The role of AgNPs in selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol in vapor phase using morphologically tailored MnO₂ nanorods in the presence of air

Abstract

<div lang="en" class="abs"><p class="abs_header">Abstract</p><p>Vapor phase benzyl alcohol (BnOH) oxidation reaction is investigated over a pre–synthesised morphologically designed shape controlled spherical silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) decorated on manganese oxide nanorods (α–MnO₂NRs) in the presence of air. The combination of silver nanoparticles and the α–MnO₂NRs interface enabled the increased oxygen vacancies (O_v) and exhibited the strong metal–support interactions (SMSI) in surface oxygen activation. The effect of Ag loadings is significant and the optimal 1 wt% Ag loaded catalyst (1Ag/MnO₂NRs) showed excellent performance in benzyl alcohol oxidation due to high adsorption capacity, enhanced oxygen vacancies and red–ox properties. The DFT calculations confirmed that the high BnOH surface adsorption was exhibited over Ag modified MnO₂NRs than the bare α–MnO₂NRs. The optimized 1Ag/α–MnO₂NRs catalytic system achieved 2.6 fold higher activity compared to bare α–MnO₂NRs. These results provided novel insights on the rational design of shape dependent metal/metal oxide based heterogeneous catalysts.</p></div>