title: Hydrogenation of biofuels with formic acid over a palladium-based ternary catalyst with two types of active sites.
abstract: A composite catalyst including palladium nanoparticles on titania (TiO2) and on nitrogen-modified porous carbon (Pd/TiO2@N-C) is synthesized from palladium salts, tetrabutyl titanate, and chitosan. N2 sorption isotherms show that the catalyst has a high BET surface area (229 m(2)  g(-1)) and large porosity. XPS and TEM characterization of the catalyst shows that palladium species with different chemical states are well dispersed across the TiO2 and nitrogen-modified porous carbon, respectively. The Pd/TiO2@N-C catalyst is very active and shows excellent stability towards hydrogenation of vanillin to 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol using formic acid as hydrogen source. This activity can be attributed to a synergistic effect between the Pd/TiO2 (a catalyst for dehydrogenation of formic acid) and Pd/N-C (a catalyst for hydrogenation of vanillin) sites.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Applied Chemistry of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310028 (PR China).
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Bingsen
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xiangju
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: Dang Sheng
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Feng-Shou
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Xiao
mesh_terms: D001547:Benzaldehydes / Q000737:chemistry*; D056804:Biofuels; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry; D002384:Catalysis; D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry; D003408:Cresols / Q000737:chemistry*; D005561:Formates / Q000737:chemistry*; D006865:Hydrogenation; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000737:chemistry; D010165:Palladium / Q000737:chemistry*; D016062:Porosity; D013499:Surface Properties; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D001547:Benzaldehydes; D056804:Biofuels; D003408:Cresols; D005561:Formates; C030544:formic acid; C009495:titanium dioxide; D010165:Palladium; D002244:Carbon; D048271:Chitosan; C100058:vanillin; D014025:Titanium; D009584:Nitrogen; C025390:creosol
keywords: biofuels; heterogeneous catalysis; hydrogen; hydrogenation; palladium