3.1. Catalytic performance of acidic supports for carbohydrate hydrolysis
Table 2 lists the data for the degradation of cellulose and other carbohydrates catalyzed by various acidic supports in water at 150 oC. Entry 1 shows that SBC-400, due to the absence of strong acidity (See Table 4 later), can not degrade cellulose under the present hydrolysis conditions. While another reference carrier PS-400 is active for cellulose hydrolysis owing to its strong acidity, but it only achieves a low 20% glucose yield, along with the production of 2.3% cellobiose (Entry 2), which is likely due to lack of its affinity to β-1,4-glycosidic bonds of cellulose. In sharp contrast, all the P-containing PSBC materials are active for cellulose hydrolysis (Entries 3-10), providing glucose as the main degradation product (25.6-76.9% yield), along with the production of small amount of cellobiose (0-5.6% yield) and 5-HMF (0.8-2.8% yield). The catalytic activity of PSBC is significantly influenced by the preparation conditions, presenting a continuous increase with hoisting the impregnation dosage of H3PO4 (Entries 3-5) or the carbonization temperature (Entries 3, 6-8). In addition, the catalytic activity of PSBC increases first and then decreases with hoisting the impregnation temperature of H3PO4 from 30 to 100oC (Entries 4, 9-10). The above reaction results can well reflect a close relationship between the hydrolysis activity of PSBC and its strong acidity and its affinity to β-1,4-glycosidic bonds of cellulose measured later. The best two PSBC carriers can achieve almost 100% cellulose conversion with above 76% glucose yield (Entries 5 and 8), which is higher than the silica-free PBC-400 (Entry 11, 85.3% conversion and 56.7% glucose yield) and most of the sulfonated biochar materials in cellulose hydrolysis (Zhang et al. 2012; S. Suganuma et al. 2011; Y. Wu et al. 2010). And these two PSBC carriers can provide a higher about 10% than PBC-400 in glucose selectivity, suggesting that their hierarchical pores (see Fig. 2 and Table 5 later), can enhance the mass transfer rate of the hydrolyzed intermediates and products, which are favorable of accelerating the hydrolysis of cellulose and lowering the further degradation of the products to caramel, tars and humins (J. Geboers et al. 2010; D.M. Alonso et al. 2013), as supported by the smallest difference (about 20%) between cellulose conversion and the above hydrolyzed products in Entries 5 and 8 as well as the reaction time-dependence of cellobiose conversion and glucose yield shown in Fig. S1, Entries 12 reveals that PSBC-3-60-400 rapidly degrades cellobiose to yield up to 88.8% glucose at 150oC for 2 h. And this acidic support has more outstanding catalytic efficiency for the hydrolysis of sucrose and inulin with relatively active α-1,2-glycosidic bond and β-2,1-glycosidic bond (Y. Dai et al. 2017), affording ca. 96% total yield of glucose and fructose even under milder conditions (120oC, 2 h). In addition to the above merits, the significant reduction in the by-products is also noticed upon these two high reactive carbohydrates, which should be due to the rapid hydrolysis and mass transfer rates and milder reaction conditions.
