Synergistic effects of phosphorus/nitrogen co-doping and morphology regulation enhance the catalytic hydrogenation performance of Ru-based catalysts for benzoic acid

The selective hydrogenation of benzoic acid (BA) under mild conditions has great significance in industrial applications. In this study, Ru catalysts supported on P and N-doped mesoporous carbons (PPNCs) were prepared and tested for the selective hydrogenation of BA. Among all the catalysts, Ru/PPNC-2 exhibited superior conversion (99.46%) and selectivity (99.95%), maintaining a high yield and good stability even after seven repeated tests. The experimental results show that the introduction of an appropriate amount of P into the catalyst forms an enhanced synergistic effect with N, so that the ruthenium nanoparticles (Ru NPs) are uniformly dispersed on the support and have a strong interactive force with the support to obtain more active sites, thereby promoting the catalyst activity and stability. This study provides an idea for the study of BA catalytic hydrogenation catalysts.