Advances in bifunctional catalysis for higher alcohol synthesis from syngas

Bifunctional catalysis on dual sites plays an important role in higher alcohol synthesis from syngas. It makes use of two types of active sites of which one type dissociates CO and forms surface alkyl species and the other type catalyzes non-dissociative CO adsorption for CO insertion and alcohol formation. To improve catalytic activity for higher alcohol synthesis, it is necessary to design dual sites on the atomic scale to give them high stability. The recent advances in higher alcohol synthesis using bifunctional catalysts are reviewed. The design of the dual sites, the structure of the dual sites on several typical catalyst systems, and the structural evolution of the dual sites during reaction are discussed using our latest research results. (C) 2013, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.