Confinement effect induced Pd/UiO-66-rGO for efficient aromatic alkenes catalytic hydrogenation

A simple and adaptable synthetic method is reported here for synthesizing UiO-66-GO nanohybrid materials by modulating the growth and dispersion of UiO-66 on GO surfaces, using PdCl2 as the Pd source with thermal treatment at 120 °C without additional reduction to obtain Pd/UiO-66-rGO composite catalyst. Pd/UiO-66-rGO demonstrates excellent activity in catalytic transfer hydrogenation for C═C bond of aromatic alkenes by using HCOONH4 and water as hydrogen donor and solvent at 25 °C, with 99.6 % styrene conversion and 99.9 % selectivity to ethylbenzene. The confinement effect leads to ultra-small Pd NPs active sites evenly dispersed on Pd/UiO-66-rGO, which is the good catalytic performance of Pd/UiO-66-rGO results from. Additionally, UiO-66-rGO makes a protection effect to stabilize and prevent the Pd active sites leaching out, ensuring the cyclic stability of this catalyst. [Display omitted]