Remarkably enhanced catalytic performance of three-dimensional hierarchically porous Mo2C catalysts for higher alcohols synthesis from syngas

Higher alcohols synthesis (HAS) is an important branch of syngas conversion, and Mo2C-based catalyst is a promising system for this reaction. However, the CO conversion and alcohols selectivity of current Mo2C-based catalysts are still low, which hinders their industrial application. Here, a series of Mo2C with three-dimensional hierarchically porous (3DHP) structures were prepared via a hard template method and their catalytic performance in HAS was investigated. The CO conversion and higher alcohols proportion of the optimal 3DHP catalyst were increased from 5.1 % and 60.4 % to 17.6 % and 70.5 %, respectively, compared with that of bulk Mo2C under similar total alcohols selectivity. The enhancement of the catalytic performance could be related to the increased number of active sites and the synergistic effect between multivalent Mo species. Additionally, the optimal 3DHP catalyst demonstrated good stability over a period of 200 h. This study provides a potential application for 3DHP materials and an alternative for designing efficient Mo2C catalysts for the HAS reactions.