Highly efficient and enhanced sulfur resistance supported bimetallic single-atom palladium–cobalt catalysts for benzene oxidation

Abstract Catalytic oxidation is one of the effective pathways for completely eliminating volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from industrial and transportation activities. Meanwhile, single-atom catalysts have excellent application prospects in numerous reactions due to their high metal atomic utilization efficiency. In this work, we adopted a novel strategy to prepare an active Pd/Co single-atom catalyst (i.e., Pd1Co1/Al2O3) for benzene oxidation. The successful formation of the atomically dispersed palladium and cobalt species on Al2O3 was verified by the aberration-corrected high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy and X-ray absorption fine structure. By the in situ temperature-programmed techniques and in situ diffuse reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, we observed a double effect of the palladium and cobalt oxide active sites, resulting in an enhanced performance for benzene oxidation. A benzene conversion of 90 % was achieved over the Pd1Co1/Al2O3 catalyst at 250 °C and a space velocity of 40,000 mL/(g h). Interestingly, the catalyst also possessed enhanced sulfur resistance performance. The good regeneration ability of the active sites in the catalyst was due to the single-atom dispersion of Pd and Co. In addition, we deduce that benzene oxidation might occur over Pd1Co1/Al2O3 via a pathway of benzene → cyclohexadiene → phenol → quinone → maleate → acetate → CO2 and H2O. We believe that the obtained results can provide a useful idea for rationally designing the double active site single-atom catalysts and understanding the mechanism of VOCs oxidation.