Tuning catalytic performance of CuZnOx catalyst via functional LaOx for catalyzing CO2 hydrogenation reaction

The utilization of Cu-based catalysts in the low-temperature catalytic conversion of CO2 to methanol is the focus of industrial processes. However, the metastable nature of highly dispersed Cu active sites causes it easy to sinter, which leads to the decline of activity and methanol selectivity. Herein, an approach involving the incorporation of highly dispersed La species into Cu-ZnO-Al2O3 (CZAL-x) through one-pot synthesis, benefits dispersing and stabilizing Cu0/Cu+ active sites. Consequently, a CO2 conversion reaches 22.4 % with a 75.0 % methanol selectivity of the optimizing CZAL-2.5 catalyst in a stable reaction for 100 h. When the space velocity is 16,000 mL g cat.- 1 h- 1 , the space-time yield of methanol reached the highest value of 814.9 g MeOH kg cat1 h- 1 , significantly outperforming the CZA catalyst. Systematic characterizations reveal the introduction of LaOx enhanced the interaction between Cu active sites and carrier, which effectively improved the sintering resistance of copper nanoparticles.