Table 2
Hydrolysis of cellulose and other carbohydrates in water over various acidic carriersa
Entry
|
Acidic carrier
|
Conv. /%
|
Yield of products /%
|
Cellobiose
|
Glucose/fructose
|
5-HMF
|
1
|
SBC-400
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
PS-400
|
50.4
|
2.3
|
20.0
|
0
|
3
|
PSBC-1-60-400
|
65.1
|
5.6
|
25.6
|
0.8
|
4
|
PSBC-2-60-400
|
87.2
|
2.2
|
49.8
|
2.1
|
5
|
PSBC-3-60-400
|
99.0
|
0.1
|
76.2
|
2.7
|
6
|
PSBC-3-60-300
|
89.6
|
1.2
|
57.1
|
2.5
|
7
|
PSBC-3-60-350
|
92.5
|
2.7
|
63.8
|
2.3
|
8
|
PSBC-3-60-450
|
99.0
|
0
|
76.9
|
2.8
|
9
|
PSBC-3-30-400
|
78.7
|
7.3
|
40.7
|
1.4
|
10
|
PSBC-3-100-400
|
93.3
|
0.9
|
69.8
|
2.1
|
11b
|
PBC-400
|
85.3
|
3.7
|
56.7
|
1.6
|
12c
|
PSBC-3-60-400
|
99.5
|
0.5
|
88.8
|
1.6
|
13d
|
PSBC-3-60-400
|
100
|
0
|
46.6/50.3
|
0
|
14e
|
PSBC-3-60-400
|
100
|
0
|
14.8/80.2
|
0
|
a Reaction condition: cellulose, 0.3 g; catalyst, 0.05 g; H2O, 25 mL; reaction temperature, 150oC; reaction time, 6 h; bData of coming from the literature(F. Mao et al. 2020), catalyst, 0.1 g, reaction time, 8 h; cUsing cellobiose as a substrate, reaction time, 2 h; dUsing sucrose as a substrate, reaction temperature, 120oC, reaction time, 2 h; eUsing inulin as a substrate, reaction temperature, 120oC, reaction time, 2 h. |
In the following experiments, the bifunctional catalytic performance of 1%Ru/PSBC for the one-pot hydrolytic hydrogenation of carbohydrates to sorbitol/mannitol in water under H2 was investigated using or referencing the optimized variables (0.05 g catalyst, 150oC, 6 h, 3 MPa H2) of the one-pot conversion of cellulose to sorbitol (see Fig. S2), which was compared to the data obtained from the one-pot conversion of cellulose to sorbitol catalyzed by two reference catalysts 1%Ru/PS and 1%Ru/PBC. As shown in Table 3, 1%Ru/PS has a low activity for the one-step hydrolytic hydrogenation of cellulose owing to the low hydrolytic activity of its carrier, providing ca. 38.3% sorbitol and 1% mannitol yields (Entry 1). Entry 2 shows that our previously reported 1%Ru/PBC exhibits a good catalysis activity for this one-pot conversion, providing ca. 77% sorbitol yield. But even if using the intensified reaction conditions (doubled 0.1 g catalyst, 5 MPa H2 and 8 h), this catalytic system still inevitably produces a small amount of cellobiitol (2.1% yield) as the hydrogenated product of cellobiose. Encouragingly, 1%Ru/PSBC has the highest catalytic activity for the one-step conversion and can achieve 83.2% sorbitol and 2% mannitol as the hydrogenated products under the optimal conditions (Entry 3). The two turnover frequencies (TOFs/h−1) calculated based on the theoretical and practical Ru loadings are up to 51.7 and 101, respectively, which are much higher than the TOF values of two control catalysts. Entry 4 reveals that 1%Ru/PSBC exhibits an slightly enhanced catalysis efficiency for the hydrolytic hydrogenation of cellobiose under the same conditions as Entry 3, giving 85% sorbitol and 2% mannitol yields with 51.4 TOF (101 actual TOF). And even if using more mild conditions of 120oC and 2 h, 1%Ru/PSBC can also well function and exhibit an excellent catalytic efficiency (93.7-93.9% hexitols yields, 166.4-173.5 TOFs or 326-340 actual TOFs) for the one-pot conversion of sucrose and inulin, respectively affording 60.9% sorbitol/33% mannitol and 47% sorbitol/45.7% mannitol as the corresponding hydrogenated products (Entries 4-6). It is noteworthy that the yields of cellulose-hydrogenated products over 1%Ru/PS and 1%Ru/PBC are much higher than those of its hydrolysates over the corresponding acidic carriers, which is likely due to the following facts: The loaded Ru NPs can dissociate H2 to generate spillover H species and the latter contributes to cellulose hydrolysis (M. Liu et al. 2011). On the other hand, the formed glucose can be rapidly hydrogenated to the more stable sorbitol, thus remarkably blocking-up its poly- condensation by-reactions (J. Geboers et al. 2010; D.M. Alonso et al. 2013). In sharp contrast, 1%Ru/PBC and its carrier can achieve almost the same yields of carbohydrates-hydrogenated and -hydrolyzed products, respectively, further confirming that the excellent hydrolytic hydrogenation performance of 1%Ru/PSBC for these carbohydrates should be attributed to the fast hydrolysis and mass transfer rates of its carrier.
