LAUSR

Noble metals dispersed on transition-metal carbides exhibit extraordinary activity in CO2 catalytic conversion and bimetallic carbides generated at the interface were proposed to contribute to the observed activity. Heteronuclear metal carbide clusters (HMCCs) that compositionally resemble the bimetallic carbides are suitable models to get a fundamental understanding of the reactivity of the related condensed-phase catalysts, while the reaction of HMCCs with CO2 has not been touched in the gas phase. Herein, benefiting from the newly designed double ion trap reactors, the reaction of laser-ablation generated and mass-selected RhTaC2- clusters with CO2 was studied. The experimental results identified that RhTaC2- can reduce four CO2 molecules consecutively and generate the product RhTaC2O4-. The pivotal roles of Rh-Ta synergy and the C2 ligand in driving CO2 reduction were rationalized by theoretical calculations. The presence of an attached CO unit on the product RhTaC2O4- was evidenced by the collision-induced dissociation experiment, providing a fundamental strategy to alleviate carbon deposition under a CO2 atmosphere at elevated temperatures.