Catalytic performance of copper and ruthenium loaded on N-doped modified PBZ-derived carbons for CO2 hydrogenation

Abstract

This study presents the effective synthesis of copper and ruthenium loaded on nitrogen-doped polybenzoxazine (PBZ)-derived carbons modified using surfactants. The PBZ-derived carbons were modified with a surfactant, and their basicity were enhanced by nitrogen species doping. CeO2 and ZrO2 were loaded onto the carbons to promote the capture and dissociation of CO2. As determined by CO2-TPD, Cu-Ru-Zr/Am-P123 (prepared with ammonia as the nitrogen doping source and P123 surfactant) had a very high CO2 adsorption capacity of 6.72 mmol g−1. Cu-Ru-Zr/Am-P123 demonstrated outstanding catalytic performance under favorable conditions (T = 483 K, P = 1.5 MPa, CO2:H2 = 1:3, GHSV = 2000 h−1), with CO2 conversion of 37 % and a methanol space–time yield of 642 mg gcat−1h−1. Similar performance was achieved with Cu-Ru-Zr/U-P123 (prepared with urea as the nitrogen doping source). Interestingly, the selectivity of MeOH rose from 75% to 91% when ZrO2 was replaced with CeO2.