Highly dispersed molybdenum carbide nanoparticles supported on activated carbon as an efficient catalyst for the hydrodeoxygenation of vanillin
Abstract
Characterized by XRD and TEM, highly dispersed molybdenum carbide (Mo2C) nanoparticles with a diameter of 1–4 nm were effectively synthesized on activated carbon at 700 °C. The Mo2C-based catalyst exhibited high activity and stability for the hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of vanillin under mild conditions (100 °C, 1.0 MPa of H2, 3 h) in aqueous solution. According to the distribution of products with time, a HDO mechanism involving vanillyl alcohol as an intermediate product was proposed. Moreover, after being recycled several times, the loss of catalytic activity was negligible, which demonstrated that the Mo2C-based catalyst had the property of resistance to deactivation.