Superior copper promoted bimetallic catalysts for chemoselective hydrogenation of ortho-chloro-nitrobenzene

In the present study, highly dispersed copper promoted bimetallic nanocomposite oxides with superior catalytic performance for vapor phase chemoselective hydrogenation of ortho-chloro-nitrobenzene were successfully prepared by deposition–precipitation and impregnation methods and characterized using different techniques. XRD and TPR results revealed the presence of small and extremely well dispersed metal oxide particles over the high surface area ceria–silica support. TEM analysis confirmed existence of nanocrystals with an average particle size of 7 nm. Among different catalysts employed, CuO–NiO/CS exhibited high conversion (96.6%), high product selectivity (98%), and excellent stability.