Preparation of MoS2nanosheets to support Pd species for selective steerable hydrogenation of acetylene

Selective hydrogenation of acetylene to ethylene while avoiding over-hydrogenation into ethane is challenging for polymer industry. For highly steerable catalyst design of Metal-MoS2, we reported a few-layer nano-MoS(2)supported Pd catalyst, in which the support was prepared by the exfoliation method of bulk molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) in formamide solution. The results from TEM, SAED, AFM and Raman spectra analysis confirmed that the few-layer nano-MoS(2)was produced successfully. The XPS result indicates Pd charge transferred to MoS2, proving strong Pd-MoS(2)interactions. Pd/nano-MoS(2)provided a good catalytic performance for the hydrogenation of acetylene to ethylene, and the ethylene selectivity can reach up to 75% while acetylene conversion can achieve nearly 100%. Comparing with the commercial 5% Pd/C catalyst reported at similar conditions, the Pd/nano-MoS(2)synthesized in this study presents better activity and selectivity. In all, this work shows potential application of MoS(2)nanosheets used as catalyst support to achieve selective steerable reactions.

Automated summary

The selective hydrogenation of acetylene to ethylene using Pd supported on few-layer nano-MoS(2) as catalyst has shown promising results. The Pd/nano-MoS(2) catalyst exhibited better activity and selectivity compared to commercial Pd/C catalyst, indicating potential for future applications.