Pd Nanoparticles on SBA-15 Containing F for 2-Ethyl-Anthraquinone Hydrogenation: Effects of Hydrophobicity

SBA-15 was modified via post-treatment with (NH4)2SiF6 and (NH4)3AlF6 solution (NSF-T and NAF-T) and applied as support of Pd catalysts for the hydrogenation of 2-ethyl-anthraquinone (EAQ). The characterization results revealed that F could be incorporated into the framework of SBA-15 by forming Si–F bond and the amount of F increased as the molar ratio of F in treating solution to Si species in SBA-15 (F/Si) increased from 0.1 to 0.4 for NSF-T and 0.3 to 0.6 for NAF-T. At the same F/Si, the incorporated amount of F was larger with NSF-T than with NAF-T, and the latter could simultaneously create acid sites in catalysts. The hydrophobicity of catalysts could be effectively improved by incorporating F into SBA-15 supports, which favored the catalytic performance. The catalyst on SBA-15 treated by NSF with F/Si of 0.3 exhibited the high initial activity (0.24 molH2·gPd−1·min−1) and selectivity (95.5%).