Table 3
Synthesis of hexitols from carbohydrates in water over various Ru-loaded carriersa
Entry
|
Substrate
|
Catalyst
|
TOFb
/h−1
|
Conv. /%
|
Yield of products /%
|
Cellobiitol
|
Sorbitol
|
Mannitol
|
1
|
Cellulose
|
1%Ru/PS
|
24.5
|
0
|
0
|
38.3
|
1.0
|
2c
|
Cellulose
|
1%Ru/PBC
|
18.7
|
94.3
|
2.1
|
77.0
|
1.0
|
3
|
Cellulose
|
1%Ru/PSBC
|
51.7/101d
|
100
|
0
|
83.2
|
2.0
|
4
|
Cellobiose
|
1%Ru/PSBC
|
51.4/101d
|
100
|
0
|
85.0
|
2.2
|
5e
|
Sucrose
|
1%Ru/PSBC
|
166/326d
|
100
|
0
|
60.9
|
33.0
|
6e
|
Inulin
|
1%Ru/PSBC
|
174/340d
|
100
|
0
|
47.0
|
45.7
|
a Reaction condition: substrate, 0.3 g; catalyst, 0.05 g; H2O, 25 mL, 3 MPa H2, reaction temperature, 150oC; reaction time, 6 h; b Turnover frequency (TOF) calculated based on all the hydrogenated products (mole)÷the theoretically loaded Ru (mole) of catalyst÷time (h); c Data of coming from the literature (F. Mao et al. 2020), catalyst, 0.1 g, 5 MPa H2 reaction time, 8 h; d TOF values calculated based on the practically loaded Ru; e Reaction temperature, 120oC, reaction time, 2 h. |
Finally, the recycle runs for one-pot hydrolytic hydrogenation of cellulose and the direct hydrogenation of glucose were used to check the stability of 1%Ru/PSBC under the same conditions as Entry 3 of Table 3. Fig. 1a shows that after three recycle runs, cellulose conversion and sorbitol yield decrease from 100 to 88.7% and from 83.2 to 64.3%, respectively, which corresponds to the generation and increase of cellobiitol, indicating the catalyst gradually deactivates with its recycling times. On the contrary, the catalyst exhibits an excellent recyclability for the hydrogenation of glucose and sorbitol yield always maintains ca. 85% during three recycling runs (See Fig. 1b). And the catalyst also exhibits an improved reusability for the hydrolytic hydrogenation of cellobiose (Tables S2). The fact that the strong acid amount of catalyst is remarkably reduced from 0.40 to 0.26 mmol.g−1 after three recycling runs, supporting that the deactivation of catalyst in the recycling runs of cellulose one-pot conversion should be mainly due to the leaching of its strong acid groups. On the other hand, the concomitant by-products (humans) during the one-pot conversion likely deposit on the acidic sites and Ru NPs, thus poisoning the bifunctional activities of catalyst, as supported by the reduction in the BET area and pore volume of the recovered catalyst after three successive runs (See the porosity later-described). Notably, the reusability of 1%Ru/PSBC in the recycle runs for one-pot hydrolytic hydrogenation of cellulose is superior to our previously reported 5% Ru/PBC (F. Mao et al. 2020), which should be mainly ascribed to the reduction in the humans deposited in the catalyst’ pores, supported by a fact that the reduction extent (15.8%) of BET areas in the recovered 1%Ru/PSBC is much lower than that (35%) in the recovered 5%Ru/PBC. This further supports the positive effect of the meso-macropores of 1%Ru/PSBC on improving the mass transfer efficiency and lowering the by-reactions in the one pot conversion of cellulose macromolecules,
3.2. Characterization of catalysts
In order to reasonably explain the above catalytic hydrolysis and hydrogenation data, a serious characterization and analysis methods were used to investigate the acidic supports and bifunctional catalysts and the obtained results are described as follows.
