Efficient CH3OH formation on H2/Ar plasma‐treated CoO sites for CO2 + H2 + H2O DBD system

Abstract Packing heterogeneous catalysts to achieve a better plasma–catalyst synergy is critical to promoting CO 2 conversion into high‐value chemicals. Herein, a series of CoO‐based catalysts were synthesized, and the treated H 2 /Ar–CoO possessed the highest CH 3 OH selectivity (39.6%) in the CO 2 + H 2 + H 2 O system, about four times higher than the initial CoO (10.0%). Systemic characterizations showed that H 2 /Ar plasma treatment significantly increased the oxygen vacancy (O v ) concentration of H 2 /Ar–CoO by Ar + bombardment and synchronous H reduction. Considering the key role of CH 3 O on CH 3 OH generation upon kinetic simulations, we proposed that the O v in H 2 /Ar–CoO could accelerate the CH 3 O/OH adsorption and further recombine with H/CH 3 , in which the H 2 O provided abundant OH/H radicals via electron‐impact process. This study highlighted the importance of using H 2 O with O v ‐rich catalysts for plasma‐enabled CH 3 OH synthesis.