High Selectivity Higher Alcohols Synthesis from Syngas over Three-Dimensionally Ordered Macroporous Cu-Fe Catalysts

We show that higher alcohols can be produced with high selectivity from syngas over three-dimensionally ordered macroporous Cu-Fe catalyst. The catalyst was developed by using a glyoxylate route colloidal crystal template method. The high intrinsic activity was ascribed to three factors. First, the unique ordered structure has a large pore size and interconnected macroporous tunnels of the catalyst with a large accessible surface area improves the catalytic activity. Second, a high density of uniformly distributed defective Cu-0 and chi-Fe5C2 nanoparticles derived from the glyoxylate route helps to provide abundant, active, stable dual sites. Third, atomic steps on the Cu surface, induced by planar defects and lattice strain, serve as high-activity oxygenation sites; and active chi-Fe5C2 chain-growth sites surrounds the defective and strained form of Cu surface intimately, which results in a synergetic effect between the active and stable Cu-FexCy dual sites for higher alcohols synthesis.