Issue 20, 2018

Boron-doped graphene as a metal-free catalyst for gas-phase oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde

Abstract

Boron-doped graphene samples (BGs) with tunable boron content of 0–2.90 at% were synthesized and directly used in the gas-phase oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde, and showed excellent performance. XPS results indicated that the graphitic sp2 B species (BC3) is the mainly boron dopant species incorporated in the graphene lattice, which could significantly improve the content of ketone carbonyl groups (C[double bond, length as m-dash]O) on the graphene. For instance, the contents of C[double bond, length as m-dash]O jumped from 1.93 to 4.19 at% while BC3 doped into the graphene lattice was only 0.35 at%. The C[double bond, length as m-dash]O is the active site of catalytic reaction, so BG has significantly improved catalytic activity. Compared to the un-doped graphene (G), the conversion of benzyl alcohol over BGs increased 2.35 times and the selectivity of benzaldehyde increased from 77.3% to 99.2%. Aerobic–anaerobic exchange experiments revealed that the superior catalytic performance of BG was achieved only under aerobic conditions. The study of the boron-doped carbocatalyst may also provide guidance for the design of surface modified carbon-based catalysts for the selective oxidation dehydrogenation of alcohols by regulating doping elements and their types.

Graphical abstract: Boron-doped graphene as a metal-free catalyst for gas-phase oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
11 Janv. 2018
Accepted
12 Marts 2018
First published
20 Marts 2018
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

RSC Adv., 2018,8, 11222-11229

Boron-doped graphene as a metal-free catalyst for gas-phase oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde

W. Cheng, X. Liu, N. Li, J. Han, S. Li and S. Yu, RSC Adv., 2018, 8, 11222 DOI: 10.1039/C8RA00290H

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