Ru Nanoclusters Supported on Ti3C2Tx Nanosheets for Catalytic Hydrogenation of Quinolines

Ru-based catalysts hold great promise for selective hydrogenation of quinolines. However, the slow desorption of active H and strong adsorption of hydrogenated substrates on the Ru active sites seriously hinder their industrial applications. Herein, we design Ti3C2Tx-supported Ru nanocluster catalysts by loading Ru nanoclusters on two-dimensional (2D) Ti3C2Tx nanosheets. The Ti3C2Tx nanosheets with unique 2D structure and rich surface-terminated functional groups afford the formed Ru nanoclusters (RuNCs) with small size and high dispersity. The as-prepared RuNCs/Ti3C2Tx catalysts exhibit excellent catalytic activity and selectivity for the hydrogenation of quinolines. The theoretical calculation confirms that there exists charge transfer between Ru and the functional groups (e.g., F and O) on Ti3C2Tx, which can weaken the H adsorption and promote the desorption of hydrogenated products, contributing to the outstanding hydrogenation performance of RuNCs/Ti3C2Tx catalysts. The findings pave an avenue towards improving the hydrogenation performance of quinolines over Ru-based catalysts.