Chemoselective hydrodeoxygenation of palmitic acid to diesel-like hydrocarbons over Ni/MoO2@Mo2CTx catalyst with extraordinary synergic effect

Chemoselective hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of lipids to diesel-like hydrocarbons is important for biomass to biofuel conversion. Here we design a new Ni-based catalyst (Ni/MoO 2 @Mo 2 CT x ) with extraordinary catalytic performance in the HDO of palmitic acid. To relieve the loss of C atom for Ni-based catalyst, partial oxidation of Mo 2 CT x MXene was used as a novel support. As a result, the catalytic activity and selectivity ratio of hexadecane/pentadecane (C 16 /C 15 ) were enhanced over Ni/MoO 2 @Mo 2 CT x catalyst, and the major product of palmitic acid HDO is C 16 , demonstrating a high C atom economy. This facilitated catalytic performance may be ascribed to the synergic effect of metal Ni, Mo 2 CT x MXene as well as MoO 2 active sites. The palmitic acid (–COOH) can convert into hexadecanal (–CHO) and hexadecanol (–CH 2 OH) over Ni/MoO 2 @Mo 2 CT x catalyst in the initial stage. The metal Ni further contributes to the hydrogenation of the hexadecanal to C 15 with the cleavage of C–C bonds by decarbonylation (DCO) route. MoO 2 nanoparticles obtained from Mo 2 CT x oxidation accelerate the scission of C–O bonds of the hexadecanol to improve the selectivity of C 16 by hydrogenation-dehydration route.