Ru subnanoparticles on N-doped carbon layer coated SBA-15 as efficient Catalysts for arene hydrogenation

The N-doped carbon layer coated SBA-15 support has been accomplished via a pyrolysis process . The ultra-low loading Ru nanoparticles ( ca. 0.1 wt.%) was incorporated into the support by impregnation and the sequential reduction. The images of HAADF-STEM revealed that the Ru particles with sub-1-nm size (0.2-0.7 nm) were uniformly dispersed on the support. The ultrafine Ru particles displayed the excellent activity for the hydrogenation of olefins , arenes, phenol derivatives and heteroarenes in aqueous phase. The aliphatic or alicyclic compounds were produced selectively without the hydrogenolysis of C O and C N bonds. The high turnover frequency (TOF) values can reach up to 10,000 h −1 . Notably, the activity of these catalysts improved dramatically with decreasing the sizes of Ru particles. Meanwhile, the N-doped carbon layer coating endowed the high stability of the Ru catalysts and prevented the leaching of the Ru species owning to the strong interaction between doped-N atoms and the ultrafine Ru particles. Overall, this work provides a highly attractive strategy to construct the supported sub-1-nm Ru particles utilized for the aqueous hydrogenation.