Engineering Iron-Based Nanoparticles Spatially Dispersed on Mesoporous Carbon and Its Catalytic Activity for the Direct Oxidization of Benzene to Phenol

We report engineered iron-based nanoparticles supported on cagelike mesoporous carbon that leaves its most mesopores empty to retain an open pore network and are expected to be efficient catalyst with fast molecular diffusion/transportation. The nano-scale iron-based particle inlayed in mesoporous carbon catalyst was obtained via the introduction of N atoms as an anchor. Results of X-ray diffraction, N₂ sorption and transmission electron microscopy showed that the cagelike mesoporous structure of the carbon matrix was retained during catalyst preparation and iron-based nanoparticles were spatially dispersed on the mesoporous carbon. Importantly, it was found that the obtained iron-based nanoparticles inlayed into mesoporous carbon with a low Fe loading of 1.26wt.% was an appropriate catalyst for the benzene hydroxylation to phenol using H_2O2 as the oxidant. At a low temperature of 30°C, 19.4% conversion to benzene and 14.6% phenol yield were obtained; in addition, the catalyst could be recycled at least four times.