Edge-rich molybdenum disulfide tailors carbon-chain growth for selective hydrogenation of carbon monoxide to higher alcohols.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 37884511.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-023-42325-z and PMC identifier 10603039.
- 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
Selective hydrogenation of carbon monoxide (CO) to higher alcohols (C2+OH) is a promising non-petroleum route for producing high-value chemicals, in which precise regulations of both C-O cleavage and C-C coupling are highly essential but remain great challenges. Herein, we report that highly selective CO hydrogenation to C2-4OH is achieved over a potassium-modified edge-rich molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) catalyst, which delivers a high CO conversion of 17% with a superior C2-4OH selectivity of 45.2% in hydrogenated products at 240 °C and 50 bar, outperforming previously reported non-noble metal-based catalysts under similar conditions. By regulating the relative abundance of edge to basal plane, C2-4OH to methanol selectivity ratio can be overturned from 0.4 to 2.2. Mechanistic studies reveal that sulfur vacancies at MoS2 edges boost carbon-chain growth by facilitating not only C-O cleavage but also C-C coupling, while potassium promotes the desorption of alcohols via electrostatic interaction with hydroxyls, thereby enabling preferential formation of C2-4OH.