Preparation of Copper-Embedded Graphene Nanocomposites for Catalytic Hydroxylation of Benzene to Phenol

Abstract

The design and synthesis of graphene-based nanocomposites have drawn enormous attention in recent years owing to their unique structural properties. Here, we describe a simple hydrothermal procedure to fabricate Cu-graphene nanocomposites as a catalyst for direct hydroxylating benzene to phenol in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. The nanocomposites present high catalytic activity and short reaction time, attributing to the uniform diameters of the Cu nanoparticles and their homogeneous distribution on surfaces of graphene sheets. The effects of graphene content, molar ratio of H2O2 to benzene, and reaction temperature on the catalytic performance of the prepared Cu-graphene were studied. Notably, the Cugraphene nanocomposites can contribute a conversion rate of 13.8 % and a phenol selectivity of 92.9 %. In particular, the reaction time was greatly shortened to 0.2 h, which is pretty faster than other reported Cu-based catalysts, indicating the promising application of Cugraphene nanocomposites in the hydroxylation of benzene. Keywords: Cu-graphene nanocomposites, hydroxylation of benzene, phenol.