A Universal Preparation Strategy for Carbon-Supported Metal Catalysts with Excellent Hydrogenation Performance: Ligand Regulation-Assisted Solution Carbonization

The preparation of carbon-based metal catalysts often relies on complex procedures and specific precursors. This study develops a general strategy for synthesizing carbon-based metal catalysts via ligand regulation-assisted solution carbonization, enabling precise tuning of metal particle size and catalytic performance. The results show that the metal particle size in catalysts prepared with carboxyl ligands ranges from 4.71 to 6.14 nm, significantly smaller than that of nitrogen ligand-based catalysts (48.78-58.35 nm). In the conversion of furfural to furfuryl alcohol, the catalyst prepared with both carboxylic acid and nitrogen ligands achieves a conversion of 99.9%, higher than those using only carboxylic acid ligands (15.4-19.2%) or nitrogen ligands alone (63.1-75.2%). This is primarily attributed to the smaller metal particle size and nitrogen doping effect. Notably, this strategy is applicable to various metals and organic ligands. Furthermore, comparative experiments and characterizations reveal that glycerol, organic ligands, and metal ions self-assemble into oligomeric precursors through hydrogen bonding and coordination interactions. This not only uniformly disperses metal ions but also enhances the thermal stability of organic ligands during pyrolysis. This strategy provides an effective route for the facile synthesis of carbon-based metal catalysts.