Boosting furfural hydrogenation performance of confined Co‐based composites derived from ZIF‐67 via a surfactant‐assisted pyrolysis strategy

Abstract Developing chromium‐free and non‐noble metal catalysts with high performance for furfural hydrogenation to high‐value product furfural alcohol is desirable but challenging. Herein we develop and prepare nitrogen‐doping carbon confining cobalt‐based catalysts (Co‐N‐C composites) by a simple pyrolysis process of well‐defined ZIF‐67 MOFs modified with different surfactants (i.e., polyethylene‐polypropylene glycol (F127), polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) in this work). The in situ formed carbon shell from F127 surfactants inhibits Co agglomeration during pyrolysis of ZIF‐67 at 800 °C, thus affording abundant active CoN x species and metallic Co clusters, which is confirmed by high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR‐TEM) and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The rich mesopore structures in Co‐N‐C@F1270.3 benefit mass transfer of reactants. Co‐N‐C@F1270.3 catalyst exhibits superior catalytic performance of a 97.2% furfural conversion with a 92.5% selectivity toward furfural alcohol and good durability during the chemoselective furfural hydrogenation, which is mainly attributed to the unique confinement of the in situ generated carbon shell. The surfactant‐assisted pyrolysis strategy provides an efficient and facile way to prepare efficient non‐noble metal catalysts to replace chromium‐based catalysts for furfural hydrogenation to furfuryl alcohol in the future.