Fundamentally Understanding Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis

Fischer–Tropsch (FT) synthesis is a key process in the utilization of nonpetroleum carbon resources, such as methane (shale gas, combustible ice, and natural gas), coal, biomass, and even domestic waste for the sustainable production of clean liquid fuels from syngas. This section highlights recent advances in determining the active phase of FT catalysts, observing the surface evolution under working state and exploring the reaction mechanism by new characterization techniques. Furthermore, we pay particular attention to the structure–activity correlation for the typical FT catalyst, which is the most important challenge for scientific research.