Highly selective conversion of CO₂ to methanol on the CuZnO-ZrO₂ solid solution with the assistance of plasma

CuZnO-ZrO₂-C was prepared by a co-precipitation method. For comparison, CuZnO-ZrO₂-PC and CuZnO-ZrO₂-CP were prepared by glow discharge plasma. The catalysts were characterized via the XRD, N₂ adsorption-desorption, TEM, SEM, EDS, XPS, CO₂-TPD and H₂-TPR techniques. The catalysts were comparatively investigated for CO₂ conversion and methanol selectivity in a fixed-bed reactor under the condition of 2 MPa, 250 °C, H₂/CO₂ = 3/1 and GHSV = 12 000 mL g^-1 h^-1. The results showed that the activities of the catalysts increased in the order of CuZnO-ZrO₂-PC > CuZnO-ZrO₂-CP > CuZnO-ZrO₂-C. Moreover, the CO₂ conversion of CuZnO-ZrO₂-C increased by 38.9% via treatment with glow discharge plasma. The results are well explained based on the CO₂-TPD and H₂-TPR characterizations of the catalysts.