Dry reforming of methane (DRM) is a promising route for the resource utilization of greenhouse gases; however, catalyst deactivation due to carbon deposition remains a major challenge. In this work, Ru-based catalysts supported on rare-earth high-entropy oxide (HEO, LaPrSmEuNdO_x), medium-entropy oxide (MEO, LaPrSmO_x), and single-component La₂O₃ were synthesized to investigate the role of configurational entropy of oxide support in catalytic performance and mechanism towards DRM reaction. Ru/HEO, featuring a fluorite structure and highly dispersed Ru sites, demonstrated superior activity, H₂/CO ratio, and 50-h coke-resistant stability at 650 °C compared to Ru/MEO and Ru/La₂O₃. Catalytic studies, temperature-programmed characterizations, and spectral evidence revealed that Ru/HEO selectively activates CH₄ via partial dissociation to CH_x* and facilitates CO₂ activation by proper surface basicity and enhanced oxygen mobility and oxygen vacancy density. The in-situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform (DRIFT) spectra identified the key reaction intermediates, confirming a cooperative conversion pathway of CH₄ and CO₂ on Ru/HEO for boosted activity and stability. This work provides insights into the entropy effect-driven structure design of active and anti-coking metal catalysts and mechanistic understanding of DRM reaction pathways.

Using biodiesel-based glycerol as raw material to directly synthesize glycerol carbonate with CO₂ can not only promote the benign development of biodiesel industry, but also have positive significance for carbon reduction. However, the glycerol-CO₂ reaction is unfavorable in thermodynamics and kinetics, leading to a poor catalytic property. In order to achieve high activation of glycerol and CO₂, as well as break the low reaction efficiency, accurately and effectively reinforcing the reaction process and tuning the structure of catalysts are of significance. In this survey, we summarize the recent advances of the direct synthesis of glycerol carbonate from carbon dioxide and glycerol in the view of both the catalyst design and the process intensification. Particularly, the thermocatalysis, photothermal catalysis, and electrothermal catalysis are discussed. In addition, the structure–activity relationship and mechanism based on activated glycerol and CO₂ over the heterogeneous catalysts are also presented. Furthermore, we also provide some feasible strategies for catalyst preparation and process intensification to promote the catalytic properties.