Surface acidity and affinity to β-1,4-glycosidic bonds
Table 4 lists the data for the surface acid density, and cellobiose adsorption value of PSBC materials prepared under different conditions, as well as the compared data for three control samples. Entries 1 and 2 reveal that the phosphorus- free material SBC-400 only has weakly Brønsted acidic (BA) carboxyl (COOH, 0.24 mmol‧g−1) and hydroxyl (OH, 0.57 mmol‧g−1) groups, while the biochar-free PS-400 only has the strong BA groups (0.43 mmol‧g−1), suggesting that the strong and weak BA sites should originate from the oxygen-phosphorus species and biochars, respectively. Entries 3-12 demonstrate that all the H3PO4-acitvated PSBC materials, including the silica-free PBC-400, have higher weakly BA groups than SBC-400 but also present a strong B acidity attributable to the P-containing acid protons(J. Palomo et al. 2017). It can be further seen from Table 4 that SBC-400 and PS-400 have a poor and even non adsorption cellobiose capacity, while PBC-400 and PSBC materials all exhibit the enhanced adsorption capacities for cellobiose. Notably, several PSBC materials prepared under better conditions possess higher strong BA groups and especially adsorption capacities for cellobiose than PBC-400 (Entries 10-12 vs Entry 3). Moreover, the strong BA groups and cellobiose adsorption amount of PSBC materials are influenced by the preparation conditions, and they can be markedly improved by the use of high H3PO4 amount and suitable temperature (60 oC) in impregnation and by using highly carbonized temperature (Entries 4-12). The strong BA content (0.40 mmol‧g−1) and cellobiose adsorption value (213 mg‧g−1) of a typical PSBC-3-60-400 are higher than those (0.28 mmol‧g−1, 150 mg‧g−1) of PBC-400. These findings support that the inserted silica, as supported by the P contents measured with ICP (see Table S1), contribute to the incorporation of P-containing groups into the skeleton of PSBC materials but also significantly enhance the affinity to β-1,4-glycosidic bonds, which should be very beneficial to catalyze the hydrolysis of cellulose and other carbohydrates, as supported by the data in Table 2.
Table 4
Surface acid groups of PSBCs and three control samples and their adsorption values to cellobiose
Entry
|
Sample
|
Density of acidic groups (mmol.g-1)
|
Cellobiose adsorption value (mg.g-1)
|
Strong acid
|
-COOH
|
-OH
|
1
|
SBC-400
|
0
|
0.24
|
0.57
|
26.3
|
2
|
PS-400
|
0.43
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
3a
|
PBC-400
|
0.28
|
0.57
|
0.59
|
149.7
|
4
|
PSBC-2-60-300
|
0.18
|
0.59
|
1.04
|
133.8
|
5
|
PSBC-3-60-300
|
0.19
|
0.76
|
1.14
|
141.5
|
6
|
PSBC-3-60-350
|
0.33
|
0.67
|
1.55
|
184.3
|
7
|
PSBC-1-60-400
|
0.15
|
0.46
|
0.96
|
117.5
|
8
|
PSBC-2-60-400
|
0.19
|
0.69
|
1.15
|
163.7
|
9
|
PSBC-3-30-400
|
0.09
|
0.39
|
0.74
|
58.7
|
10
|
PSBC-3-60-400
|
0.40
|
1.13
|
1.67
|
213.3
|
11
|
PSBC-3-100-400
|
0.39
|
0.73
|
1.48
|
204.9
|
12
|
PSBC-3-60-450
|
0.42
|
1.10
|
1.64
|
221.1
|
aComing from the literature(F. Mao et al. 2020) |
TGA: The thermal decomposition behavior of SBC-400 and PSBC materials under pure O2 atmosphere was checked via the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) technique and their TG and corresponding differential TG (DTG) curves are shown in Fig. 2a and 2b, respectively. The DTG curve of SBC-400 exhibits two weightlessness peaks about at 100 and 490oC, which should correspond to an evaporation of the adsorbed water molecules and an oxidation of carbon species. After heating to 900oC, the remaining weight percentage of this material is ca. 57.2 wt% based on its TG curve, which can be indicative of silica content in SBC-400. The TG and DTG curves of all PSBC materials display the above two weightlessness events but their weightlessness peaks for the oxidation of carbon species take place a splitting except for PSBC-3-60-450 and their splitting peaks at higher temperature (except for PSBC-3-60-300) has a positive shift of 4-19 oC compared to SBC-400 and such shift degree gradually increases with the carbonized temperature. Notably, the remaining weight percentages of all the PSBC materials are significantly lower than that of SBC-400 (see Fig. 2a and Table S3), presenting a gradual increase with the impregnated H3PO4 amount and especially with the carbonized temperature These findings support that in carbonization of the impregnated SBP, one part of the inserted silica can react with H3PO4 to form soluble Si (H2PO4)4 (SSP), while the other part may be converted into the insoluble Si3(PO4)4 and Si(P2O7) (ISP) species(L. Wen 1994) and the ISP species, as more stable and active components can be generated more at the high H3PO4 amount and especially high carbonization temperature, which may improve the strong acid density of PSBC and its affinity to β-1,4-glycosidic bonds as well as the hydrolysis efficiency of carbohydrates, as supported by the data in Table 4 and Table 2.
