Sputtering FeCu nanoalloys as active sites for alkane formation in CO2 hydrogenation

Catalytic conversion of CO2 to high-value products is a crucial method to achieve targets of carbon dioxide emissions peak and carbon neutralization. However, realizing a controllable product distribution in a single CO2 hydrogenation process is of great challenge. Herein, we prepared the CuFe nanoalloy catalyst that directly transforms CO2 to alkanes using physical sputtering method in mild condition. The characteristic results show that the proximity between Cu and Fe is the crucial factor to tunable products among the different catalysts. The formation of unique coordination of FeCu4 nanoalloys from high-energy sputtering process provides close interaction between Cu and Fe, which is favorable to formation of low carbon paraffin, however, a distant proximity and weak interaction will increase the selectivity of olefins and alcohols. This work provides a general strategy for tuning target chemicals and enriches the viewpoints in CO2 hydrogenation.