Ni Nanoparticles supported on N-doped carbon nanotubes for efficient hydrogenation of C5 hydrocarbon resins under mild conditions

The catalytic hydrogenation of hydrocarbon resins to high value-added products represents a prospective technology to upgrade the pyrolysis gasoline byproduct, while pore diffusion is challenging. Herein, Ni nano particles supported on nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (Ni/NCNTs) were designed and synthesized via an impregnation method. The as-prepared Ni/NCNTs exhibit superior hydrogenation of large molecular C5 hydrocarbon resins (C5HR) catalytic activity under mild conditions relative to that reported by literature, and the degree of hydrogenation (DH) for C5HR with a water-white appearance reach up to 95.5%. Combined with the BET, TEM, XPS, H-2-TPR analysis results, the catalytic performance of Ni/NCNTs catalyst could ascribe to that the unique structure of NCNTs carrier provides a more accessible surface area that accounts for 88.1% of the specific surface area to expose abundant active sites, and small nickel nanoparticle sizes (less than 10 nm). Additionally, Ni/NCNTs exhibit higher stability for C5HR hydrogenation than Ni/CNTs catalyst, which attributes to the efficient anchor ability of N defect and the formation of Ni-N units.

Automated summary

In this study, Ni nano particles supported on nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (Ni/NCNTs) were synthesized and used for catalytic hydrogenation. The results showed that Ni/NCNTs exhibited high catalytic activity for C5 hydrocarbon resins under mild conditions, along with good stability.