Insight into the strong Brönsted acid sites on isolated WOx-modified Pt/zirconium phosphate for glycerol efficient hydrodeoxygenation

Brönsted acidity of Pt/WOx-based catalysts is crucial to efficient activation of C–OH bond in glycerol. Constructing strong Brönsted acidic sites (BAs) on catalysts is highly desired for efficient transformation of glycerol. Motivated by the source of Brönsted acidity in phosphotungstic acid, strong BAs were constructed on isolated WOx-modified Pt/zirconium phosphate (ZrPO4). Various characterizations confirm that the strong BAs on Pt-WOx/ZrPO4 are derived from the distinctive local structure of isolated W (V) oxides upon interacted with phosphate anion and zirconium center of ZrPO4 through O–W–O groups. In addition, the strong Brönsted acidity of Pt-WOx/ZrPO4 contributes to the efficient C–OH activation and producing 46.2% of C3 hydrocarbons in yield in glycerol hydrodeoxygenation, which is superior to that over other reported Pt/WOx catalysts. This work provides a strategy of fabricating strong BAs on solid catalysts and deep insight into the source of its Brönsted acidity for efficient transformation of C–OH in polyols.