Scale-Up Foreseeable Fabrication of CoS-MoS2 for Efficient Deoxygenation of Lignin-Derived Phenolics to Arenes

Catalysisplays a key role in oriented biomass valorization, anddesigning a robust catalyst and developing its correspondingly easy-to-scale-uppreparation are particularly crucial in boosting biorefinery conceptinto reality. In this study, employing sulfur vacancies in MoS3 and their preferable adsorption to Co ions, CoS-MoS2 catalyst was fabricated via decomposition of MoS3 followedby in situ sulfidation of Co oxides. Co could be located at the edgesof MoS2, constructing plenty of CoS-edge interfaces.This critical feature of the interface enhanced the adsorption ofthe reactant and decreased the energy barrier of the rate-limitingstep in the deoxygenation of 4-methylphenol, leading to as high as100% toluene yield at a low temperature of 120 & DEG;C. Moreover,this catalyst presented high stability in the deoxygenation reactionand could efficiently convert other lignin-derived aromatic oxy-compoundsinto arenes. Importantly, this facile method shows good versatilityin fabricating different iron family element-promoted MoS2-based catalysts, and this preparation procedure is readily scaledup 200-fold without compromising catalytic activity, showcasing thepotential for large-scale applications.