Effect of Support on Catalytic Performance of Photothermal Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis to Produce Lower Olefins over Fe5C2-based Catalysts

Photothermal Fischer-Tropsch synthesis(FTS) has been extensively studied, but few reports were focused on systematically exploring the influence of support on catalytic performance. Herein, a series of Fe₅C₂-based catalysts with different supports was fabricated via a one-step wet-chemical method for photothermal conversion of syngas to lower olefins. Under light irradiation, the optimized Fe₅C₂/α-Al₂O₃ catalyst demonstrated remarkable photothermal FTS activity, delivering selectivity to lower olefins of 50.3% with a CO conversion rate of 52.5%. Characterization studies using X-ray diffraction and Mössbauer spectroscopy analysis revealed that the active catalyst mainly contained Fe₅C₂ nanoparticles on α-Al₂O₃ support. It was found that the weak interaction between active phase and α-Al₂O₃ could promote the formation of Fe₅C₂, which contributed to the high selectivity to lower olefins.