Oxidation of benzene to phenol by dioxygen over vanadium oxide nano-plate

Abstract

Direct oxidation of benzene to phenol with dioxygen is an attractive and challenging subject. V 4+ vanadium species play an important role in the reaction. Nano vanadium oxide which consists mainly of the quadrivalence vanadium species was synthesized via hydrothermal method and used to catalyze the reaction without addition of reducing reagent. Investigations about performances of catalysts show that 3.7% conversion of benzene and nearly 100% selectivity of phenol are given over the fresh catalyst VO-N-A. Morphology observations display that the VO-N-A is made of nano-plate. Thermogravimetric curve illuminates that the catalyst is stable under the reaction temperature.