Tailored mesoporous copper/ceria catalysts for the selective hydrogenolysis of biomass-derived glycerol and sugar alcohols

Abstract

The selective hydrogenolysis of sugar alcohols is a promising means to produce valuable products from renewable biomass resources. The previous Cu-based catalysts generally suffer from low activity and/or poor stability. We report the design and fabrication of a tailored mesoporous copper/ceria catalyst by a one-step solid-state grinding-assisted nanocasting method. This new catalyst truly replicated the morphology and mesoporous structure of the silica template such as SBA-15 and KIT-6. The characterization techniques strongly reflected that Cu²⁺ was successfully substituted into the CeO₂ lattice and Cu nanoparticles were homogenously dispersed in the nanocomposite. This copper/ceria catalyst was highly active (TOF 4.8 h⁻¹) and stable for 300 h in the hydrogenolysis of glycerol to 1,2-propanediol. The excellent catalytic performance is due to monodisperse Cu nanoparticles, strong interaction between Cu and CeO₂ species, and tailored mesoporous structure.