - Van Bokhoven, Jeroen A. / Van Bokhoven, Jeroen A. check_circle

Notes

Funding

Related publications and datasets