Metal–oxide interfaces play a crucial role in
catalyzing
CO2 conversion, while comprehensively decoupling interfacial
catalysis is challenging due to their structural complexity. Herein,
Rh/CeO2 catalysts, whose interfacial structures are finely
tuned by altering the CeO2 morphologies and Rh particle
sizes, were employed for CO2 hydrogenation. The results
reveal that the density of interfacial oxygen vacancies that varies
with the CeO2 morphologies determines the catalytic activity,
while the product selectivity strongly depends on the nature of supported
Rh species. With a decrease in Rh particle size, the weakened metallicity
results in the suppression of the Sabatier reaction and thus the low
CH4 selectivity. Meanwhile, the enhanced reverse water–gas
shift process that is more easily catalyzed than the Sabatier reaction
contributes to the promotion of catalytic CO2 efficiency.
Interestingly, the CH4 selectivity increases with the reaction
temperature rise at fine Rh particles, which could be ascribed to
the enhanced H-spillover effect at high temperatures. Spectroscopic
results confirm CO2 hydrogenation proceeding through a
redox mechanism to generate an adsorbed CO intermediate that either
is further hydrogenated into CH4 with strong CO adsorption
capacity/H-spillover effect or desorbs directly into CO.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.