Abstract: Alumina (Al₂O₃) is widely used in the chemical industry as the catalyst and support due to its high specific surface area, abundant pore size distribution and chemical stability. However, the occurrence of hydration in water environment, result in outstanding decrease in specific surface area and collapse of pore structure. In this work, dodecyl phosphoric acid (PA) is used to modify the surface of Al₂O₃ to obtain a series of hydrophobic material (Al₂O₃-PA). Based on XPS and NMR analysis, PA is chemically bonded on Al₂O₃ to form P-O-Al bond. Furthermore, BET and WCA results display that Al₂O₃-1PA exhibits excellent the hydrophobicity and hydrothermal stability while maintains the pore structure. Take it as the substrate to support the Pd nanoparticles, the as-prepared Pd/Al₂O₃-PA shows the superior catalytic performance in the hydrogenation of phenol and anthraquinone relative to Pd/Al₂O₃, indicating the accessibility of Pd sites after PA modification. Especially, the significantly enhanced stability is also obtained in four cycles for aqueous phenol hydrogenation. This can be ascribed that the PA modification inhibits the aggregation of Pd nanoparticles and the products adhesion in the reaction process. The extension of PA coatings to monolithic catalysts could expand their current capabilities in industrial applications and warrants ongoing investigation.

Key words: Alumina modification, Hydrophobic catalyst, Phenol hydrogenation, Anthraquinone hydrogenation, Accessible Pd sites

摘要： Alumina (Al₂O₃) is widely used in the chemical industry as the catalyst and support due to its high specific surface area, abundant pore size distribution and chemical stability. However, the occurrence of hydration in water environment, result in outstanding decrease in specific surface area and collapse of pore structure. In this work, dodecyl phosphoric acid (PA) is used to modify the surface of Al₂O₃ to obtain a series of hydrophobic material (Al₂O₃-PA). Based on XPS and NMR analysis, PA is chemically bonded on Al₂O₃ to form P-O-Al bond. Furthermore, BET and WCA results display that Al₂O₃-1PA exhibits excellent the hydrophobicity and hydrothermal stability while maintains the pore structure. Take it as the substrate to support the Pd nanoparticles, the as-prepared Pd/Al₂O₃-PA shows the superior catalytic performance in the hydrogenation of phenol and anthraquinone relative to Pd/Al₂O₃, indicating the accessibility of Pd sites after PA modification. Especially, the significantly enhanced stability is also obtained in four cycles for aqueous phenol hydrogenation. This can be ascribed that the PA modification inhibits the aggregation of Pd nanoparticles and the products adhesion in the reaction process. The extension of PA coatings to monolithic catalysts could expand their current capabilities in industrial applications and warrants ongoing investigation.

关键词: Alumina modification, Hydrophobic catalyst, Phenol hydrogenation, Anthraquinone hydrogenation, Accessible Pd sites