Surfactant-assisted synthesis of zero-dimensional iron nanomaterial for cellobiose hydrolysis

Abstract

A cost-effective, magnetically separable iron nanomaterial (15 wt% Fe) was synthesized using cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as a template and used for the hydrolysis of cellobiose at 120 °C. The m-FeCTB catalyst is ferromagnetic, mesoporous, and crystalline with a dominant γ-Fe₂O₃ phase; it has a high surface area (30 m² g⁻¹) and small particle size (60 nm). The cellobiose hydrolysis achieved a glucose yield of 60% and hydromethyl furfural (HMF) yield of 40% at 6 h. This catalytic activity with a turnover frequency of 0.037 s⁻¹ and selectivity for glucose and HMF was attributed to high surface area, calcination temperature (400 °C), crystallinity, metallic site, surface acidity (26 μmol g⁻¹) due to the presence of Fe²⁺, and small particle size. The m-FeCTB catalyst showed moderate recyclability over two cycles.