Pd/Mg(OH)2 Heterogeneous Nanocatalysts Synthesized by a Facile One-Pot Hydrothermal Method for CO Direct Esterification to Dimethyl Oxalate

Abstract

Pd-based heterogeneous nanocatalysts have wide application in chemical industry. However, the traditional synthesis process contains multi-steps such as impregnation, dry, calcination and reduction. The pre-synthesis nanoparticles process can reduce the steps, but need to remove the surfactants, which are added in the synthesis process. In this work, a facile one-pot hydrothermal synthesis process named as single molecular precursor method was successfully developed to prepare Pd/Mg(OH)2 heterogeneous nanocatalysts with clean surface. The as-synthesized Pd/Mg(OH)2 heterogeneous nanocatalysts show excellent performance for CO direct esterification to dimethyl oxalate (DMO). The WTY (weight time yield) of DMO can reach the high-performance of 2544 g kgcat.−1 h−1, while the conversion of CO is 62.6% and selectivity to DMO is 90.8%. The single molecular precursor method developed by this work can be extended to other supported noble metal nanocatalysts.