Tartaric acid-assisted synthesis of well-dispersed Ni nanoparticles supported on hydroxyapatite for efficient phenol hydrogenation

Longfei Zhu, ^a,† Sen Ye, ^b,† Jiazheng Zhu, ^a Chengjie Duan, ^a Kun Li, ^a Guangke He ^a and Xiang Liu ^{a, *}

^a School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, P. R. China.

^b Morningside Laboratory for Chemical Biology and Department of Chemistry, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, P. R. China.

ABSTRACT

Developing highly active non-noble metal-based heterogeneous catalysts for selective hydrogenation is a long-sought goal due to the scarcity and high price of noble metals. Herein, a well-dispersed and small-sized Ni nanoparticles (NPs) supported on the hydroxyapatite (Ni-TA/HAP) was prepared by using a simple tartaric acid (TA)-assisted impregnation method, which is based on the coupling interaction of strong electrostatic adsorption between the HAP and TA and reactive metal-ligand chelation between Ni and TA. Under mild conditions (e.g., 1 mol% Ni, 3 bar H₂ at 80 ^oC), the as-synthesized Ni-TA/HAP exhibited excellent activity and selectivity (>99%) for the efficient hydrogenation of phenolic compounds to corresponding cyclohexanols, as well as the controlled partial hydrogenation of N-heteroarenes. Characterization results revealed that the TA addition could promote a better dispersion of Ni species and inhibit the aggregation of Ni NPs during the fabrication of the Ni-TA/HAP catalyst. An optimal TA dosage (n_TA/n_Ni=0.5) as well as a low Ni loading (1.0 wt%) co-constructed the favorable microstructure of the well-dispersed Ni nanoparticles as the catalytic center. The hydrogenation was boosted by small-sized Ni nanoparticles with a high ability for H₂ activation and HAP with both base and acid sites for appreciating phenol absorption.

ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 2022, DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.2c01642. (Impact factor: 9.224)

论文链接：https://ssl123788b252ab572e1d236770a0fd7edf686.vpn.njtech.edu.cn/doi/full/10.1021/acssuschemeng.2c01642