Advanced photothermal synergistic catalysis of Ru-doped Ni/ZrO₂ in hydrogenation of CO₂

Photothermal synergistic catalysis (PTSC) is a potential and attractive technology due to its enhanced performance in medium- and low-temperature conditions. Herein, the present work focuses on investigating PTSC CO₂ hydrogenation over Ni/ZrO₂ doped with Ru. Compared with thermal catalysis, the NiRu_0.23/ZrO₂ resulted in higher CO₂ conversion and CH₄ selectivity at all temperature in PTSC condition. Among all the catalysts, NiRu_0.02/ZrO₂ exhibits the best performance, which the CO₂ conversion reach 48.37% and the CH₄ selectivity is close to 100% at 400 °C and PTSC. The NiRu_x bimetallic catalyst maintains excellent activity and stability after the catalyst durability test over 36 h. The characterization results reveal that appropriate Ru doping is beneficial for light absorption and enhances CO₂ adsorption capacity and activation. The migration of electrons from Ru to Ni atoms proves that there is a strong electronic interaction between Ni and Ru metals in the catalysts.