Strong metal–support interactions between gold nanoparticles and ZnO nanorods in CO oxidation. Tuning of catalytic sites in Pt/TiO 2 catalysts for the chemoselective hydrogenation of 3-nitrostyrene. Evidence of highly active cobalt oxide catalyst for the Fischer–Tropsch synthesis and CO 2 hydrogenation. Tuning the catalytic performance of Ni-catalysed dry reforming of methane and carbon deposition via Ni-CeO 2- x interaction. Strong interactions in supported-metal catalysts. Control of metal–support interactions in heterogeneous catalysts to enhance activity and selectivity. Isolated metal active site concentration and stability control catalytic CO 2 reduction selectivity. Stabilization of cobalt particles by ceria–zirconia particles of intermediate size leads to oxygen spillover to the support during the CO 2 and CO dissociation steps, followed by further hydrogenation of the resulting intermediates on cobalt. Reverse oxygen spillover from the support during treatment in hydrogen results in the generation of oxygen vacancies. A combination of X-ray diffraction, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, near-ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and infrared spectroscopy provides insight into the active sites at the interface between cobalt and ceria–zirconia involved in CO 2 hydrogenation to CH 4. Here, we demonstrate how varying the particle size of the support (ceria–zirconia) can be used to tune the metal–support interactions, resulting in a substantially enhanced CO 2 hydrogenation rate. Specific sites at the metal–support interface can give rise to unusual high reactivity, and there is a growing interest in optimizing not only the properties of metal particles but also the metal–support interface. Metal–support interactions have a strong impact on the performance of heterogeneous catalysts.

Cobalt metal