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Titania‐Supported Ni 2 P/Ni Catalysts for Selective Solar‐Driven CO Hydrogenation
Author(s) -
Li Zhenhua,
Zhang Xin,
Liu Jinjia,
Shi Run,
Waterhouse Geoffrey I.N.,
Wen XiaoDong,
Zhang Tierui
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.202103248
Subject(s) - catalysis , materials science , methanation , nickel , syngas , selectivity , transition metal , adsorption , photochemistry , ruthenium , chemical engineering , inorganic chemistry , chemistry , organic chemistry , metallurgy , engineering
Solar‐driven Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS) holds great potential for the sustainable production of fuels from syngas and solar energy. However, the selectivity toward multi‐carbon products (C 2+ ) is often hampered by the difficulty in the regulation of transition metals acting as both light absorption units and active sites. Herein, a partial phosphidation strategy to prepare titania supported Ni 2 P/Ni catalysts for photothermal FTS is demonstrated. Under Xenon lamp or concentrated sunlight irradiation, the optimized catalyst shows a C 2+ selectivity of 70% at a CO conversion of >20%. Conversely, nickel metal in the absence of Ni 2 P delivers negligible C 2+ products (≈1%) with methane being the major product (>90%). Structural characterization and density functional theory calculation reveal that the partial phosphidation allows exposed metallic Ni to be active for CO adsorption and activation, while the existence of Ni 2 P/Ni interface is responsible to inhibit CO methanation and promote C–C coupling of adsorbed *CH intermediates. This work introduces a novel phosphidation strategy for nickel‐based photothermal catalysts in efficiently harnessing solar energy, and regulating the reaction pathways for CO hydrogenation to deliver high value products.