Porosity
Low temperature nitrogen adsorption was used to measure the porosity of several typical materials and the calculated specific surface areas (SBET), total pore volumes (Vp) and average porous sizes (D) are summarized in Table 5. Fig. 3 is the isotherms and BJH pore distribution curves of two typical materials PSBC-3-60-400 and 1%Ru/PSBC. According to the IUPAC classification, the isotherms of these two samples belong to type IV. At the low relative pressures of 0-0.5, they have a slow-increase of N2 uptake without hysteresis, which corresponds to the micropore structure (F. Mao et al. 2020). At higher than 0.5 relative pressures, the isotherms present a fast-increase of N2 uptake with type H4 of broad and conspicuous hysteresis, indicating that these two materials have the character of rich slit-shaped mesopores and macropores (A.M. Puziy and O.I. Poddubnaya 1998; J.C.P. Broekhoff and J.H. De Boer 1968). Different from the single micro-mesopore distribution in the BJH curve of PBC-400 (F. Mao et al. 2020), the BJH curves of these two materials display a typical double-pore distribution character that consists of micro-mesopores smaller than 3 nm and meso-macropores more than 5 nm ( see two inset in Fig. 3). The porous parameters listed in Table 5 further reveal that SBC-400, like BC-300(Z. Chen et al. 2019), is nearly nonporous (J. Zhang et al. 2012), while the PSBC materials, including its loading Ru sample have a very high porosity and their SBET, Vp and D values are commonly higher than those of the corresponding PBC materials previously reported by us (F. Mao et al. 2020). And these three porous parameters are continuously and remarkably enhanced with elevating the carbonized temperature until 400 oC. After that, the SBET and Vp values are obviously reduced at the carbonized temperature of 450oC. The BET areas of PSBC materials are composed of the external (St−plot) and internal (Smicro) surface areas with different ratios and their D values are between 5.33 and 6.28 nm, presenting a gradual and slow increase with the carbonized temperature. Notably, PSBC-3-60-400 has the highest BET area that is mainly contributed by the slit-shaped meso-macropores and the loaded Ru NPs on it remarkably reduce the SBET and Vp values of 1%Ru/PSBC, including a slight decrease of the D value. And the recovered 1%Ru/PSBC after recycling runs has obviously reduced SBET and Vp values compared to the fresh one, along with the increase of micropores. These findings support that H3PO4 is an excellent pore-forming agent, and its pore-forming effect is influenced by the carbonization temperature (L. Cao et al. 2018; J. Bedia et al. 2011). And the inserted silica can significantly enhance the pore-forming effect by perhaps reinforcing expansion of cellulosic structure but also contribute to the formation of macropores via their leaching in the soluble Si(H2PO4)4 form, which should be very favorable of improving the mass transfer rate of carbohydrate macromolecules and responsible for the excellent hydrolytic activity and selectivity of PSBC-3-60-400, as supported by the data in listed in Table 2 and Table 3. The reduction in the porosity of 1%Ru/PSBC should originate from the occupied pore effect of loaded Ru NPs and the further decrease in its porosity after three catalysis runs may originate from the occupied effect of catalyst’s pores by the by-produced polymers in carbohydrate conversion (J. Zhang et al. 2012),which should be one of the reasons that lead to the catalyst deactivation during the cycling runs.
Table 5
Porous parameters of SBC-400, PSBCs and 1%Ru/PSBC.
