ZnO Particles Stabilized in Polymeric Matrix for Liquid-Phase Methanol Synthesis

ZnO supported on hypercrosslinked polystyrene was developed for liquid-phase methanol synthesis. The synthesized catalyst was characterized using the low-temperature nitrogen physisorption, TEM, XPS, XAS, and CO DRIFT methods. The analysis showed that the catalyst has a high specific surface area (720 m2/g) and is characterized by the micro-mesoporous structure typical of the polymer used. The active phase is represented by ZnO species with a hexagonal wurtzite structure. ZnO-HPS showed high activity, selectivity, and stability in liquid-phase methanol synthesis in comparison with the industrial catalyst. The activity of the proposed catalyst was found to be 1.64 times higher than that of the conventional Cu/ZnO/Al2O3.