Interfacial Fe<sub>5</sub>C<sub>2</sub>-Cu catalysts toward low-pressure syngas conversion to long-chain alcohols.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 31900400.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-019-13691-4 and PMC identifier 6941981.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Long-chain alcohols synthesis (LAS, C<sub>5+</sub>OH) from syngas provides a promising route for the conversion of coal/biomass/natural gas into high-value chemicals. Cu-Fe binary catalysts, with the merits of cost effectiveness and high CO conversion, have attracted considerable attention. Here we report a nano-construct of a Fe<sub>5</sub>C<sub>2</sub>-Cu interfacial catalyst derived from Cu<sub>4</sub>Fe<sub>1</sub>Mg<sub>4</sub>-layered double hydroxide (Cu<sub>4</sub>Fe<sub>1</sub>Mg<sub>4</sub>-LDH) precursor, i.e., Fe<sub>5</sub>C<sub>2</sub> clusters (~2 nm) are immobilized onto the surface of Cu nanoparticles (~25 nm). The interfacial catalyst exhibits a CO conversion of 53.2%, a selectivity of 14.8 mol% and a space time yield of 0.101 g g<sub>cat</sub><sup>-1</sup> h<sup>-1</sup> for long-chain alcohols, with a surprisingly benign reaction pressure of 1 MPa. This catalytic performance, to the best of our knowledge, is comparable to the optimal level of Cu-Fe catalysts operated at much higher pressure (normally above 3 MPa).