Selective hydrogenation of benzoic acid over bimetallic NiCo embedded in N‐doped carbon

Abstract

AbstractThe selective hydrogenation of biomass‐derived benzoic acid (BA) to cyclohexane carboxylic acid (CCA) is vital to producing fine chemicals from renewable sources. Herein, a novel nitrogen‐doped carbon supported bimetallic catalyst (Ni1Co1/NC) was synthesized via a PVP‐assisted method to catalyze the selective hydrogenation of BA to CCA. Compared with the non‐doped Ni1Co1/C and single counterparts, Ni1Co1/NC exhibited a substantially enhanced activity, with 98.1% yield of CCA. The excellent performance was attributed to the NiCo synergistic effect and N‐doped thin carbon layer, which could increase the total proportion of Ni0 and Co0 species via donating electrons to Co and thus improve the H2 adsorption capacity, the hydrogenation activity of aromatic rings in BA and the stability. This work demonstrates a synergetic effect between NiCo bimetal and N‐doped thin carbon layer. This would pave the way for the rational design and synthesis of high‐performance non‐noble catalysts used in BA hydrogenation.