Ru-containing polyoxometalate fabricated on graphene oxide: Preparation, characterization and catalytic activity

Abstract Polyoxometalates (POMs) with remarkable redox characteristics and good stability are considered as versatile catalysts, meanwhile graphene oxide (GO) with a layered structure and myriad oxygen atoms on its surface is also good catalyst. Thus their combination will have the synergistically enhanced effect on the catalytic performance and the reusability of the heterogeneous catalysts. Here, an environmentally-friendly heterogeneous catalyst (GO/PEI/RuPW10) was prepared by fabricating [(γ-PW 10 O 36 ) 2 Ru 4 O 5 (OH)(H 2 O) 4 ] 9- (RuPW10) on the surface of GO functionalized by polyethylenimine (PEI). Further, this catalyst was applied to n-tetradecane oxidation using air as the oxidant. The results showed that 4.73% RuPW10 loaded catalyst exhibits high conversion (50.45%) of n-tetradecane under the optimized reaction condition. A recyclability test suggested that this catalyst can be reused up to five times without significant changes for the conversion of n-tetradecane. As a result, due to the high conversion, better stability and reusability, immobilizing POMs onto the surface of GO modified by PEI is one of the effective means to develop heterogeneous catalysts.