Pt nanoparticles anchored on rare metal oxide coated on SBA-15: a highly active catalyst for synergistic catalytic hydrogenation of benzaldehyde

We report a novel hybrid nano-structure Pt catalyst, by coating rare metal oxide (CeO2 or La2O3) on the surface of SBA-15, then anchoring Pt nanoparticles on the CeO2/SBA-15 or La2O3/SBA-15 via a photochemical route. For the hydrogenation of benzaldehyde, the Pt/@-CeO2/SBA-15 and Pt/@-La2O3/SBA-15 catalysts demonstrated outstanding activity and excellent selectivity, much higher than that of Pt/CeO2, Pt/La2O3 and Pt/SBA-15. In particular, the TOF of Pt/@-La2O3/SBA-15 reached 2324 h(-1), 2.3-fold higher than the atomically dispersed catalyst (Pd-1/TiO2, 1002 h(-1)) in the literature. The superior catalytic performance was attributed to the special structure and the synergistic effect between the Pt nanoparticles and CeO2/SBA-15(La2O3/SBA-15). The content of metal oxide played an important role in the reaction, as only a suitable content of metal oxide could ensure that this hybrid structure would show the best performance.