PdCu alloy promoting oxygen migration towards enhanced photocatalytic methane reforming with CO2 to syngas

Photocatalytic methane reforming with CO2 is a meaningful route to syngas. The sluggish mobility of oxygen during the reaction is known as a key issue that causes low activity and poor stability of catalysts due to coke formation. Herein, we report a novel PdCu-ZnO photocatalyst that is made up of PdCu alloy formed by Pd doping of Cu on ZnO nanoplates. The PdCu alloy benefits the oxygen migration process between metal and ZnO. The in situ characterizations and DFT calculations confirm the interaction between PdCu alloy and ZnO, and the process of metal alloy promoting oxygen migration during methane dry reforming has been revealed for the first time. The optimized PdCu-ZnO photocatalyst displayed a high syngas formation rate of over 15 mmol galloy-1h−1 with H2/CO = 1 and splendid stability. The “alloy promoting oxygen migration” strategy could shed light on the design of effective photocatalysts for methane dry reforming.