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Heterogeneous liquid phase oxidation of ethylbenzene to acetophenone with graphene carbon-based catalyst

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Abstract

The series of graphene materials and N-doped graphene materials were successfully synthesized and improved by high-temperature treatment with trace iron oxide. XRD, Raman, FT-IR, TEM and XPS were employed for these catalysts. The catalytic performance of these catalysts was investigated in the selective oxidation of ethylbenzene with tert-butyl hydroperoxide as oxidant. The impacts of temperature, mass of catalysts, reaction time and oxidants on the selective oxidation of ethylbenzene were also investigated. The N-doped graphene materials exhibit greatly remarkable catalytic performance than others. The conversion of ethylbenzene is more than 90% and the selectivity of acetophenone is more than 95% at 353 K. Graphene can be used as catalyst owing to its unique structures and chemical properties. The characterization tests show that the doping of N atoms can create more defects and more active sites in the N-doped graphene materials which could greatly improve the catalytic performance. Furthermore, such cost-effective graphene-based catalysts possess good stability and could be reused at least five times without remarkable loss of the catalytic activity.

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Acknowledgements

This study is based in part upon work supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 21403053) and the Joint Funds of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. U1404503). We thank the Modern Analysis and Computing Center of Zhengzhou University for the characterization test.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan University, Kaifeng, 475004, Henan, People’s Republic of China

    Qian Sun, Xueying Song, Li Gao, Wei Chen, Yamin Li, Liqun Mao & Jing-He Yang

  2. School of Chemical Engineering and Energy, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, People’s Republic of China

    Jing-He Yang

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  1. Qian Sun
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  2. Xueying Song
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  3. Li Gao
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  4. Wei Chen
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  5. Yamin Li
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  6. Liqun Mao
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  7. Jing-He Yang
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Correspondence to Li Gao or Jing-He Yang.

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Sun, Q., Song, X., Gao, L. et al. Heterogeneous liquid phase oxidation of ethylbenzene to acetophenone with graphene carbon-based catalyst. Chem. Pap. 72, 2203–2214 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11696-018-0432-8

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