Phenol hydrogenation to cyclohexanone over palladium nanoparticles loaded on charming activated carbon adjusted by facile heat treatment

Selective phenol hydrogenation is a green approach to produce cyclohexanone. It still remains a big challenge to prepare efficient supports of the catalysts for the phenol hydrogenation via a simple and cost-effective approach. Herein, a facile approach was developed, i.e., direct calcination of activated carbon (AC) under argon at high temperature, to improve its structure and surface properties. The modified AC materials were supported with Pd nanoparticles (NPs) to fabricate the Pd/C catalysts. The as-prepared Pd/C600 catalyst exhibits superior catalytic performance in the phenol hydrogenation, and its turnover frequency (TOF) value is 199.2 h⁻¹, 1.31 times to that of Pd/C-raw. The Pd/C600 catalyst presents both better hydrophobicity and more structural defects, contributing to the improved dispersibility in the reaction solution (phenol-cyclohexane), the better Pd dispersion and the smaller Pd size, which result in the enhancement of the catalytic performance. Furthermore, the as-prepared Pd/C600 catalyst shows a good recyclability.