Mesoporous α-Al2O3-supported PdCu bimetallic nanoparticle catalyst for the selective semi-hydrogenation of alkynes

Jianfeng Li; Wenli Suo; Yuena Huang; Minglin Chen; Haowen Ma; Chuang Liu; Huan Zhang; Kun Liang; Zhengping Dong

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2023.08.076

Mesoporous α-Al₂O₃-supported PdCu bimetallic nanoparticle catalyst for the selective semi-hydrogenation of alkynes

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2023 Dec 15;652(Pt A):1053-1062. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.08.076. Epub 2023 Aug 12.

Authors

Jianfeng Li¹, Wenli Suo², Yuena Huang¹, Minglin Chen³, Haowen Ma³, Chuang Liu¹, Huan Zhang², Kun Liang⁴, Zhengping Dong⁵

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, Laboratory of Special Function Materials and Structure Design of the Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, PR China.
² Lanzhou Petrochemical Company, PetroChina Company Limited, Lanzhou 730060, PR China.
³ Lanzhou Petrochemical Research Center, Petrochemical Research Institute, PetroChina Company Limited, Lanzhou 730060, PR China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, Laboratory of Special Function Materials and Structure Design of the Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, PR China. Electronic address: liangk@lzu.edu.cn.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, Laboratory of Special Function Materials and Structure Design of the Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, PR China. Electronic address: dongzhp@lzu.edu.cn.

PMID: 37639927
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.08.076

Abstract

The selective hydrogenation of alkynes to alkenes is widely applied in the chemical industry; nevertheless, achieving highly selective hydrogenation with high catalytic activity is considerably challenging. Herein, ultrafine PdCu bimetallic nanoparticles encapsulated by high-surface-area mesoporous α-Al₂O₃ were prepared by high-temperature calcination-reduction using a porous organic framework (POF) as the template. As-obtained PdCu@α-Al₂O₃ exhibited a high selectivity of 95% for the semi-hydrogenation of phenylacetylene as a probe reaction under mild reaction conditions. The separation of continuous Pd atoms and modification of the Pd electronic state by Cu atoms suppressed β-hydride formation and alkene adsorption, contributing to high selectivity for the catalytic hydrogenation of alkynes. The catalytic activity was maintained after 7 cycles due to the strong interaction between the PdCu bimetallic nanoparticles and α-Al₂O₃ as well as the encapsulation effect of mesoporous α-Al₂O₃. Thus, the current work provides a facile strategy for fabricating high-surface-area mesoporous α-Al₂O₃-supported catalysts for industrial catalysis applications.

Keywords: Alkynes; Mesoporous α-Al(2)O(3); PdCu bimetallic nanoparticles; Semi-hydrogenation.