PNNL

Abstract

The interface between Cu and supports like ZnO and ZrO2 has been identified as a key element in the reduction of CO2 to methanol. We present here a strategy to maximize this interface by linking Cu metal particles chemically to the nodes of defect-containing metal organic framework UiO-66. Up to 30 % of the atoms of the Cu particles anchor at the ZrO2 nodes. Neither isolated Cu particles nor Cu-O-Zr sites with only one Cu atom catalyze the conversion of CO2 to methanol. Active sites require Cu nanoclusters and the Cu-O-Zr interface. This work is supported as part of the Inorganometallic Catalysis Design Center, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under Award DE-SC0012702. Y.Z., Y.C., K.K., and L.K. were supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES), Division of Chemical Sciences, Geosciences and Biosciences (Transdisciplinary Approaches to Realize Novel Catalytic Pathways to Energy Carriers, FWP 47319). Portions of the work were performed at the William R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a national scientific user facility sponsored by the DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research located at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, a multiprogram national laboratory operated for DOE by Battelle Memorial Institute.