title: ε-Iron carbide as a low-temperature Fischer-Tropsch synthesis catalyst.
abstract: ε-Iron carbide has been predicted to be promising for low-temperature Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (LTFTS) targeting liquid fuel production. However, directional carbidation of metallic iron to ε-iron carbide is challenging due to kinetic hindrance. Here we show how rapidly quenched skeletal iron featuring nanocrystalline dimensions, low coordination number and an expanded lattice may solve this problem. We find that the carbidation of rapidly quenched skeletal iron occurs readily in situ during LTFTS at 423-473 K, giving an ε-iron carbide-dominant catalyst that exhibits superior activity to literature iron and cobalt catalysts, and comparable to more expensive noble ruthenium catalyst, coupled with high selectivity to liquid fuels and robustness without the aid of electronic or structural promoters. This finding may permit the development of an advanced energy-efficient and clean fuel-oriented FTS process on the basis of a cost-effective iron catalyst.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Nuclear Analysis Techniques, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201204, China.
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Pei
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: Shirun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: Minghua
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Catalytic Materials and Chemical Engineering, Research Institute of Petroleum Processing, Beijing 100083, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoxin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Catalytic Materials and Chemical Engineering, Research Institute of Petroleum Processing, Beijing 100083, China.
authors.forename: Baoning
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zong