Cobalt Supported on BN Catalyst with High B‐O Defects and Its Efficient Hydrodeoxygenation Performance of HMF to DMF

In this paper, a non‐noble catalyst was prepared by a simple homogeneous precipitation method and could be applied for 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) to 2, 5‐dimethylfuran (DMF). The catalyst was characterized by SEM, TEM, XRD, FT‐IR, BET, XPS, ICP and H2‐TPR. The cobalt species in the catalysts dispersed on the surface of boron nitride (BN) evenly. There is a strong interaction between BN and cobalt species in the Co/BN catalysts with vast B−O defects. Under the optimal conditions, HMF can be completely converted and the selectivity of Co/BN catalyst for DMF can reach as high as 91.67 %. It is crucial that the stability of the catalyst was maintained after five cycles by simple centrifugation. Due to its simple preparation process, low cost and high selectivity, the catalyst will be applied widely in the area of industrial catalysis. Here reported a BN supported non‐noble cobalt catalyst with high B−O defects for the efficient conversion of 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural to 2,5‐dimethylfuran. BN is an excellent porous material with abundant defects. The presence of high B−O defects and the strong interaction between the BN support and cobalt species could improve the selectivity of 2, 5‐dimethylfuran.