Fig. 3: Mechanism study of catalytic LAS production over Ni@C-Sx catalysts.

a The measured hydrogenation rate, EtOH dehydrogenation rate and C–C formation rate over catalysts. n-butanal-TPD/MS profiles over Ni@C-Sx catalysts: Signal of n-butanal (m/z = 72) (b) and signal of 1-propane (m/z = 44) (c). Temperature-dependent in situ DRIFTS spectra for n-butanal adsorption on Ni@C-S0 catalyst (d), Ni@C-S1/30 catalyst (e) and Ni@C-S1/25 catalyst (f).