Supported Cobalt Nanorod Catalysts for Carbon Dioxide Hydrogenation

To create new CO2 hydrogenation catalysts, we developed a methodology in which the selective surface faceting of nanorods is combined with the practicality of a supported catalyst. The basic Co catalyst with preferential {110} surface faceting was supported with either SiO2, Al2O3, or TiO2. We grafted charged ligands onto the Co nanorods to attract the support precursors to the surface of the Co to allow a large contact area between the Co and the support. The large contact area promoted the chemical interaction between the Co and the support, which was verified by using Raman spectroscopy, XRD, and temperature-programmed reduction. TiO2- and Al2O3-supported Co nanorods showed an increase in activity at low and high reaction temperatures, respectively, whereas the relatively inert SiO2-supported nanorods possessed the same catalytic performance as unsupported