Haixiao Kang

Selective hydrogenolysis of biomass-derived furfuryl alcohol into 1,2- and 1,5-pentanediol over highly dispersed Cu-Al2O3 catalysts

Abstract Cu nanoparticles supported on a variety of oxide supports, including SiO2, TiO2, ZrO2, Al2O3, MgO and ZnO, were investigated for the hydrogenolysis of biomass-derived furfuryl alcohol to 1,2-pentanediol and 1,5-pentanediol. A Cu-Al2O3 catalyst with 10 wt% Cu loading prepared by a co-precipitation method exhibited the best performance in terms of producing pentanediols compared with the other materials. This catalyst generated an 85.8% conversion and a 70.3% combined selectivity for the target pentanediols at 413 K and 8 MPa H2 over an 8-h reaction. The catalyst could also be recycled over repeated reaction trials without any significant decrease in productivity. Characterizations with X-ray diffraction, NH3/CO2-temperature programmed desorption, N2 adsorption, transmission electron microscopy and N2O chemisorption demonstrated that intimate and effective interactions between Cu particles and the acidic Al2O3 support in this material greatly enhanced its activity and selectivity. The promotion of the hydrogenolysis reaction was found to be especially sensitive to the Cu particle size, and the catalyst with Cu particles 1.9 to 2.4 nm in size showed the highest turnover frequency during the synthesis of pentanediols.

Tunable photocatalytic selectivity and stability of Ba-doped Ag3PO4 hollow nanosheets

Abstract A one-step cation exchange process has been applied for the first time to the fabrication of nanoporous Ba-doped Ag3PO4 hollow nanosheets using Ba3(PO4)2 as the starting material. The constituent-dependent changes in phase and morphology were investigated comprehensively to elucidate the nanosheet formation mechanism. The resultant Ba-doped Ag3PO4 hollow nanosheets exhibited much higher photocatalytic performance and photoconversion efficiency than Ag3PO4 cubes and spherical particles under visible light irradiation. More importantly, the photocatalyst exhibited unique preferential decomposition of methyl orange over rhodamine B and high photocatalytic stability under visible light irradiation.