Bimetallic Co-Cu catalysts are widely applied in higher alcohol synthesis (HAS), but the formation of the final active structure has not yet been fully clarified, especially for Co-rich catalysts. We investigated the structural evolution of a Co-Cu catalyst (Co:Cu = 2) from the hydrotalcite precursor containing additional Al³⁺ and Zn²⁺ to the final active state after 80 h under reaction conditions at 280 °C and 60 bar. The reconstruction of the bimetallic Co-Cu nanoparticles obtained by H₂ reduction was induced by the feed gas consisting of an equimolar H₂ and CO syngas mixture resulting in fast phase separation and sintering of metallic Cu⁰ and Co⁰ in the first 2 h time on stream (TOS) and a continuous carbidization of Co⁰ forming Co₂C and its sintering until steady state was reached after 40 h TOS. An intergrowth of metallic Cu⁰ nanoparticles with Co₂C nanoparticles was observed to occur under reaction conditions. The high selectivity to oxygenates amounting to 41% compared with 29% to hydrocarbons is ascribed to the multi-functional Co₂C/Cu⁰ interface enabling dissociative CO adsorption, hydrogenation and CO insertion. The formation of hydrogenated carbon species (C_xH_y) originating from dissociative CO chemisorption is assumed to be favored by hydrogen spillover from Cu⁰ to Co₂C. The adsorption sites for molecular CO provided by both Cu⁰ and Co₂C facilitate its insertion into the C_xH_y intermediates thus leading to a higher selectivity to alcohols following the Anderson-Schulz-Flory distribution.

双金属Co-Cu催化剂广泛用于高级醇合成（HAS），但最终活性结构的形成尚未完全阐明，特别是对于富Co催化剂。我们研究了在280°C和60 bar的反应条件下80 h后，Co-Cu催化剂（Co：Cu = 2）从含有额外Al ³⁺和Zn ²⁺的水滑石前体的结构演变为最终活性态的过程。由H ₂还原获得的双金属Co-Cu纳米颗粒的重构是由由等摩尔H ₂和CO合成气混合物组成的进料气引起的，从而实现了金属Cu ⁰和Co ^0的快速相分离和烧结。在最初的2小时运行时间（TOS）中，Co ⁰连续碳化形成Co ₂ C并烧结，直到40 h TOS之后达到稳定状态。在反应条件下观察到金属Cu ⁰纳米颗粒与Co ₂ C纳米颗粒的共生。多官能团的Co ₂ C / Cu ⁰界面使含氧化合物的选择性高达41％，而对烃类的选择性为29％，可实现离解性CO吸附，氢化和CO的插入。假定由于铜的氢溢出，有利于源自解离性CO化学吸附的氢化碳物质（C _x H _y）的形成。⁰对Co ₂由铜既提供C的吸附位点的分子CO ⁰和Co ₂ ç便于其插入到C _X ħ _ý中间体从而导致更高的选择性为醇继安德森-舒尔茨-弗洛里分布。