Sample
|
SBET (m2.g−1)
|
St−plot
(m2.g−1)
|
Smicro
(m2.g−1)
|
Pore Volume (cm3.g−1)
|
Pore Size (nm)
|
SBC-400
|
39
|
--
|
--
|
--
|
--
|
PBC-400a
|
1379
|
1046
|
233
|
0.81
|
2.35
|
PSBC-3-60-300
|
969
|
351
|
618
|
0.29
|
5.33
|
PSBC-3-60-350
|
1615
|
1343
|
272
|
1.34
|
5.51
|
PSBC-3-60-400
|
1617
|
1497
|
120
|
1.72
|
5.77
|
PSBC-3-60-450
|
1117
|
767
|
350
|
0.81
|
6.28
|
Fresh 1%Ru/PSBC
|
1549
|
1428
|
121
|
1.52
|
5.49
|
Recovered 1%Ru/PSBC
|
1305
|
1004
|
301
|
1.07
|
5.54
|
a Data of coming from the literature(F. Mao et al. 2020).
FT-IR
Figure 5a illuminates that the FT-IR spectra of SBC-400 and PSBC-3-60-400 exhibit some characteristic absorption bands attributable to biochars and these bands include the stretching vibrations of OH in 3650-3000 cm−1, COOH at 1708 cm−1, Ar-OH at 1610 cm−1 and polycyclic aromatics in 1400-1600 cm−1, which can be indicative of the aromatic carbon sheet structure with attached hydrophilic COOH and OH groups(B. Li et al. 2011). In addition, the FT-IR spectrum of SBC-400 exhibits three obvious IR bands at 1080, 801 and 460 cm−1 that are assigned to the asymmetric and symmetric stretching vibrations of Si-O-Si bond and the asymmetric stretching vibration of Si-O-Si bond(Z. Chen et al. 2019), respectively. But these bands attributable to silica become weak and even vague in the FT-IR spectrum of PSBC-3-60-400 likely owing to the leaching of silica and especially their conversion to the insoluble IPS species. In addition, a FT-IR spectrum of the P-containing material displays one band at 1180-1188 cm−1 with a shoulder peak at 1160 cm−1, originating from P=O or C-O stretching vibration in P=OOH or C-O-P groups(A.M. Puziy et al. 2002). And the shoulder band at 1160 cm−1 should be due to a P=O stretching vibration in Si3(PO4)4 and SiP2O7(R. Hubin 1967). But another band near 1082 cm−1 for the symmetrical vibration of P-O-P bond in polyphosphate(S. Bourbigot et al. 1995), is indiscernible since it overlaps with the broad IR band of silica in this region. Also, some IR bands in 760-490 cm−1 are found in PSBC-3-60-400 but are absent in SBC-400 and our previously reported PBC materials(F. Mao et al. 2020), these bands likely originate from the above ISP species, as supported by an FT-IR spectrum of the H3PO4-treated silica at 400oC (PS-400). These findings support the co-existence of P-containing carbonaceous and ISP species (likely including the incorporation of polyphosphate groups) in PSBC-3-60-400 material.
XRD
Figure 3b is the XRD patterns of PS-400, SBC-400, PSBC-3-60-300, PSBC-3-60-400 and 1%Ru/PSBC. A strong broad peak at 23.5o and a very weak broad peak at 35-50o are observed in the XRD patterns of four biochars-containing materials, which are respectively assigned to amorphous carbon composed of aromatic carbon sheets oriented in a random fashion(J. Xi et al. 2013) and a axis of graphite structure(S. Suganuma et al. 2008; M. Okamura et al. 2006), In addition, a series of sharp peaks in 10-50 o are also found in the PSBC materials, and they become strong to some extent when elevating the carbonized temperature from 300 to 400oC. These new diffraction peaks, which are absent in our previously reported PBC materials(F. Mao et al. 2020), should be attributable to the crystallized ISP species in PSBC materials, as supported by the XRD pattern of PS-400. Among these XRD peaks for the ISP species, two peaks at 22.9 and 25.4 o are assigned to the crystallized Si3(PO4)4, while another three peaks at 24.3, 26.7 and 27.5 o belong to the crystallized SiP2O7(S. Zhao 1981). Notably, the characteristic diffraction peaks for meal Ru are not found in the XRD pattern of Ru-loaded catalyst, indicating that the loaded Ru NPs are small size and highly dispersed on PSBC support(J. Xi et al. 2013; B. Feng et al. 2012), as supported by the following TEM images.
