High efficient CuCeO2‐δ/SiO2 catalyst for RWGS reaction: impact of Ce content and loading sequence

The extensive use of fossil energy leads to wanton emission of CO2 and serious environmental problems. The exploration of high‐performance catalysts plays a pivotal role in CO2 resource utilization. In this paper, CuCeyK catalysts are prepared by wet impregnation method using ordered mesoporous SiO2 as support for the reverse water gas shift (RWGS) reaction. The physicochemical properties of the prepared catalysts are characterized by H2‐TPR, BET, XRD, Quasi in‐situ XPS, H2‐TPD, and CO2‐TPD techniques. The results demonstrate thatthe Cu0 species can form synergistic effects with oxygen vacancies (Ov) to enhance the CuCeyK catalytic performance. Additionally, the electronic effects between Ce and Cu not only enhances the adsorption and activation performances of the catalyst towards CO2 and H2 molecules, but also effectively suppresses the sintering of Cu0 species, thereby enhancing the stability of the corresponding catalyst. It is worth mentioning that the Ce content also directly affects the catalytic performances of the CuCeyK catalyst. The CuCe15K catalyst with a Ce content of 15% displays excellent CO2 hydrogenation performances, and the CO2 conversion and CO selectivity up to 41 % and 100 % at 420 °C, respectively. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.