Promotion effects of alkali metals on iron molybdate catalysts for CO2 catalytic hydrogenation

CO2hydrogenation is an attractive way to store and utilize carbon dioxide generated by industrial processes, as well as to produce valuable chemicals from renewable and abundant resources. Iron catalysts are commonly used for the hydrogenation of carbon oxides to hydrocarbons. Iron-molybdenum catalysts have found numerous applications in catalysis, but have been never evaluated in the CO2hydrogenation.In this work, the structural properties of iron-molybdenum catalysts without and with a promoting alkali metal(Li, Na, K, Rb, or Cs) were characterized using X-ray diffraction, hydrogen temperatureprogrammed reduction, CO2temperature-programmed desorption, in-situ57Fe Mossbauer spectroscopy and operando X-ray adsorption spectroscopy. Their catalytic performance was evaluated in the CO2hydrogenation. During the reaction conditions, the catalysts undergo the formation of an iron(Ⅱ) molybdate structure, accompanied by a partial reduction of molybdenum and carbidization of iron. The rate of CO2conversion and product selectivity strongly depend on the promoting alkali metals, and electronegativity was identified as an important factor affecting the catalytic performance. Higher CO2conversion rates were observed with the promoters having higher electronegativity, while low electronegativity of alkali metals favors higher light olefin selectivity.