Manipulating the Size and Dispersibility of Cu Species in Confined CuV‐HMS Catalysts for Enhanced Catalytic Performance of Toluene Hydroxylation

Abstract The size and dispersion of the active metal are crucial for the catalytic activity of metal catalysts. In this study, CuV‐HMS‐modified catalysts were successfully prepared by introducing Cu–V bimetals into the mesoporous structure using a modified metal micelle template method. The results of particle size calculation based on XRD, H 2 ‐TPR, XPS characterization, and the Debye–Scherrer formula showed that the presence of V species effectively inhibited the agglomeration of CuO nanoparticles, the CuO particle size in the bimetallicmodified catalysts was much smaller, and there was a strong interaction between Cu–V species. Toluene adsorption tests showed that the V species could significantly promote the activation process of toluene adsorption. Combining the properties of Cu species as the main activation center, we propose a bimetallic synergistic catalytic mechanism: the introduction of V species promotes the dispersion of Cu species and enhances the toluene adsorption, whereas Cu species activate H 2 O 2 to produce ·OH for the hydroxylation reaction. The catalyst performed optimally at 45% conversion, 25% yield, and a TOF value of 533 h −1 . This study provides an important reference for the construction of loaded metal nanoparticles with controllable size and dispersibility with high catalytic activity.