Palladium nanoparticles immobilized on TiO₂ nanosheets matrix for the valorization of furfural to produce tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol

The development of highly dispersed and ultra-small sized metal nanocatalysts are crucial for the hydrogenation of biomass. In this work, the ultrafine palladium nanoparticles modified on the 2-dimensional TiO₂ nanosheets (PdNPs-TiO₂NSs) as a catalyst for the selective hydrogenation of furfural (FAL) to tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol (THFA) was achieved. The as-prepared PdNPs-TiO₂NSs catalyst was characterized by using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The spherical PdNPs were well dispersed on TiO₂NSs surface with the average particle size of 1.6 ± 0.2 nm was confirmed by TEM measurements. The PdNPs-TiO₂NSs catalyst showed the remarkable hydrogenation of FAL to THFA by 100 % of conversion with > 99 % of selectivity towards THFA at 140 °C and 20 bar hydrogen pressure in the 4 h reaction time. The stability and reusability test for PdNPs-TiO₂NSs were found to be good even after three catalytic cycles with high catalytic activity.