Abstract: Levulinic acid (LA) hydrogenation to γ-valerolactone (GVL) is a key reaction in sustainable biomass conversion, with wide applications in the preparation of renewable chemicals and liquid transportation fuels. Conventional supported monometallic Ru catalysts offer high LA conversion and GVL selectivity, but they suffer from leaching and poor stability. Herein, a series of composition-tuned RuCo bimetallic catalysts (RuxCo1-x-N-C, x=0.0-1.0) were facilely realized via high-temperature pyrolysis of Ru,Co bimetallic zeolitic imidazolate framework (BIMZIF(Ru,Co)). The resulting Ru1Co1-x-N-C materials are in-depth characterized with TEM, XPS, HE-XRD, EXAFS and DRIFTS techniques. HE-XRD patterns demonstrated the formation of RuCo alloys. EXAFS and DRIFTS characterization results showed that with suitable molar ratio of Ru/Co (Ru0.03Co0.97-N-C), the Ru ensembles on the surface were gradually separated and eventually isolated by Co atoms, confirming that the Ru alloyed Co single-atom catalyst was formed. Comparing with monometallic Ru or Co catalysts, the catalyst exhibited excellent catalytic performance and stability for the hydrogenation of LA to GVL, meanwhile the catalyst could be used at least 8 times without obvious loss of its catalytic performance. Our strategy demonstrated here provides a facile method to make single-atom alloyed catalyst.

Facile fabrication of RuCo single-atom alloyed catalysts for levulinic acid hydrogenation to γ-valerolactone

2019 Fall National Meeting

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