Preparation and Characterization of Cu–CeO2catalytic materials forthe oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde in water

Abstract

A series of Cusingle bondCeO2catalytic materials, with copper loadings in the 5–20 wt% range, was prepared, characterized and tested in the oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde in batch conditions, at 100 °C employing water as the solvent. Different CeO2and Cusingle bondCeO2 samples were obtained following hydrothermal synthesis, combustion of nitrates, and impregnation of copper salts on ceria surface. The characterization of the catalysts was carried out by N2 sorptometry, XRD, XPS, SEM, TEM, N2O dissociative chemisorption and FT-IR. Ceria properties play a notable role over copper activity and selectivity for the oxidation of benzyl alcohol. The material prepared by the simple one-pot combustion method, with 18 wt% of copper, showed high activity and high selectivity to the desired product (90% at 40% of conversion).