Aqueous-phase
hydrogenation holds significance in achieving
the
large-scale green production of succinic acid, but the acidic reaction
environment poses a considerable challenge in the design of highly
active and stable catalysts. Herein, we report a spatial-confinement
strategy to fabricate a CoNPs@Co-N-C core–shell
structured catalyst where Co nanoparticles (CoNPs) are
encapsulated tightly by nitrogen-doped graphitic carbon shells (NG),
while Co single atoms (CoSA) are distributed homogeneously
on the shells, which exhibits remarkable efficiency and stability
in the aqueous-phase hydrogenation of maleic acid for the production
of succinic acid in an acidic medium. The catalyst achieves 100% conversion
of maleic acid, more than 98% selectivity toward succinic acid, and
high stability for seven cycles without significant deactivation.
The combined characterizations and density functional theory (DFT)
calculations further indicate that CoNP and CoSA can concurrently optimize the electronic structure of the NG and
promote hydrogen dissociation on the surface of the carbon shells.
These findings shed light on the unique function of CoNP-NG-CoSA composite sites on regulating the hydrogenation
active centers and provide a guideline for the further development
of highly efficient acid-resistant hydrogenation catalysts.