Xingcui Guo

Conversion of hexose into 5-hydroxymethylfurfural in imidazolium ionic liquids with and without a catalyst.

Conversion of fructose and glucose into 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) was investigated in various imidazolium ionic liquids, including 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (BmimCl), 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (HmimCl), 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (OmimCl), 1-benzyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (BemimCl), 1-Butyl-2,3-dimethylimidazolium chloride (BdmimCl), and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium p-toluenesulfonate (BmimPS). The acidic C-2 hydrogen of imidazolium cations was shown to play a major role in the dehydration of fructose in the absence of a catalyst, such as sulfuric acid or CrCl(3). Both the alkyl groups of imidazolium cations and the type of anions affected the reactivity of the carbohydrates. Although, except BmimCl and BemimCl, other four ionic liquids could only achieve not more than 25% HMF yields without an additional catalyst, 60-80% HMF yields were achieved in HmimCl, BdmimCl, and BmimPS in the presence of sulfuric acid or CrCl(3) in sufficient quantities.

Selective dehydration of fructose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural catalyzed by mesoporous SBA-15-SO3H in ionic liquid BmimCl

Mesoporous SBA-15 materials functionalized with propylsulfonic acid groups (SBA-15-SO(3)H) were synthesized through a conventional one-pot route. It was used as a catalyst for the selective synthesis of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) from the dehydration of fructose using BmimCl as solvent. Reaction time, temperature and fructose concentration were investigated during the HMF synthesis procedure. The catalyst SBA-15-SO(3)H exhibits high fructose conversion (near 100%) and HMF selectivity (about 81%) with good stability in the HMF synthesis. It was a suitable catalyst to produce HMF from renewable carbohydrates in potential industrial process.

Highly selective hydrogenation of furfural to furfuryl alcohol over Pt nanoparticles supported on g-C3N4 nanosheets catalysts in water.

Graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets were investigated for developing effective Pt catalyst supports for selective hydrogenation of furfural to furfuryl alcohol in water. The nanosheets with an average thickness of about 3 nm were synthesized by a simple and green method through thermal oxidation etching of bulk g-C3N4 in air. Combined with the unique feature of nitrogen richness and locally conjugated structure, the g-C3N4 nanosheets with a high surface area of 142 m2 g−1 were demonstrated to be an excellent supports for loading small-size Pt nanoparticles. Superior furfural hydrogenation activity in water with complete conversion of furfural and high selectivity of furfuryl alcohol (>99%) was observed for g-C3N4 nanosheets supported Pt catalysts. The large specific surface area, uniform dispersion of Pt nanoparticles and the stronger furfural adsorption ability of nanosheets contributed to the considerable catalytic performance. The reusability tests showed that the novel Pt catalyst could maintain high activity and stability in the furfural hydrogenation reaction.

Conversion of biomass-derived sorbitol to glycols over carbon-materials supported Ru-based catalysts

Ruthenium (Ru) supported on activated carbon (AC) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) was carried out in the hydrogenolysis of sorbitol to ethylene glycol (EG) and 1,2-propanediol (1,2-PD) under the promotion of tungsten (WOx) species and different bases. Their catalytic activities and glycols selectivities strongly depended on the support properties and location of Ru on CNTs, owning to the altered metal-support interactions and electronic state of ruthenium. Ru located outside of the tubes showed excellent catalytic performance than those encapsulated inside the nanotubes. Additionally, the introduction of WOx into Ru/CNTs significantly improved the hydrogenolysis activities, and a complete conversion of sorbitol with up to 60.2% 1,2-PD and EG yields was obtained on RuWOx/CNTs catalyst upon addition of Ca(OH)2. Stability study showed that this catalyst was highly stable against leaching and poisoning and could be recycled several times.

Selective hydrogenation of D-glucose to D-sorbitol over Ru/ZSM-5 catalysts

Ru particles were introduced into the zeolite ZSM-5 (MFI) by either a conventional impregnation method or a one-step template-free Process. The resultant materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction, N-2 adsorption-desorption, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, NH3 and CO2 temperature-programmed desorption. The results indicated that the Ru species in ZSM-5 catalysts prepared via the latter approach (designated as Ru/ZSM-5-TF) were highly dispersed in the ZSM-5 framework structure and this material exhibited high catalytic performance during the hydrogenation of D-glucose to D-sorbitol. The conversion of D-glucose was as high as 99.6% with D-sorbitol selectivity reaching 99.2%, exceeding the performance of Ru/ZSM-5 catalysts prepared by the conventional impregnation method with microporous or desilicated ZSM-5 supports. More importantly, this catalyst showed high stability against leaching and poisoning and could be reused several times. The extensive dispersion of the Ru species, strong interaction between the Ru species and the ZSM-5, and the suitable surface acidity-basicity balance of the Ru/ZSM-5-TF were all critical factors leading to excellent catalytic behavior and stability. (c) 2014, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A novel hierarchical porous nitrogen-doped carbon derived from bamboo shoot for high performance supercapacitor

Porous N-doped carbons hold good prospects for application in supercapacitor due to their low-cost, large surface area, good surface wettability, high electrical conductivity as well as extra pseudocapacitance. However, most synthetic methods required the tedious and multiple-step process with the assistance of hard/soft templates or the massive use of chemical reagents, and exogenous nitrogen sources, which made them difficult to realize industrial production and application. Here, we described a novel hierarchical porous N-doped carbons fabricated by a facile and sustainable approach via hydrothermal treatment and subsequent carbonization process by using renewable bamboo shoots as the starting material without any templates, additional chemical activation and nitrogen source. The obtained bamboo shoot-derived carbons possessed a large BET surface area (up to 972 m2 g−1), hierarchically interconnected porous framework, rich and uniform nitrogen incorporation (3.0 at%). Benefiting from these unique features, the novel carbon-based electrode materials displayed a high capacitance of 412 F g−1 in KOH electrolyte and long cycling life stability. Thus, an advanced electrode material for high-performance supercapacitor was successfully assembled by a simple and scalable synthesis route with abundant renewable resources freely available in nature.