Metallic oxide–graphene composites as a catalyst for gas-phase oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde

A new catalyst (FAG) composed of Fe, Al, and graphene (G) was prepared for catalyzing the reaction of benzyl alcohol (BA) to benzaldehyde (BD). The catalyst was characterized by XRD, XPS, SEM, and BET analyses. The catalytic performance of FAG for oxidation of BA to BD was studied by comparing with the catalysts ferrous oxide (Fe), ferrous oxide doped with aluminum (FA), and ferrous oxide doped with graphene (FG). The effects of amount of graphene additive, temperature, and ratio of Fe and Al were also studied. The results show that the catalyst FAG has a great specific surface area of 80.40 m2 g−1 and an excellent catalytic performance for the reaction of BA to BD: the conversion of BA and yield of BD significantly increased, and the selectivity of BD reached 87.38%.