Hydrophobic catalysts for syngas conversion

The conversion of syngas into valuable fuels and chemicals has been studied for a long period and is always influenced by water products such as the water-gas shift side reaction to form CO2 and competitive adsorption with reactants, yielding reduced activity. Recently, it has been reported that hydrophobization of the catalysts to accelerate water desorption could efficiently overcome such a limitation and improve catalytic performance in the syngas conversion. In this review, we focus on catalytic performances in the conversion of syngas to methane, dimethyl ether, and olefins by controlling the catalyst hydrophobicity. In addition, we also discuss the chemical modification for hydrophobization of the catalysts. Furthermore, the hydrophobic promoters are specifically mentioned because they could improve syngas conversion by physically mixing with the catalyst without chemical alterations to the catalyst surface. Finally, the concerns and challenges in this field are outlined, and a realistic outlook is suggested for precisely regulating the wettability of the catalysts. We hope that this review will be helpful for designing highly efficient heterogeneous catalysts in the future.