Working Paper
Authors
- Shuang Xiang East China University of Science and Technology ,
- Lin Dong East China University of Science and Technology ,
- Zhiqiang Wang East China University of Science and Technology ,
- Xue Han University of Manchester ,
- Luke Daemen Oak Ridge National Laboratory ,
- Yongqiang Cheng Oak Ridge National Laboratory ,
- Yong Guo East China University of Science and Technology ,
- Xiaohui Liu East China University of Science and Technology ,
- Anibal J Ramirez-Cuesta Oak Ridge National Laboratory ,
- Sihai Yang University of Manchester ,
- Xue-Qing Gong East China University of Science and Technology ,
- Yanqin Wang
East China University of Science and Technology
Abstract
The development of precious-metal-free catalysts to promote the sustainable production of fuels and chemicals from biomass remains an important and challenging target. Here, we report the efficient hydrogenolysis of biomass-derived 5-hydroxymethylfurfural to 2,5-dimethylfuran over a unique core-shell structured catalyst [email protected] that affords the highest productivity among all catalysts reported to date. Surprisingly, we found that the catalytically active sites reside on the shell of CoO with oxygen vacancies rather than the metallic Co. The combination of various spectroscopic experiments and computational modelling reveals that the CoO shell incorporating oxygen vacancies drives the heterolytic and homolytic cleavage of dihydrogen to yield active Hδ- species, resulting in the exceptional catalytic activity. [email protected] also exhibits excellent activity toward the direct hydrodeoxygenation of lignin model compounds. This study unlocks, for the first time, the potential of metal-oxide catalysts for the production of renewable biomass-derived fuels.
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Supporting information
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