Facet Engineering-Tailored Directional Electron Transfer from TiO<sub>2</sub> to Cu Nanoparticles Enhances CO<sub>2</sub> Hydrogenation to Methanol
Ziyang Chen, Hua Tong, Yun Zhao, Jie Cui, Lei Zhou, Jiale Zou, Fuqiang Zhou, Peirong Chen, Daiqi Ye, Limin Chen
Abstract
TiO 2 as a reducible metal oxide has been extensively employed as a support for noble and transition metals. Numerous studies have demonstrated that optimizing metal–TiO 2 interactions can significantly enhance the catalytic performance. Meanwhile, the weak metal–support interaction between Cu and TiO 2 generally results in unsatisfactory catalytic performance for the hydrogenation of CO 2 to methanol. Herein, through support facet and defect engineering, the electron transfer from TiO 2 to Cu nanoparticles (NPs) is successfully constructed over Cu/TiO 2 (001) catalysts, enabling a sharply enhanced methanol yield of about 7.2% at 5 MPa and 280 °C. Detailed characterizations reveal that the regulation of support defects and the catalyst preparation process boost the defect density over TiO 2 and then facilitate the electron transfer from TiO 2 to Cu NPs and the highly dispersed electron-rich Cu NPs. This, in turn, promotes the dissociation and spillover of H 2, further producing support defects and achieving dynamic regulation. Ultimately, these synergistic interactions drive the hydrogenation of CO 2 to methanol. These findings not only demonstrate the Cu/TiO 2 -based catalyst as one of the most promising catalysts for CO 2 hydrogenation to methanol but also establish a generalizable strategy for enhancing catalytic performance through support facet and defect-engineered electron transfer modulation.