Carbon encapsulated bimetallic FeCo nanoalloys for one-step hydroxylation of benzene to phenol

Abstract

Carbon encapsulated iron catalysts hold great potential for one-step hydroxylation of benzene to phenol due to their unique core-shell nanostructures. However, their catalytic performance is moderate, since the carbon shells have impeded their activity toward H2O2 activation. Herein, we demonstrate that alloying engineering of Fe cores with Co atoms is a promising strategy to address the issue about H2O2 activation. The incorporation of Co into Fe cores can generate strong synergetic effects to promote H2O2 activation, while still maintaining the structural benefits of carbon shells for benzene hydroxylation reaction. As a result, the phenol yield obtained on carbon encapsulated FeCo (FeCo@C) reaches to 26.4 ± 0.7% with a selectivity of 96.2 ± 1.2%, much higher than that of Fe@C and Co@C. With the improved intrinsic catalytic behavior toward H2O2 activation and well-reserved carbon structure benefits, FeCo@C should be a promising catalyst for a broad liquid-phase reactions using H2O2 as the oxidant.