Pt/ZrO2 catalyst with metal-support synergistic effect towards glycerol selective oxidation

Catalytic oxidation of biomass platform molecule to high value-added products has attracted considerable attention. In this work, we report a platinum nanoparticles supported on monoclinic ZrO2 (donated as Pt/ZrO2-350) catalyst, which displays prominent behavior for selective oxidation of glycerol to glyceric acid (conversion: 92.9%; selectivity: 64.9%; formation rate: 277.1 mmolGLYA gPt−1 h−1), at a high level compared with previously reported studies performed under identical reaction conditions. Experimental methods (HR-TEM, XAFS, XPS and Raman) confirms the formation of Ptδ+−Ov−Zr3+ structure at the metal-support interface, which serves as the intrinsic active site. A synergistic catalysis mechanism is demonstrated based on in situ FT-IR spectroscopy, which reveals that Ptδ+−Ov−Zr3+ active sites facilitate the preferential oxidation of primary C–O bond in glycerol and the formation of active oxygen species. This work demonstrates a valid paradigm for the development of heterogeneous catalysts via adjusting the metal-support synergistic effect towards selective oxidation reactions.