Hydrophobic dual metal silicate nanotubes for higher alcohol synthesis

Herein, a hydrophobic CuCoSNTs-c catalyst with hollow tubular structure and mesoporous wall was synthesized successfully for higher alcohol synthesis (HAS). The tubular CuCoSNTs-c was constructed with elaborately designed hydrophobic and aerophilic properties to suppress the formation of C1 molecules and enhance the CO conversion and C2+OH selectivity. The mesoporous wall exposed the active sites sufficiently, and the macroscopic tubular channel improved the mass transfer kinetics and accelerated the desorption of alcohol products. Moreover, the hydrophobic and aerophilic tube wall could modulate the local microenvironment of CuCoSNTs-c, that is, enriching the H2 and CO molecules around the CuCo active sites and rapidly desorbing the in-situ produced water molecules in HAS. The hydrophobic multifunctional CuCoSNTs-c catalyst suppressed the selectivity of CO2 to less than 1.2%, while achieving a C2+OH selectivity of up to 66.6% at a CO conversion of 80.4%. This catalyst demonstrated excellent stability for 360 h without obvious activity loss. © 2023 Elsevier B.V.