Insight into the role of iron in platinum-based bimetallic catalysts for selective hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde

Selective hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde (CAL) toward cinnamyl alcohol (COL) is an extremely important and challenging reaction. Herein, a series of PtxFey-Al2O3 bimetallic catalysts with varied Pt to Fe ratios were prepared by incipient wetness impregnation method. The introduction of Fe significantly modifies the electronic and surface properties of Pt, which clearly enhances the C=O hydrogenation selectivity. Among all the catalysts, Pt3Fe-Al2O3 displays the best catalytic performance and the conversion of CAL is 96.6% with 77.2% selectivity of COL within 1 h. In addition, Pt3Fe-Al2O3 had excellent reusability with 76% COL selectivity after five runs of the recycle process. Further characterization of the fresh, used and cycled catalysts revealed that the structure and electronic state of the synthesized PtxFey-Al2O3 are unchanged after hydrogenation reaction. The identical-location transmission electron microscopy (IL-TEM) results revealed that the interaction between the nanoparticles and the supports was strong and the catalyst was relatively stable. [Display omitted] The introduction of Fe significantly enhances the C=O hydrogenation selectivity in selective hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde. The identical-location transmission electron microscopy (IL-TEM) results revealed that Pt3Fe-Al2O3 catalyst was relatively stable.