CeO ₂ /InNi ₃ C _0.5 as High-Performance Catalysts for the Reverse Water–Gas Shift Reaction

The reverse water–gas shift reaction represents a crucial route for CO 2 utilization, yet developing catalysts that combine high activity, selectivity, and long-term stability at high temperatures remains a great challenge. This work presents a robust and highly selective catalyst system constructed by supporting nanosized oxides CeO 2 on a bulk InNi 3 C 0.5 carbide. The optimal 30CeO 2 /InNi 3 C 0.5 catalyst achieves a CO formation rate of 7358 μmol CO ·g cat –1 ·s –1 at 600 °C under an ultrahigh weight hourly space velocity of 12,000 L·g cat –1 ·h –1, surpassing most reported catalysts. More importantly, it exhibits robust stability for over 100 h at 600 °C, with minimal deactivation. A combination of mechanistic investigations reveals that the CeO 2 –InNi 3 C 0.5 interface not only enhances CO 2 adsorption and suppresses the sintering of the carbide phase but also introduces an associative formate-mediated pathway that operates in parallel with the classical redox pathway on the carbide. This dual-pathway mechanism accounts for the enhanced kinetics. Furthermore, the other metal oxides, such as Y 2 O 3 and MgO, offer similar promotional effects, which confirms the generality of the “oxide-carbide interface” strategy and provides a versatile paradigm for designing advanced thermocatalysts for CO 2 conversion.