Synergistic Effect of Tungsten Nitride and Palladium for the Selective Hydrogenation of Cinnamaldehyde at the C=C bond

Herein, a series of catalysts made of Pd–WN on various supports was synthesized by modifying supports with small‐size WN NPs firstly and loading Pd subsequently. Their catalytic performances were evaluated for selective hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde (CAL) to hydrocinnamaldehyde (HALD). Interestingly, it was found the synergistic effect between Pd and WN can improve conversion and selectivity of CAL to HALD. Among these catalysts, Pd–WN/SBA‐15 shows best performance with highest conversion (99 %) and selectivity to HALD (97 %), which is superior to commercial 5 % Pd/C catalyst. The hydrogenation kinetics of Pd–WN/SBA‐15 has been adequately represented by a standard pseudo‐first‐order approximation, and it discloses that the existence of WN can effectively decrease the activation energy (23.2 kJ mol−1). The synergistic effect of Pd and WN results in enriching the electron density of Pd, increasing the ratio of surface Pd0 and decreasing the size of Pd on the Pd–WN/SBA‐15 catalyst. Supportive interaction: The synergistic effect between tungsten nitride and palladium enhances the activity and selectivity of palladium on Pd–WN/SBA‐15 for the selective hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde at the C=C bond.