PdZn catalysts for CO 2 hydrogenation to methanol using chemical vapour impregnation (CVI)

The formation of PdZn bimetallic alloys on ZnO, TiO 2 and Al 2 O 3 supports was investigated, together with the effect of alloy formation on the CO 2 hydrogenation reaction. The chemical vapour impregnation (CVI) method produced PdZn nanoparticles with diameters of 3–6 nm. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction revealed the changes in the structure of the PdZn alloy that help stabilise formate intermediates during methanol synthesis. PdZn supported on TiO 2 exhibits high methanol productivity of 1730 mmol kg cat −1 h −1 that is associated with the high dispersion of the supported PdZn alloy.