Interfacial Fe5C2-Cu catalysts toward low-pressure syngas conversion to long-chain alcohols.

Long-chain alcohols synthesis (LAS, C5+OH) from syngas provides a promising route for the conversion of coal/biomass/natural gas into high-value chemicals. Cu-Fe binary catalysts, with the merits of cost effectiveness and high CO conversion, have attracted considerable attention. Here we report a nano-construct of a Fe5C2-Cu interfacial catalyst derived from Cu4Fe1Mg4-layered double hydroxide (Cu4Fe1Mg4-LDH) precursor, i.e., Fe5C2 clusters (~2 nm) are immobilized onto the surface of Cu nanoparticles (~25 nm). The interfacial catalyst exhibits a CO conversion of 53.2%, a selectivity of 14.8 mol% and a space time yield of 0.101 g gcat-1 h-1 for long-chain alcohols, with a surprisingly benign reaction pressure of 1 MPa. This catalytic performance, to the best of our knowledge, is comparable to the optimal level of Cu-Fe catalysts operated at much higher pressure (normally above 3 MPa).