Ordered mesoporous NiMg bimetal oxides confined KMoS catalyst for selective CO hydrogenation into higher alcohols

Abstract Higher alcohols synthesis (HAS) from syngas (CO and H2) is highly desirable but remains suppressed by low CO conversion and alcohols selectivity. Herein, a solvent-free solid–liquid method was proposed to fabricate the ordered mesoporous NiMg mixed metal oxides, which served as support to confine the growth of MoS2 for HAS. Ordered mesoporous confinement can regulate the Mo-Ni interaction to significantly enhance specific surface area and dispersion of MoS2 slabs with low stacking, proper size, and dominant double-layer MoS2 stacking (~32%). As a result, the KMoS/Ni2Mg1-O exhibits excellent performance of total alcohol selectivity (56.1%), CO conversion (9.9%), and significantly improved turnover frequency (11.3 h−1) and space–time yield (STY, 50.9 mg g-1h−1) of C2+ alcohols. This work proposed a promising route to enhance CO conversion and higher alcohols selectivity in selective CO hydrogenation by confinement effect with ordered mesoporous oxides to modulate KMoS and NiMoS active sites.