An Interfacially Active Pd/C Catalyst Enhanced Hydrogenation of Aromatic Compounds in Pickering Emulsion

Abstract

Pickering-emulsion-based interfacial catalysis is an efficient platform for water–oil biphasic reactions. We here prepared an interfacially active Pd/C catalyst by loading Pd nanoparticles (ca. 5 nm) on carbon sphere support. Due to its amphiphilic properties (water contact angle of 93°), the Pd/C catalyst could easily assemble at toluene/water interface forming Pickering emulsions without further modification by surfactant. Moreover, we found that through tuning the volume ratio of toluene and water, the emulsion interface area could be well controlled, and a maximum interface area could be got at the ratio of 1/2. Encouragingly, the catalytic performance of our Pd/C catalyst in the Pickering emulsion system could be enhanced significantly compared with conventional oil–water biphasic system or organic one phase reaction system for the hydrogenation reaction of aromatic compouds. And our research demonstrated that the enhancement effects might be attributed to the enlarged interface area, which facilitates the mass transport significantly.