Phase-Structure Engineering of Ta2O5 Supports to Modulate Pt–WOx Interactions for Enhanced Glycerol Hydrogenolysis to 1,3-Propanediol

Understanding the support effect on catalytic reactions is indeed of critical importance for optimizing both catalyst performance and the selectivity toward target products. Herein, two kinds of tantalum oxide (m-Ta2O5 and δ-Ta2O5) was prepared and combined with Pt-WOx used to selective transformation of glycerol to 1,3-PDO.

Compared with Pt-WOx/m-Ta2O5, the superior catalytic performance over Pt-WOx/δ-Ta2O5 is attributed to the strong interaction between WOx and δ-Ta2O5, which is beneficial for the generation of active W5+ species then promote construct of Pt-WOx interface, greatly enhanced the in situ generation of Brønsted acid sites (Pt-OH-W) responsible for the 1,3-PDO formation. Reversely, the inherently acidic of catalyst is not the key factor effect on 1,3-PDO selectivity.