Acidity modulation of Pt-supported catalyst enhances C-O bond cleavage over acetone hydrodeoxygenation

Understanding how to tune the properties of metal oxides, e.g., controlling and manipulating defects and catalytic sites, and establishing a clear understanding of metal support interactions is essential for developing catalysts with enhanced activity, selectivity, and stability. Here, we report the synthesis of Pt-supported Ti-Nb mixed metal oxides, aiming for the acidity modulation of Brønsted and Lewis acid sites of the catalysts’ surface. Results demonstrated that the catalyst richer in Brønsted acid sites was a promising candidate for the acetone hydrodeoxygenation reaction, with enhanced stability and preferential selectivity toward C-O bond cleavage during the time on stream. Important insights into the impact of acidity modulation of Pt-supported catalysts were presented here, especially concerning the metal-support interaction. The intrinsic correlation between catalytic sites and reaction mechanism was also discussed.