The effect of support calcination on carbon supported palladium catalysts for solvent-free benzyl alcohol oxidation

Wang, Kai, Pattisson, Samuel, Douthwaite, Mark, Conway, Matthew B., Lewis, Richard J., Tan, Shengdong, He, Qian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4891-3581, Morgan, David J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6571-5731, Taylor, Stuart H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1933-4874 and Hutchings, Graham J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8885-1560 2025. The effect of support calcination on carbon supported palladium catalysts for solvent-free benzyl alcohol oxidation. Catalysis Science & Technology 10.1039/d5cy00027k

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Abstract

Carbon is ubiquitous as a catalyst support used in a wide range of reactions. Various thermal and chemical approaches can tailor the physical properties of the support, such as the surface functionality, to control activity and selectivity. In this study, the effect of pretreatment of the carbon support, via calcination, is explored. A series of Pd/C catalysts prepared with increasing calcination temperature, and the final supported catalysts are compared to the untreated sample for their activity in the solvent free aerobic oxidation of benzyl alcohol. The increasing pretreatment temperature coincided with the increased removal of impurities such as sulfur, a higher active metal surface area and an increased acid oxygen functionality. The latter is proposed to dramatically affect metal dispersion resulting in an overall lower intrinsic activity of the catalysts. Interestingly, no effect on selectivity was found when catalysts were studied at iso-conversion. The role of the oxidative treatment was confirmed by comparison to an analogous treatment in nitrogen which had negligible impact on metal dispersion and intrinsic activity compared to the untreated standard material.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Schools > Chemistry
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/, Start Date: 2025-08-13
Publisher:	Royal Society of Chemistry
ISSN:	2044-4753
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	27 August 2025
Date of Acceptance:	12 August 2025
Last Modified:	27 Aug 2025 10:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/180681

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