title: CO2 Activation and Methanol Synthesis on Novel Au/TiC and Cu/TiC Catalysts.
abstract: Small Cu and Au particles in contact with a TiC(001) surface undergo a charge polarization that makes them very active for CO2 activation and the catalytic synthesis of methanol. The binding energy of CO2 on these systems is in the range of 0.6 to 1.1 eV, much larger than those observed on surfaces or nanoparticles of Cu and Au. Thus, in spite of the poor CO2 hydrogenation performance of Cu(111) and Au(111), the Cu/TiC(001) and Au/TiC(001) systems display a catalytic activity for methanol synthesis substantially higher than that of conventional Cu/ZnO catalysts. The turnover frequencies for methanol production on Cu/TiC(001) are 170-500 times much larger than on Cu(111). The present study moves away from the typical approach of using metal/oxide catalysts for the synthesis of methanol via CO2 hydrogenation. This work shows that metal carbides can be excellent supports for enhancing the ability of noble metals to bond and activate CO2.
authors: †Chemistry Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, United States.|‡Centro de Química, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientificas (IVIC), Apartado 21827, Caracas 1020-A, Venezuela.
authors: Alba B
authors: AB
authors: Vidal
authors: Leticia
authors: L
authors: Feria
authors: ∥Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Apartado 20513, Caracas 1020-A, Venezuela.
authors: Jaime
authors: J
authors: Evans
authors: ⊥Materials and Structures Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama 226-8503, Japan.
authors: Yoshiro
authors: Y
authors: Takahashi
authors: †Chemistry Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, United States.
authors: Ping
authors: P
authors: Liu
authors: ⊥Materials and Structures Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama 226-8503, Japan.
authors: Kenichi
authors: K
authors: Nakamura
authors: Francesc
authors: F
authors: Illas
authors: †Chemistry Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, United States.
authors: José A
authors: JA
authors: Rodriguez
keywords: CO2 activation; catalysis; copper; gold; hydrogenation reactions; methanol synthesis; titanium carbide