Versatile nickel–tungsten bimetallics/carbon nanofiber catalysts for direct conversion of cellulose to ethylene glycol

Abstract

We herein propose a novel synthetic methodology for a series of nickel–tungsten bimetallics/carbon nanofiber catalysts (Ni, 0.37–2.08 wt%; W, 0.01–0.06 wt%) in situ fabricated by pyrolysis (950 °C) of Ni, W and Zn-containing metal organic framework (Ni_0.6−x–W_x–ZnBTC, x = 0–0.6) fibers. The resulting catalysts (Ni_0.6−x–W_x/CNF) have uniform particles (ca. 68 nm), evenly dispersed onto the hierarchically porous carbon nanofibers formed simultaneously. All of the Ni_0.6−x–W_x/CNF catalysts prove to be highly active towards direct conversion of cellulose to ethylene glycol (EG). A large productivity ranging from 15.3 to 70.8 mol_EG h⁻¹ g_W⁻¹ is shown, two orders of magnitude higher than those by using other W-based catalysts reported.