XPS
X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to investigate the chemical states of the surface atoms of PS-400 and 1%Ru/PSBC and the recorded high resolution XPS spectra for the surface P and Ru atoms are shown in Fig. 4. The survey XPS spectra and surface atomic concentrations of these two samples could be found in Fig S3 and Table S4, respectively. Fig. 4a shows that a broad P 2p peak in 132-138 eV is found in the XPS spectrum of 1%Ru/PSBC, which can be assigned to the pentavalent tetracoordinated phosphorus of PO4 species in phosphates and/or polyphosphates(A.M. Puziy et al. 2005). The P2p signal may be further deconvoluted into two main characteristic peaks by Gaussian simulation. One deconvoluted peak at 135.2 eV is consistent with the P 2p peak of PS-400, which should be assigned to phosphorus groups bound to silica (the above ISP species). Another peak at 134 eV, as previously observed in PBC materials(F. Mao et al. 2020), is attributed to phosphorus groups bound carbon through an oxygen atom, such as C-O-PO3H2, (C-O)2PO2H and (C-O)3PO groups(J. Bedia et al. 2011; X. Wu and L.R. Radovic 2006; M.J. Valero-Romero et al. 2017). Fig. 4b reveals that the two broad peaks centered at 484.4 and 462.6 eV appear in the Ru 3P spectrum of 1%Ru/PSBC, and they are assigned to Ru 3p1/2 and Ru 3p3/2 in the metallic Ru(W. Zhu et al. 2014; X. Xie et al. 2014), respectively. The further deconvoluted analysis of these two peaks gives another two weak peaks centered at 486.7 and 464.2 eV, which can be indicative of the Ru3+ ions(X. Xie et al. 2014). This indicates that the Ru-loaded sample mainly contains metallic Ru NPs and a small amount of the unreduced Ru3+ species. Notably, the surface Ru concentration estimated from Table S4 is 1.9 wt%, which is much higher than the Ru loading amount of 0.51 wt% measured by ICP analysis, indicating that the Ru NPs in the catalyst are mainly located on the surface of PSBC carrier, and they are expected to have high hydrogenation activity.
TEM: Fig. 5 gives the TEM images of SBC-400, PSBC-3-60-400 and 1%Ru/PSBC. In that, SBC-400 presents a large blocky shape and compact layered structure characteristic in its side, and small amount of biochar nanoparticles (NPs, diameter: ca. 5-60 nm) are densely irregularly aggregated on its edge (Fig. 5a), likely indicating that the layered SBC-400 material is constructed based on the compact aggregation of these particles via strong hydrogen bonding interactions between their surface polar OH and COOH groups. Completely different from SBC-400, the TEM image of PSBC-3-60-400 displays a loosely and irregularly aggregated morphology and its NPs are mainly located between 5 to 100 nm (Fig. 5b). In addition, a few large-sized rectangular crystals are also noticed in its TEM image, which should belong to the crystallized ISP species. The NPs of 1%Ru/ PSBC also presents a loosely and irregularly aggregated character and some black dots attributable to metal Ru NPs are scattered on them (Fig. 5c). Fig. 5d illuminates that the dispersed Ru NPs are all between 0.8 and 3.2 nm and their average size (1.5 nm) is smaller than that (4.6 nm) of our previously 5%Ru/PBC(F. Mao et al. 2020), which should be due to the low loading level and high dispersity of Ru NPs on the surface of carrier.
The above characterization results suggest that the enhanced strong acid sites and excellent porosity of PSBC-3-60-400 and its ultra-strong affinity to β-1,4-glycosidic bonds render this acidic support a high catalytic activity for hydrolysis of carbohydrates and the ultrafine Ru NPs loaded can construct the excellent bifunctional active sites with the support for the one-pot hydrolytic hydrogenation of carbohydrates, as supported by the catalytic reaction results in Tables 2 and 3.