Yolk-Shell structured NiCo@SiO2 nanoreactor for CO2 upgrading via reverse water-gas shift reaction

This work reports the successful and simplistic synthesis of highly uniform NiCo@SiO2 yolk@shell catalysts, with their effectiveness towards CO2 recycling investigated within the RWGS reaction. The engineered microstructure catalysts display high CO2 conversion levels and a remarkable selectivity for CO as main reaction product across the whole examined temperatures. Interestingly, the selectivity is affected by Ni loading reflecting a close correlation catalytic performance/material structure-composition. Further to this behaviour, the designed nano reactor exhibits considerable deactivation resistance and performance under reaction cycling conditions and appears to demonstrate the production of larger organic molecules after qualitative analysis of the product gas by mass spectrometry. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of the spatial confinement effect, imbued to the material from its advanced morphology, through its influence of deactivation resistance and control of reactive selectivity.