Enhanced CO2 hydrogenation to methanol over TiO2 nanotubes-supported CuO-ZnO-CeO2 catalyst

Abstract

TiO2 nanotubes (TNTs) have been extensively applied in many fields owing to their excellent porous structure and surface properties. Herein, a series of CuO-ZnO-CeO2/TNTs catalysts are synthesized through a deposition-precipitation method. The effects of TNTs content and support morphology on the catalyst physicochemical properties and catalytic performance are investigated. The incorporation of TNTs support into CuO-ZnO-CeO2 catalysts not only promotes CuO reducibility and improves the metallic Cu dispersion and specific surface area, but also enhances CO2 adsorption and increases the proportion of basic sites γ, thereby resulting in high CO2 conversion and CH3OH selectivity. It is also shown that CO2 conversion is positively correlated with the Cu specific surface area and that CH3OH selectivity is related to the proportion of basic sites γ. Due to the excellent reducibility, high metallic Cu surface area, superior CO2 adsorption and large proportion of basic sites γ, CuO-ZnO-CeO2/10 wt.% TNTs gives excellent catalytic performance and possesses a great potential as catalyst for methanol synthesis.