methanol synthesis

partial oxidation

electrochemical reduction

hydrogenation

steam reforming

selective hydrogenation

dry reforming

reforming methane

excellent catalytic

hydrogen plasma

Applied catalysis. B, Environmental

• NTP-activated Ru/MgAl catalysts for CO 2 hydrogenation with high CO 2 conversion and CH 4 yield at mild conditions. • Reduction temperature affects the catalysts’ properties, and thus influencing the catalysis under plasma conditions. • In situ DRIFTS-MS shows that NTP-catalysis enables the alternative surface pathways for promoting CO 2 hydrogenations. Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) hydrogenation to value-added molecules is an attractive way to reduce CO 2 emission via upgrading. Herein, non-thermal plasma (NTP) activated CO 2 hydrogenation over Ru/MgAl layered double hydroxide (LDH) catalysts was performed. The catalysis under the NTP conditions enabled significantly higher CO 2 conversions (∼85 %) and CH 4 yield (∼84 %) at relatively low temperatures compared with the conventional thermally activated catalysis. Regarding the catalyst preparation, it was found that the reduction temperature can affect the chemical state of the metal and metal-support interaction significantly, and thus altering the activity of the catalysts in NTP-driven catalytic CO 2 hydrogenation. A kinetic study revealed that the NTP-catalysis has a lower activation energy (at ∼21 kJ mol −1 ) than that of the thermal catalysis ( ca. 82 kJ mol −1 ), due to the alternative pathways enabled by NTP, which was confirmed by the comparative in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier (DRIFTS) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS) characterisation of the catalytic systems.

Mechanistic study of non-thermal plasma assisted CO2 hydrogenation over Ru supported on MgAl layered double hydroxide