Advanced photothermal synergistic catalysis of Ru-doped Ni/ZrO2 in hydrogenation of CO2

Photothermal synergistic catalysis (PTSC) is a potential and attractive technology due to its enhanced performance in medium- and low-temperature conditions. Herein, the present work focuses on investigating PTSC CO2 hydrogenation over Ni/ZrO2 doped with Ru. Compared with thermal catalysis, the NiRu0.23/ZrO2 resulted in higher CO2 conversion and CH4 selectivity at all temperature in PTSC condition. Among all the catalysts, NiRu0.02/ZrO2 exhibits the best performance, which the CO2 conversion reach 48.37% and the CH4 selectivity is close to 100% at 400 degrees C and PTSC. The NiRux bimetallic catalyst maintains excellent activity and stability after the catalyst durability test over 36 h. The characterization results reveal that appropriate Ru doping is beneficial for light absorption and enhances CO2 adsorption capacity and activation. The migration of electrons from Ru to Ni atoms proves that there is a strong electronic interaction between Ni and Ru metals in the catalysts.