Interface mediated CO2 hydrogenation on inverse supported ZrO2/Ni(1 1 1) nanocluster catalyst.

[Display omitted] • CO 2 hydrogenation over inverse supported Zr 9 O 18 /Ni(1 1 1) nanocatalyst was computed. • Charge transfer from Ni(1 1 1) to supported Zr 9 O 18 nanoparticle has been found. • Supported Zr 9 O 18 nanoparticle has coordinatively unsaturated Zr sites at interface. • H 2 prefers dissociative adsorption on Ni(1 1 1) and CO 2 activation prefers interface Zr sites. • Surface HCOO is the most important intermediate and methanol is the selective product. To tune the activity and selectivity of CO 2 hydrogenation, inverse supported Zr 9 O 18 /Ni(1 1 1) catalysts are designed based on ab initio molecular dynamics simulation and density functional theory calculation under the consideration of the number of interfacial O and Zr atoms as well as the interaction between O and Zr atoms. For the most stable catalyst with coordinatively unsaturated interface Zr sites, charge transfer from surface to oxide has been found. The Ni(1 1 1) surface is pre-covered by H atoms and the interface Zr sites can activate CO 2 to a large extent, and their interaction results in the spontaneous formation of surface formate. Further hydrogenation of surface formate leads to the selective formation of methanol with an apparent Gibbs free energy barrier of 0.62 eV, lower than that of methane formation (1.09 eV). On the contrary to metallic nickel and supported nickel catalysts, the most favoured methanol formation route [HCOO → CHO → CH 2 O → CH 3 O → CH 3 OH] does not involve CO as intermediate, revealing the mediated interface effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]