Research progress on Cu-ZrO2 catalysts: a systematic review of their preparations, doping, and applications

Abstract

Due to the energy and environmental crises, there has been an active pursuit to achieve sustainable development of chemical reactions. Cu-ZrO2 catalysts have sensitive relationships between structural properties and activity, as well as a wide range of applications that can support their key catalytic role in sustainable chemical reactions. A deeper comprehension of the relationships between structural properties and activity in the preparations and reactions would facilitate the design and tuning of Cu-ZrO2 catalysts to enhance their catalytic performance, thereby facilitating their widespread use. However, there is a lack of reports on a relatively comprehensive summary of the research on Cu-ZrO2 catalysts from the perspective of the relationship between structural properties and activity in order to systematically establish a framework of information in this field. This may limit the further application of these catalysts. This paper has reviewed the methods, assistive technologies, and process conditions for the preparation of Cu-ZrO2 catalysts, as well as the effects of the doping of different materials on the physicochemical properties and structure of the catalysts, and further summarized their catalytic behaviors, structure activity relationships, and reaction mechanisms in the reactions of CO and CO2 conversion, hydrogen preparation, conversion of biomass derivatives, treatment of pollutants in air or wastewater, preparation of intermediates for fine chemicals, etc., and the effects of preparation parameters and reaction conditions on catalytic performance, etc. In this paper, the ideas of performance tuning and application of Cu-ZrO2 catalysts have been proposed, and the essence of their strong metal-carrier interactions has been discussed, aiming to provide assistance in their design and further application.