Ruthenium nanoparticles loaded on functionalized graphene for liquid-phase hydrogenation of fine chemicals: Comparison with carbon nanotube

• A facile way to prepare graphene-supported Ru catalysts was developed.
• Ru NPs loaded on TEGO should be more flat than that loaded on CNTs.
• TEGO could make Ru more electron-deficient than CNTs do.
• Both aspects doubled the TOFs on hydrogenation of benzene and CAL.
• Yet it presented a two times lower activity for p-CNB hydrogenation.

A facile way to prepare graphene-supported Ru catalysts was developed here. For the first time, functionalized graphene obtained from thermal exfoliation of graphite oxide at low temperature (200 °C) under air atmosphere was used to support Ru nanoparticles (2.3 nm) with the simple method of incipient wetness impregnation. Heat treating at 700 °C in N2 flow did not change the mean size but made Ru nanoparticles electron rich. The electronic effect had a great influence on the activities of benzene and p-chloronitrobenzene hydrogenation but little influence on the activity of cinnamaldehyde hydrogenation and its selectivity of CO bond. A geometric effect benefited from the distinctive preparation method was supposed to be another factor accounting for these catalytic phenomena. Comparing with CNTs-supported Ru catalysts obtained from a similar method, we can see clearly that graphene with the two-dimensional flexible graphitic surface could modulate the electronic and geometric structures of Ru catalysts in an unusual way. Additionally, this work provides the possibility of producing graphene-based precious metal catalysts on a large scale.

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