Sintering-resistant and highly active boron oxide doped BxCuZrO2 catalyst for catalytic diethanolamine dehydrogenation

Abstract Reasonable design of multifunctional Cu-based nanocatalysts to meet the desired catalytic performance and the ability to prevent metal agglomeration and sintering is the core of this research. We prepared BxCuZrO2 catalysts doped with different mass contents of B2O3 for the dehydrogenation of diethanolamine (DEA) to produce iminodiacetic acid (IDA). In the first reaction of B1CuZrO2, an IDA yield of up to 96.7% was achieved, accompanied by continuous stability in the subsequent seven catalytic cycles. The intuitive results show that the addition of boron oxide exhibits excellent agglomeration, sintering, and leaching resistance. Comprehensive characterization analysis and catalytic performance evaluation of these catalysts, including XRD, N2 adsorption and desorption, STEM, SEM, XPS, TGA, ICP-MS, H2-TPR, HPLC, and IC were performed. The results show that the incorporation of boron oxide helps to fully exert the role of active sites, effectively inhibits the aggregation of small nanoparticles and the growth of microcrystals in the process of DEA dehydrogenation, and delays the violent transition of ZrO2 crystals. Powerful catalysts have excellent active metal dispersion and strong metal-support interactions. This advantage can be extended to other Cu-based nanocatalyst reactions.