Improving furfural hydrogenation selectivity by enhanced Ni-TiO2 electronic interaction

The realization of selective hydrogenation of carbonyl group in furfural (FFR) brings great challenges to the effective regulation of Ni-based catalysts. Here, the effect of calcination temperature on the electronic structure and the spatial distribution of oxygen vacancies (OV) of anatase TiO2 supported Ni catalysts was studied. Different from the traditional TiO2 reduction, some TiO2 and NiO are co-reduced by high-temperature calcination. This will lead to the formation of OV near Ni0 and effectively transfer electrons to Ni0, thus filling the d-band of Ni with more electrons to form Niδ-. The Niδ- species formed on the surface of Ni/TiO2 are considered as the active site for the selective hydrogenation of furfural to furfuryl alcohol. In contrast, tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol is preferentially generated on the Ni0. This work demonstrates a new cognition of the electronic metal-support interaction (EMSI) and an efficient pathway to use EMSI to tune catalytic performance. [Display omitted] •An alternative pathway to more efficiently tune the Ni-TiO2 electronic interaction.•Ni2+ and Ti4+ species are simultaneously reduced.•Regulation of electronic structure and the oxygen vacancies spatial distribution.•High-temperature calcination facilitates electron transfer.•The Ni/TiO2 calcined at high temperature improves the catalytic performance.