Anchoring Co on CeO2 nanoflower as an efficient catalyst for hydrogenolysis of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural

Developing economical and efficient catalysts to accelerate sustainable fabrication of value-added chemicals and fuels from biomass remains a challenging task. Herein, Co species anchored on CeO2 nanoflowers catalyst, Co/CeO2-NF, were synthesized for catalyzing the efficient selective hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). Co/CeO2-NF exhibited high 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF) yield of 99 % at 160 °C, 2 MPa H2 within 5 h, and afforded excellent catalytic performance and stability after 5 times of reuse. The combination of various structural characterization and catalytic experiments reveals that the outstanding activity of Co/CeO2-NF stems from the unique nano-flower structure with high content oxygen vacancies, desired acid property, the high dispersed cobalt species and strong metal-support interaction. This study not only provides insight into the selective HDO of HMF, but also inspires the design of cheap heterogeneous catalysts for the HDO of renewable biomass to high-value-added chemicals.