Low-temperature synthesis of high-performance nano-MoS2-based catalyst via non-thermal plasma for higher alcohol synthesis from syngas

A low-temperature, flexible and facile non-thermal plasma method was used to synthesize the highly efficient nano-MoS2-based catalysts under ambient conditions. [Display omitted] •Nano-MoS2-based catalysts were synthesized via non-thermal plasma approach.•The enhancement is attributable to the thin and short MoS2 slabs.•The performance of the plasma-prepared MoS2-based catalyst was stable in the 200 h runs.•Directly plasma-prepared MoS2 possessed the best behavior for higher alcohol synthesis. High-performance nano-MoS2-based catalysts for higher alcohol synthesis (HAS) through CO hydrogenation were synthesized using non-thermal plasma under ambient conditions. The as-synthesized catalysts were carefully characterized using XRD, BET, H2-TPD/TPR, CO-TPD, in-situ CO adsorption DRIFTS, TEM, XPS, ICP, elemental analysis, and CO-TPSR techniques. The study results suggest that the non-thermal plasma approach not only achieves a large number of the small nano-MoS2 particles, but also decreases the synthesis time, compared to the conventional thermal methods. This flexible and facile approach can give the thinner and shorter MoS2 slabs, expose more coordinatively unsaturated sites, and increase the number of active centers for alcohols formation. Therefore, the non-thermal plasma-synthesized MoS2-based catalysts exhibited the excellent catalytic performances for HAS.