2-Ethyl-9,10-anthraquinone assisted sol–gel synthesis of Pd/γ-Al2O3 nanorods with enhanced catalytic performance in 2-ethyl-9,10-anthraquinone hydrogenation

A series of nanorod-like porous Pd/γ-Al 2 O 3 catalysts with controllable textural properties and enhanced catalytic performance in 2-ethyl-9,10-anthraquinone (eAQ) hydrogenation for H 2 O 2 preparation were successfully prepared via a facile sol–gel method using aluminum isopropoxide as aluminum precursor and eAQ as structure directing agent, sequential calcination and impregnation process with Na 2 PdCl 4 solution. The physicochemical properties of the catalysts obtained with different addition amounts of eAQ were comparatively characterized by XRD, TG–DSC, BET, TEM, CO-TPR, H 2 -TPR and H 2 –O 2 titration. The results show that addition of eAQ can not only effectively control the textural properties (surface area, pore volume and average pore size) of the catalysts, but also lower their reduction temperature of active metal. Importantly, the catalyst obtained with an addition amount of 4 wt% eAQ shows the highest hydrogenation efficiency of 10.28 g·L −1 , which is 37.3% higher than 7.49 g·L −1 of the catalyst obtained without eAQ.