Pd nanoparticles immobilized on boehmite by using tannic acid as structure-directing agent and stabilizer: a high performance catalyst for hydrogenation of olefins

Abstract

Boehmite-supported Pd nanoparticles (Pd–TA–boehmite) were successfully synthesized by a hydrothermal method using tannic acid as the structure-directing agent as well as stabilizer. The physicochemical properties of the Pd–TA–boehmite catalyst were well characterized by XPS, XRD, N₂ adsorption/desorption, and TEM analyses. Catalytic hydrogenation of olefins was used as the probe reaction to evaluate the activity of the Pd–TA–boehmite catalyst. For comparison, the Pd–boehmite catalyst prepared without tannic acid was also employed for olefin hydrogenation. For all the investigated substrates, the Pd–TA–boehmite catalyst exhibited superior catalytic performance than the Pd–boehmite catalyst. For the example of hydrogenation of allyl alcohol, the initial hydrogenation rate and selectivity of the Pd–TA–boehmite catalyst were 23,520 mol/mol h and 99 %, respectively, while those of the Pd–boehmite catalyst were only 14,186 mol/mol h and 93 %, respectively. Additionally, the hydrogenation rate of the Pd–TA–boehmite catalyst could still reach 20,791 mol/mol h at the 7th cycle, which was much higher than that of the Pd–boehmite catalyst (5,250 mol/mol h) at the 4th cycle, thus showing an improved reusability.