Regulating the Cu⁺ distribution by the controllable metal-support interaction via thermal treatment for boosting reverse water–gas shift reaction

Metal-support interaction (MSI) is an efficient strategy to modulate the distribution of active metal with different electronic states over the oxide-supported metal catalysts. However, the intrinsic correlation between the intensity of MSI and the electronic structure of supported metals remains inadequate. In this work, the intensity of MSI over the Cu/Y₂O₃ catalyst was tuned by the calcination temperature, which regulated the distribution of Cu⁰, Cu⁺ and Cu²⁺ species. The Cu/Y₂O₃ catalyst with the highest amount of Cu⁺ exhibits the superior performance of reverse water–gas shift reaction. Due to the enhanced H₂ activation and promoted charge transfer at the interfacial Cu⁺/Y₂O₃ site based on the experimental characterizations, the CO formation rate reached 220 mmol_COg_cat⁻¹ h⁻¹ at 500 °C. The present work provides an efficient way to regulate the supported metal species with the specific electronic state.