Tailoring the Surface Structure of Silicon Carbide Support for Copper Catalyzed Ethanol Dehydrogenation

Abstract

AbstractThe production of acetaldehyde through biomass‐derived ethanol dehydrogenation is a sustainable alternative compared to the fossil‐feedstock based process, for which Cu‐based catalysts are considered to be the most efficient. Herein, we modified the surface of silicon carbide (SiC) to alter the properties of the interface from SiO2‐rich to C‐rich, and we prepared a series of Cu‐supported catalysts (Cu/SiC, Cu/SiO2/SiC, and Cu/C/SiC) with the aim of insight into the effect of the interface structure and composition on catalytic dehydrogenation of ethanol. At 280 °C, the Cu/SiO2/SiC catalyst exhibits high ethanol conversion due to the excellent dispersion of Cu nanoparticles promoted by SiO2‐rich interface. In contrast, Cu nanoparticles dispersed on C/SiC shows somewhat lower activity but excellent acetaldehyde selectivity with trace amounts of by‐products under identical reaction conditions. This difference is attributed to the fast removal of acetaldehyde because of its low affinity for the relatively inert C‐rich interface (C/SiC). This work provides an in‐depth understanding of Cu−Si−C multi‐interfacial structure and the ethanol dehydrogenation behavior, which may shed light on the design of novel catalysts with tailored interfacial structures.