Highly active and stable Co nanoparticles embedded in nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon nanofibers for aqueous-phase levulinic acid hydrogenation

Developing a highly active and durable non-noble metal catalyst for aqueous-phase levulinic acid (LA) hydrogenation to g-valerolactone(GVL) is an appealing yet challenging task.Herein,we report well-dispersed Co nanoparticles (NPs) embedded in nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon nanofibers as an efficient catalyst for aqueous-phase LA hydrogenation to GVL.The Co zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-67)nanocrystals were anchored on the sodium dodecyl sulfate modified wipe fiber (WF-S),yielding one-dimensional (1-D) structured composite(ZIF-67/WF-S).Subsequently,Co NPs were uniformly embedded in nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon nanofibers (Co~RNC/SMCNF) through a pyrolysis-reduction strategy using ZIF-67/WF-S as the precursor.Benefiting from introducing modified wipe fiber WF-S to enhance the dispersion of Co NPs,and Co~0with Co-Ndual active sites,the resulting Co~RNC/SMCNF catalyst shows brilliant catalytic activity (206 hturnover frequency).Additionally,the strong metal–support interactions greatly inhibited the Co NPs from aggregation and leaching from the mesoporous carbon nanofibers,and thus increasing the reusability of the Co~RNC/SMCNF catalyst (reusable nine times without notable activity loss).