CO2 hydrogenation to methanol using Cu-Zn catalyst supported on reduced graphene oxide nanosheets

Supported Cu-Zn/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) catalysts were synthesized via an incipient wetness impregnation and evaluated for a CO2 hydrogenation to methanol. The structure, surface reactivity, and adsorption properties were investigated extensively by FE-SEM, TEM, XRD, Raman, FT-IR, N-2 sorption, TGA, TPR, and XPS techniques. The effects of Cu-Zn metal loading content and the reaction temperature were investigated toward the methanol production from the CO2 hydrogenation. It was found that supported rGO nanosheets could greatly enhance the catalytic performance and help the dispersion of bimetallic compounds Cu-Zn particles. The 10 wt%CuZn/rGO catalyst yielded the highest space time yield (STY) of 424 mg(MeoH) g(cat)(-1)h(-1) at a reaction temperature and pressure of 250 degrees C and 15 bar, respectively. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.