Bimetallic Au-decorated Pd catalyst for the liquid phase hydrodechlorination of 2,4-dichlorophenol

Abstract Monometallic and bimetallic Pd-Au catalysts supported on multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with varied Au cooperation amounts were prepared using the complexing-reduction method in the presence of tetrahydrofuran (THF). The liquid phase catalytic hydrodechlorination (HDC) of 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) was investigated over these bimetallic catalysts. The catalysts were characterized by N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and H2 chemisorption. Characterization results showed that the co-reduction of Pd and Au mainly formed alloy-like structure. The bimetallic catalysts had smaller metal particles and larger numbers of exposed active site than that of monometallic catalysts. In addition, compared with Pd(1.7)/CNTs and Au(0.4)/CNTs, the binding energies of Pd 3d5/2 shifted to higher positions while that of Au 4f7/2 had negative shifts in the Pd-Au bimetallic catalysts, which can be ascribed to the electrons transferred from metal Pd to Au and the cationization of Pd particles was enhanced. Accordingly, the bimetallic Pd-Au particles with different Au contents in the catalysts exhibited varied synergistic effects for the catalytic HDC of 2,4-DCP, with Pd(1.8)Au(0.4)/CNTs having the highest catalytic activity. For the bimetallic catalysts, a disproportional increase of turnover frequency (TOF) was observed with increasing Au content due to the enhanced cationization of Pd particles. Moreover, the dechlorination of 2,4-DCP over the supported monometallic and bimetallic catalysts proceeded via both the stepwise and concerted pathway, and the concerted pathway became predominant with Au decoration amount in the catalyst.