Oxygen-Enriched Biomass-Activated Carbon Supported Platinum Nanoparticles as an Efficient and Durable Catalyst for Oxidation in Benzene

Carbon materials have been widely utilized as supports in different catalytic reactions; however, it has been rarely reported that carbon supports were used in the catalytic oxidation of volatile organic compounds because they have no catalytic activity and poor catalytic stability compared to metal supports. Herein, fabricating optimal carbon supports to facilitate the catalytic oxidation of benzene has become a great concern of research. A novel activated carbon (biomass–HCO) was prepared from different waste biomass via a three-stage route without the participation of harmful chemical reagents. The successful synthesis of C–O bonds and C═O bonds through this method could greatly increase oxygen-enriched functional groups and defects of the biomass–HCO surface, which could effectively promote the nucleation and growth of platinum. Benzene oxidation reactions were performed to evaluate the activity of catalysts. The results demonstrated that Pt/biomass–HCO catalyst made the reaction temperature sharply decrease to 160 °C at T₉₀. The 150 h on-stream reaction exhibited great thermal stability of Pt/biomass–HCO. The DFT calculations verified the strong interaction between Pt nanoparticles and carbon supports. Moreover, our demonstration of the superior benzene oxidation activity of Pt/biomass–HCO catalysts revealed that it is feasible to utilize oxygen-enriched biomass carbon as catalytic supports toward the oxidation of volatile organic compounds.