Facile preparation of RuO2/CNT catalyst by a homogenous oxidation precipitation method and its catalytic performance

Ruthenium(IV) oxide (RuO2) nanoparticles supported by herringbone carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were synthesized by a homogenous-oxidation-precipitation (HOP) method with H2O2. The morphology and composition of the resulting composite were characterized by TEM, XPS, XRD, TG and TPR. CNTs exhibited the better ability to induce the formation of highly dispersed nanoparticles, compared with common used supports, such as gamma-Al2O3 and activated carbon. Amorphous hydrous RuO2 nanoparticles uniformly dispersed on the surface of CNTs. The average size of RuO2 was significantly reduced to 1.35nm. This result leads to the high activity and excellent selectivity, which has been demonstrated in the aerobic oxidation of alcohols to aldehydes or ketones. The new preparation technique of CNT-supported oxide nanoparticles reported in this paper has great potential for various catalytic applications.