Insight into the promotional effect of Ce doped in (FeCoNiCrMn)3O4 high entropy oxides for solvent-free aerobic oxidation of benzyl alcohol

It is desired but challenging to develop a non-noble metal catalyst for the selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol with O2 under solvent-free conditions. Herein, a series of Ce-doped high entropy oxides (Ce/HEOs) were prepared via co-precipitation and subsequent thermal treatment method. It was found that, the doping of Ce could remarkably promote the catalytic activity for selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde. The improved activity was ascribed to the good distribution of active Ce species, the increased oxygen vacancies, and the synergistic effect between CeO2 and high entropy oxides (HEOs). In addition, the surface oxygen of Ce/HEOs towards Ce displayed stronger reducibility compared to that of bare CeO2, endowing it stronger deprotonation ability towards benzyl alcohol during the reaction. The prepared catalyst exhibited satisfactory reusability and stability owing to the entropy-stabilized effect of HEOs and the interaction between CeO2 and HEOs, and negligible loss in catalytic activity was observed after seven runs. Besides, DFT calculations disclosed that, with the doping of Ce, the Ce/HEOs catalyst possessed stronger adsorption ability towards benzyl alcohol, and lower free energy was required for the rate-determining step during the whole oxidative reaction. This work gave some insights into the promotional effect of Ce doped into high entropy oxides for the solvent-free catalytic oxidation of benzyl alcohol.