Tiny Ruthenium‐Cobalt‐Cobalt Hydroxide Nanoparticles Supported on Graphene for Efficiently Catalyzing Naphthalene Complete Hydrogenation

Abstract The nanocatalyst of graphene‐supported ruthenium/cobalt/cobalt hydroxide nanoparticles (denoted as Ru/Co/Co(OH) 2 /G) was obtained at ambient temperature by using chemical reduction with hydrazine hydrate as reducing agent and galvanic replacement reaction methods. The nanostructure of Ru nanoclusters‐on‐cobalt‐on‐cobalt hydroxide nanoparticles (NPs) has been proved in Ru/Co/Co(OH) 2 /G by X‐ray diffraction (XRD), X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscope (TEM), high resolution TEM (HRTEM), scanning transmission electron microscopy‐energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (STEM‐EDS) elemental line scanning and mapping analysis, and high‐sensitivity low‐energy ion scattering (HS‐LEIS) measurement techniques. The Ru/Co/Co(OH) 2 /G catalyst showed excellent catalytic activity and 100% selectivity toward decalin for naphthalene hydrogenation reaction at the reaction temperature of 100 °C under initial 4.48 MPa hydrogen pressure probably owing to the synergetic effect of Ru, Co and Co(OH) 2 active sites.