LAUSR

ABSTRACT Highly dispersed carbon-supported Pt (Pt/C) catalysts with various carboxylate stabilizers were prepared by deposition-precipitation and characterized. The Pt complexes surrounded by stabilizer retard the aggregation of Pt nanoparticles during the precipitation and reduction process. Increasing the carbon chain length of the stabilizer from one to two resulted in nanosized Pt particles, which afforded more stable nucleation and growth of the Pt. However, increasing the alkyl chain length of the stabilizer to five produced aggregated Pt particles because the particles became entangled during the interaction between the Pt complexes and the carbon support. The Pt/C catalyst prepared by using sodium succinate dibasic as the stabilizer has the highest Pt dispersion at 68%. The Pt/C catalysts with carboxylate stabilizers were evaluated for use in aqueous-phase furfural hydrogenation. Catalysts with a higher Pt dispersion exhibited higher furfural conversion and higher selectivity for furfuryl alcohol. Using sodium succinate as the stabilizer, the optimum conditions afforded 100% furfural conversion and 86.6% furfuryl alcohol selectivity.