Abstract
Cu-ZnO-Al(2)O(3) catalysts are used as the industrial catalysts for water gas shift (WGS) and CO hydrogenation to methanol reactions. Herein, via a comprehensive experimental and theoretical calculation study of a series of ZnO/Cu nanocrystals inverse catalysts with well-defined Cu structures, we report that the ZnO-Cu catalysts undergo Cu structure-dependent and reaction-sensitive in situ restructuring during WGS and CO hydrogenation reactions under typical reaction conditions, forming the active sites of Cu(Cu(100))-hydroxylated ZnO ensemble and Cu(Cu(611))Zn alloy, respectively. These results provide insights into the active sites of Cu-ZnO catalysts for the WGS and CO hydrogenation reactions and reveal the Cu structural effects, and offer the feasible guideline for optimizing the structures of Cu-ZnO-Al(2)O(3) catalysts.