Optimizing the Surface Properties of MgO Nanoparticles Towards the Transesterification of Glycerol to Glycerol Carbonate

Abstract

Abstract MgO nanoparticles (NPs) were successfully fabricated by a facile, inexpensive and green synthesis protocol using soluble starch as a green bio‐template. The influence of calcination temperature on its textural properties and catalytic efficiency has been investigated in detail. The enhancement of MgO NPs crystallinity by increasing the calcination temperature is found from X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses. N 2 ‐sorption studies and CO 2 ‐temperature programmed desorption (TPD) measurements revealed that the MgO NPs calcined at 500 °C have superior textural properties and strong surface basicity. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis conferred that the MgO‐500 NPs furnished the optimized surface Lewis sites, consequently outperforms better transesterification activity. The fabricated MgO‐500 NPs exhibited an excellent catalytic activity towards the efficient conversion of glycerol to glycerol carbonate (GC) with more than 93% selectivity. The intelligibility of the adopted synthesis is eco‐benign and wide utility as a solid base catalyst for several organic transformations.