Improved catalytic performance of Ru catalysts via CO2-assisted one-pot synthesis strategy for aqueous levulinic acid hydrogenation

Fabrication of metal/porous carbon catalysts with high catalytic activity and stability is highly desirable but challenging because the metal nanoparticles in these catalysts cannot have both high exposure and strong interaction with carbon support. Here, for the first time, a facile CO2-assisted one-pot pyrolysis (CAOP) strategy was developed to in situ liberate the inaccessible Ru sites without obviously affecting the size of Ru nanoparticles. The Ru@CN-700-80 prepared with the assistance of CO2 exhibits a remarkable improvement in catalytic activity for levulinic acid hydrogenation compared with that without CO2 during pyrolysis, giving a TOF of 28449 h−1 under mild conditions, which is superior to the reported Ru-based catalysts. Additionally, the Ru@CN-700-80 also demonstrates an excellent stability without activity loss after 10 cycles. We anticipate that this CAOP strategy addresses a crucial issue that currently plagues the design of metal/porous carbon catalyst with high catalytic performance applied in energy and environmental fields.