Cu–Ga³⁺-Doped Wurtzite ZnO Interfaces Promoting Enhanced Methanol Production over Co-Precipitated Cu/ZnO/Ga₂O₃ Catalysts [Dataset]

A detailed understanding of the interactions among the active components in gallium promoted Cu/ZnO catalysts, depending on the speciation of the gallium, are reported using in situ/operando spectroscopic studies, and their effect in the CO2 hydrogenation to methanol unraveled. In this contribution, the promoting effect of Ga3+-doped in the wurtzite ZnO lattice of a Cu/ZnO/Ga2O3 catalyst is compared to that of a zinc gallate (ZnGa2O4) phase. Remarkably, a strong inhibition of CO formation, together with an enhanced methanol formation, are observed in the Ga3+-doped ZnO sample, specifically at conditions where the competitive reverse water gas shift reaction predominates. The catalytic performance has been correlated with the microstructure of the catalyst where a surface enrichment with reduced ZnOx species, together with the stabilization of positive charged copper species and an increase in the amount of surface basic sites for CO2 adsorption are observed on the most selective sample. Description of methods used for collection/generation of data: Electrochemical measurements. Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) tests were performed in a three electrode electrochemical cell connected to a potentiostat using the catalyst as working electrode (with an exposed area to the electrolyte of 0.5 cm2), an Ag/AgCl (3 M, KCl) reference electrode and a platinum tip as counter electrode. The working electrode was made by the deposition of 30 mg of ex situ reduced catalyst dispersed on 0.5 mL of ethanol on a FTO glass. The deposition was carried out using a spin coating at 3000 rpm. EIS were carried out at 0 VAg/AgCl and applying a potential perturbation of 10 mV from 10 kHz to 10 mHz. Additionally, Mott-Schottky plots were conducted scanning the potential from 0.2 V to −1.0 VAg/AgCl at a rate of 50 mV s−1 at 5000 Hz. The electrolyte used for the electrochemical measurements was 0.1 M Na2SO4. Methods for processing the data: Processed data are registered in files with extension csv.