Selective oxidation of hydrocarbons under air using recoverable silver ferrite–graphene (AgFeO2–G) nanocomposite: A good catalyst for green chemistry

• Silver ferrite–graphene is a semiconductor with a relatively narrow bandgap which was applied for the oxidation of hydrocarbons.
• Graphene oxide was used as a support for improvement of catalytic activity.
• High catalytic activity for the oxidation of various hydrocarbons (1- decene, cyclohexene, cis-cycloctene, etc.) was under mild conditions (55 ০C, 8 h) with high conversion and selectivity using air. We found that selective oxidation could be achieved without the need for the addition of solvent, which is appropriate for ‘green’ chemistry.

The selective oxidation of hydrocarbons is a main academic and industrial research challenge. A lot of researches have been done about this issue, but till now relatively little attention has been paid to graphene-complex oxide nanocomposites. Herein, we report our studies on a new catalyst. Silver ferrite–graphene (AgFeO2–G) as a separable nanocomposite from the reaction solution, was used as an effective oxidizing agent for the oxidation of various hydrocarbons (1- decene, cyclohexene, cis-cycloctene, cyclohexane, cyclooctane etc.) under mild conditions (55 ০C, 8 h) with high conversion and selectivity using air, that is proper for ‘green’ chemistry. Metal or metal oxide nanoparticles assembled on graphene sheets revealed high electrocatalytic activity. Indeed, AgFeO2 with graphene due to low band gap and graphene oxide with large amounts of oxygen-containing groups, provide facility catalytic activity of catalyst-supported system. We also found that, with this catalyst, selective oxidation could be achieved without the need for the addition of solvent, which is appropriate in particular for ‘green’ chemistry. The catalysts showed little deactivation and maintained their conversion and selectivity levels duration of the measurements.

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