Cerium promoted V-g-C3N4 as highly efficient heterogeneous catalysts for the direct benzene hydroxylation.

A series of Ce x -V-g-C3N4 catalysts with different cerium content were synthesized by a facile co-assembly method. Compared with pure V-g-C3N4 catalyst, the addition of cerium facilitated the high dispersion of vanadium species as well as the benzene adsorption ability of the corresponding catalysts. Also, the existence of cerium promoted the partial reduction of vanadium species, which improved the redox property of vanadium species as the active centres. The Ce x -V-g-C3N4 catalysts showed considerably improved activity in the benzene hydroxylation reaction compared with V-g-C3N4 catalyst. Among the catalysts studied, Ce0.07-0.07 V-g-C3N4 exhibited the best catalytic activity with a benzene conversion of 33.7% and a phenol yield of 32.3% with good structural and catalytic stability, while only 24.7% of benzene conversion and phenol yield of 24.2% were obtained over 0.07 V-g-C3N4.

Highly Dispersed Nickel-Containing Mesoporous Silica with Superior Stability in Carbon Dioxide Reforming of Methane: The Effect of Anchoring.

A series of nickel-containing mesoporous silica samples (Ni-SiO2) with different nickel content (3.1%-13.2%) were synthesized by the evaporation-induced self-assembly method. Their catalytic activity was tested in carbon dioxide reforming of methane. The characterization results revealed that the catalysts, e.g., 6.7%Ni-SiO2, with highly dispersed small nickel particles, exhibited excellent catalytic activity and long-term stability. The metallic nickel particle size was significantly affected by the metal anchoring effect between metallic nickel particles and unreduced nickel ions in the silica matrix. A strong anchoring effect was suggested to account for the remaining of small Ni particle size and the improved catalytic performance.