Tuning reactivity of Fischer-Tropsch synthesis by regulating TiO<sub>x</sub> overlayer over Ru/TiO<sub>2</sub> nanocatalysts.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 32581251.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-020-17044-4 and PMC identifier 7314765.
- 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
The activity of Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) on metal-based nanocatalysts can be greatly promoted by the support of reducible oxides, while the role of support remains elusive. Herein, by varying the reduction condition to regulate the TiO<sub>x</sub> overlayer on Ru nanocatalysts, the reactivity of Ru/TiO<sub>2</sub> nanocatalysts can be differentially modulated. The activity in FTS shows a volcano-like trend with increasing reduction temperature from 200 to 600 °C. Such a variation of activity is characterized to be related to the activation of CO on the TiO<sub>x</sub> overlayer at Ru/TiO<sub>2</sub> interfaces. Further theoretical calculations suggest that the formation of reduced TiO<sub>x</sub> occurs facilely on the Ru surface, and it involves in the catalytic mechanism of FTS to facilitate the CO bond cleavage kinetically. This study provides a deep insight on the mechanism of TiO<sub>x</sub> overlayer in FTS, and offers an effective approach to tuning catalytic reactivity of metal nanocatalysts on reducible oxides.