Liquid Phase Hydrogenation of p-Chloronitrobenzene on Au-Pd/TiO2 Catalysts: Effects of Reduction Methods

The effects of palladium addition and the reduction methods on Au/TiO2 were investigated. Pd was loaded on TiO2 firstly by incipient-wetness impregnation, Au was then loaded by deposition-precipitation method. The nominal loadings of Au and Pd were 1 wt% and 0.01 wt%. The bimetallic catalysts were reduced by heating at 453 K, by flowing H2 at 423 K, or by NaBH4 at 298 K. The catalysts were characterized by ICP, XRD, TEM, HRTEM, TPR and XPS. Hydrogenation of p-chloronitrobenzene was carried out at 1.2 MPa H2 pressure and 353 K. The results showed that even adding very small amount of Pd could enhance activity and selectivity of p-chloroaniline significantly. Pd and Au formed alloy and Pd could donate partial electron to Au. Pd metal on the surface of alloy could adsorb hydrogen and enhanced the activity. The pretreatment methods did not change particle size significantly, all were below 4 nm. The sample reduced by NaBH4 could have higher concentration of Au and sustain small Au particle size, resulting in high activity.