Determination of the crucial functional groups in graphene oxide for vanadium oxide nanosheet fabrication and its catalytic application in 5-hydroxymethylfurfural and furfural oxidation

Abstract

Abstract Graphene oxide (GO) sheets are emerging as a new class of carbocatalyst, and also a perfect platform for metal-oxide catalyst assembling. The oxygen groups on either side of GO basal plane can be functioned as the anchor by employing GO as scaffolds. Vanadium-oxo nanosheets (VON) were assembled onto the surface of GO material from homogeneously dissolved VO(acac)2 solution via a facile route. Control experiments with different methods prepared graphene materials illustrate the nucleation and fabrication process of VON on GO surface with detailed TEM and XPS investigation. The evolution of oxygen groups in graphene material was also investigated. Hydroxyl/epoxy in GO sheets was considered to be important and favorable for the fabrication of VON on GO surface. The developed material was shown to be an efficient and recyclable heterogeneous catalyst for aerobic oxidation of 5-hydroxymethyfurfural (HMF) and furfural into maleic anhydride. Up to 90.9% yield of maleic anhydride from HMF and 59.9% from furfural were achieved under optimized reaction conditions, the reaction rate difference between HMF and FAL was studied on the basis of oxidation mechanism and their molecular structures.