title: Cobalt carbide nanoprisms for direct production of lower olefins from syngas.
abstract: Lower olefins-generally referring to ethylene, propylene and butylene-are basic carbon-based building blocks that are widely used in the chemical industry, and are traditionally produced through thermal or catalytic cracking of a range of hydrocarbon feedstocks, such as naphtha, gas oil, condensates and light alkanes. With the rapid depletion of the limited petroleum reserves that serve as the source of these hydrocarbons, there is an urgent need for processes that can produce lower olefins from alternative feedstocks. The 'Fischer-Tropsch to olefins' (FTO) process has long offered a way of producing lower olefins directly from syngas-a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide that is readily derived from coal, biomass and natural gas. But the hydrocarbons obtained with the FTO process typically follow the so-called Anderson-Schulz-Flory distribution, which is characterized by a maximum C2-C4hydrocarbon fraction of about 56.7 per cent and an undesired methane fraction of about 29.2 per cent (refs 1, 10, 11, 12). Here we show that, under mild reaction conditions, cobalt carbide quadrangular nanoprisms catalyse the FTO conversion of syngas with high selectivity for the production of lower olefins (constituting around 60.8 per cent of the carbon products), while generating little methane (about 5.0 per cent), with the ratio of desired unsaturated hydrocarbons to less valuable saturated hydrocarbons amongst the C2-C4products being as high as 30. Detailed catalyst characterization during the initial reaction stage and theoretical calculations indicate that preferentially exposed {101} and {020} facets play a pivotal role during syngas conversion, in that they favour olefin production and inhibit methane formation, and thereby render cobalt carbide nanoprisms a promising new catalyst system for directly converting syngas into lower olefins.
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Low-Carbon Conversion Science and Engineering, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, PR China.
authors.forename: Liangshu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Low-Carbon Conversion Science and Engineering, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, PR China.|School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, PR China.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Low-Carbon Conversion Science and Engineering, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, PR China.|School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, PR China.
authors.forename: Yunlei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: An
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Low-Carbon Conversion Science and Engineering, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, PR China.
authors.forename: Yonghui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Low-Carbon Conversion Science and Engineering, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, PR China.|School of Physical Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201203, PR China.
authors.forename: Yuhan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Low-Carbon Conversion Science and Engineering, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, PR China.|School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhengjia
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Low-Carbon Conversion Science and Engineering, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, PR China.
authors.forename: Tiejun
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Low-Carbon Conversion Science and Engineering, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, PR China.
authors.forename: Yanjun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Low-Carbon Conversion Science and Engineering, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, PR China.
authors.forename: Xingzhen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Low-Carbon Conversion Science and Engineering, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, PR China.|University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, PR China.
authors.forename: Yuanyuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, PR China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, PR China.|Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Molecular Nanostructure and Nanotechnology, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, PR China.
authors.forename: Jinsong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, PR China.
authors.forename: Shifeng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Low-Carbon Conversion Science and Engineering, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, PR China.
authors.forename: Qun
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Low-Carbon Conversion Science and Engineering, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, PR China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000475:Alkenes / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D018533:Biomass; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D002248:Carbon Monoxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D002384:Catalysis; D003031:Coal; D003035:Cobalt / Q000737:chemistry*; D006859:Hydrogen / Q000737:chemistry*; D008697:Methane / Q000138:chemical synthesis; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D059206:Natural Gas; D011312:Pressure
chemical_list: D000475:Alkenes; D003031:Coal; D059206:Natural Gas; C000612028:cobalt carbide; D003035:Cobalt; D002244:Carbon; D002248:Carbon Monoxide; D006859:Hydrogen; D008697:Methane