Structural Construction of Au-Pd Nanocomposite for Alkali-Free Oxidation of Benzyl Alcohol

A bimetallic Au-Pd system is an alternative candidate to catalyze primary alcohol oxidation and is of crucial importance for the sustainable chemical industry. However, understanding the bimetallic system in terms of the nanostructure is still challenging. Herein, we adopt the in situ colloid immobilization to obtain a series of bimetallic AuxPdy/CNT samples supported by carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Elaborate characterizations confirmed the bimetallic structure of AuPd alloy particles with randomly dispersed Pd2+ on the surface, forming the AuPd@PdO structure on CNTs. Unlike the monometallic samples, bimetallic ones, particularly Au1Pd1/CNT, efficiently transformed benzyl alcohol in an alkali-free mild condition. The DFT simulation confirmed the electron-rich gold atoms as a steric and electronic regulator to confine the electron-deficient Pd atoms in alloy particles. The interacted metal sites in the alloy system activated the alcohol with optimized adsorption configuration. Surface Pd2+ transported active oxygen to capture the abstracted H on alcohol. The collaboration between metal sites facilitated the transformation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde with the selectivity of 91.8% by a fast TOF of 1274 h-1 at only 80 degrees C.