Enhancing the biofuel upgrade performance for Pd nanoparticles via increasing the support hydrophilicity of metal-organic frameworks

Qi Sun; Meng Chen; Briana Aguila; Nicholas Nguyen; Shengqian Ma

doi:10.1039/c7fd00015d

Enhancing the biofuel upgrade performance for Pd nanoparticles via increasing the support hydrophilicity of metal-organic frameworks

Faraday Discuss. 2017 Sep 8:201:317-326. doi: 10.1039/c7fd00015d.

Authors

Qi Sun¹, Meng Chen, Briana Aguila, Nicholas Nguyen, Shengqian Ma

Affiliation

¹ Department of Chemistry, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL 33620, USA. sqma@usf.edu.

PMID: 28628180
DOI: 10.1039/c7fd00015d

Abstract

In this work, the influence of the hydrophilic/hydrophobic nature of metal-organic framework (MOF) materials on the catalytic performance of supported Pd nanoparticles for biofuel upgrade was studied. We show that the introduction of hydrophilic groups on a MOF can greatly enhance the performance of the resultant catalyst. Specifically, Pd nanoparticles supported on MIL-101-SO₃Na with superhydrophilicity (Pd/MIL-101-SO₃Na) far outperforms pristine MIL-101 and the benchmark catalyst Pd/C in the hydrodeoxygenation reaction of vanillin, a model component of pyrolysis oil derived from the lignin fraction. This is attributed to a favorable mode of adsorption of the highly water soluble reactants on the more hydrophilic support in the vicinity of the catalytically active Pd nanoparticles, thereby promoting their transformation.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.