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An alloy chemistry strategy to tailoring the d-band center of Ni by Cu for efficient and selective catalytic hydrogenation of furfural

2020; Elsevier BV; Volume: 383; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.jcat.2020.01.019

1090-2694

Feiying Tang, Liqiang Wang, Maru Dessie Walle, Abdulhadi Mustapha, You‐Nian Liu,

Catalysis and Hydrodesulfurization Studies

Nickel is a promising catalyst for the hydrogenation of furfural (FA) into furfuryl alcohol (FOL) and tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol (TFOL). However, slow H* desorption and low catalytic selectivity limit its practical application. Herein, we employed an alloying strategy to tailoring the d-band center of Ni by Cu for efficient and selective catalytic hydrogenation of furfural. A series of Ni-Cu alloy catalysts (NiCux/C) were prepared by pyrolyzing NiCux-BTC (a MOF containing Cu and Ni) precursors. Theoretical calculation demonstrates that Ni exhibits a downshifted d-band center once alloyed by Cu. This change can not only promote the desorption of H from Ni surface to improve the catalytic activity but also thermodynamically favor the transformation of adsorption orientation of FA (from a flat orientation on Ni to a tilted one on Ni-Cu alloy) to enable the selective conversion of FA into FOL or TFOL on demand. NiCu0.33/C catalyst exhibits enhanced activity and selectivity for FA hydrogenation compared to pure Ni and Cu.