Preparation of porous carbon supported Co element doping spinel copper ferrite for the catalytic oxidation of vanillyl alcohol

Spinel ferrite has been widely applied in the field of catalytic oxidation with its high selectivity, magnetic separation, and strong chemical stability. In this work, a series of porous carbon supported Co doping spinel copper ferrite (Cu x Co 1- x Fe 2 O 4 @ PC) were prepared via impregnation method for the catalytic oxidation of vanillyl alcohol (VAL) to vanillin (VN). The optimized Cu 0.4 Co 0.6 Fe 2 O 4 @PC exhibited a nanoparticle morphology with mesoporous structure and BET surface area of 553.3 m 2 ·g −1 . Results showed that the conversion of VAL ( C VAL ) can reach to 96 % with 81 % of VN selectivity ( S VN ) in the presence of Cu 0.4 Co 0.6 Fe 2 O 4 @PC at 80 °C for 40 min. Reusability experiment displayed that the C VAL (89 %) and S VN (79 %) can still achieve 92.3 % and 96.6 % of the initial ones after being used for 3 times. Furthermore, a possible pathway for the oxidation of VAL via·OH and·O 2 - active substances was also proposed. The work presents a supported doping spinel with enhanced VAL oxidation performance, which may be expected to apply in the field of selective catalysis.