Enhanced photothermal CO2 reforming with ethanol over oxygen vacancy-rich Cu/ZnO@CeO2 nanorod catalyst

CO 2 reforming with ethanol represents a promising strategy for greenhouse gas elimination and value-added syngas production. In this work, Cu/ZnO nanorod decorated with CeO 2 (Cu/ZnO@CeO 2 ) was synthesized via a hydrothermal method for photothermal ethanol dry reforming. Systematical characterization results revealed that CeO 2 promoter could strengthen metal-support interaction in Cu/ZnO@CeO 2 catalyst. Furthermore, CeO 2 decoration enhanced the generation of oxygen vacancies, thereby fostering CO 2 adsorption/activation and enlarged light utilization efficiency, as well as facilitating the separation of photoinduced charge carriers. Consequently, the oxygen vacancy-rich Cu/ZnO@CeO 2 catalyst presented excellent photothermal performance with 90.3% ethanol conversion and stable operation over 45 h at 450 °C. DFT calculations depicted strong adsorption energies of C 2 H 5 OH on Cu/ZnO@CeO 2 (−1.69 eV) compared to Cu/ZnO (−0.84 eV) and the similar trend for CO 2 adsorption. Under light irradiation, ethanol conversion remarkably increased from 71% to 90.3%, while by-product formation was significantly suppressed, as photogenerated electron-hole pairs also participated in the redox cycle. This study certifies CeO 2 as an attractive promoter in photothermal dry reforming and offers insights in developing high-efficient catalysts for CO 2 conversion.