Engineering of Ruthenium-Iron Oxide Colloidal Heterostructures Leads to Improved Yields in CO2 hydrogenation to Hydrocarbons

Catalytic CO₂ reduction to fuels and chemicals is one of the major pursuits in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. One such popular approach utilizes the reverse water-gas shift reaction, followed by Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, and iron is a well-known candidate for this process. Some attempts have been made to modify and improve its reactivity, but resuted in limited success. In this work, using ruthenium-iron oxide colloidal heterodimers we demonstrate that close contact between the two phases promotes the reduction of iron oxide via a proximal hydrogen spillover effect, leading to the formation of ruthenium-iron core-shell structures active for the reaction at significantly lower temperatures than in bare iron catalysts.Furthermore, by engineering the iron oxide shell thickness, we achieve a fourfold increase in hydrocarbon yield compared to the original heterodimers. In general, our work shows how rational design of colloidal heterostructures can result in materials with significantly improved catalytic performance in CO₂ conversion processes.