Ni/MIL-120: An efficient metal-organic framework catalyst for hydrogenation of benzene to cyclohexane

A highly thermal stable metal-organic framework (MOF), MIL-120, was employed to incorporate low-cost nickel particles by simple impregnate method to obtain heterogeneous catalyst, Ni/MIL-120. The as-synthesized catalysts were evaluated by gas-phase benzene hydrogenation and exhibited excellent catalytic activities in comparison with classic Ni/Al2O3 catalyst. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), H-2 temperature-programmed reduction (H-2-TPR) and transmission electron microscopic (TEM) results indicated that Ni species were well dispersed on the MOF matrix and the interaction between the Ni species and the MOF-support was weaker than that between the metal species and Al2O3, which facilitated the catalytic performance of catalyst for benzene hydrogenation. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.