In situ generation of perovskite oxides and carbon composites: A facile, effective and generalized route to prepare catalysts with improved performance

The adsorption and delivery of reactants to active sites are the first two steps of catalytic reactions, however, which receive less attention compared with the design of highly active sites. Herein, we provide an improvement of the two crucial steps by designing perovskite oxides-carbon composites (LaFeO3_N) for catalytic transfer hydrogenation (CTH) of furfural to furfuryl alcohol. The principle is to ensure that the reactants can be timely supplied to the active sites for reaction. Indeed, the reaction rate over LaFeO3_N increases tremendously to 5.17 mmol g−1 h−1 that is 6 times higher than that over LaFeO3_A (0.81 mmol g−1 h−1) without carbon material. The results suggest that LaFeO3_N can improve the migration of reactants from solution to LaFeO3 active sites due to the presence of carbon, which has the ability to absorb and deliver the reactants. Effects of carbon content and carbon texture on the reaction are fully investigated. The current strategy of improving the catalytic performances of perovskite oxides can be easily applied to other catalytic systems with low surface area.