<div> <div> <div> <p>Dual function materials (DFMs) enable reactive carbon capture (RCC), an intensified approach to carbon dioxide capture and utilization for cost and energy input reductions. Yet, there is a fundamental lack of understanding of mechanisms around CO2 adsorption and subsequent conversion on these materials, hindering further development. Herein, we investigated several supported alkaline metal oxides for their CO2 adsorption characteristics to find that Na/Al2O3 had the highest CO2 adsorption capacity, accompanied by a variety of CO2 adsorption geometries as identified by in situ DRIFTS and computational modeling. The addition of catalytic metals (Ru, Pd) increased the adsorption capacity of Na/Al2O3 without altering binding modes. In the subsequent reactive desorption step, acetate and formate intermediates were observed. Notably, this mechanistic investigation identified that the formation of acetate species was unique to RCC on a DFM, as these species were not observed in co-fed hydrogenation over the DFM or RCC over a Na-free catalyst.</p> <p>Herein, we share the structural CONTCARs obtained using periodic PBE calculations in VASP for hydrated (110) and (100) surfaces of gamma-alumina, Na2O-modified surface models for Na/Al2O3, subsequent structures of various surface carbonate (CO₃) and bicarbonate (HCO₃) configurations formed on each of these surfaces upon CO₂ adsorption and adsorbed acetate and formate radicals on the surfaces. </p> </div> </div> </div>