A Study on the Oxygen Vacancies in ZnPd/ZnO-Al and their Promoting Role in Glycerol Hydrogenolysis.

The relationship between catalyst structure and catalytic activity is an important and challenging topic for researchers in the field of catalysis. In this work, the effect of oxygen vacancies on the activity of ZnPd/ZnO-Al catalysts was studied in an important reaction-glycerol hydrogenolysis. Interestingly, the catalytic activity improved significantly with the addition of a small amount of Al, and high selectivity to 1,2-propanediol (>90 %) was achieved in glycerol hydrogenolysis over ZnPd/ZnO-Al catalysts. Importantly, the formation of oxygen vacancies benefits from the substitution of Al atoms, and the Al content in the ZnO lattice is related to the oxygen vacancies density and catalytic activity. Moreover, the important role played by oxygen vacancies in glycerol hydrogenolysis has been discussed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]