Selective benzene hydroalkylation: Ni/Ni PS/HY catalysts for enhanced cyclohexylbenzene formation

The potential for synthesizing cyclohexylbenzene through one-step hydroalkylation of benzene is significant, but the selectivity is hindered by the deep hydrogenation of benzene to cyclohexane. In this study, Ni-containing phyllosilicate (Ni PS) was incorporated between Ni nanoparticles and zeolite (HY) using the deposition–precipitation technique, thereby creating Ni/Ni PS/HY. A conventional Ni/HY catalyst was also prepared using the impregnation method for comparison. Ni/Ni PS/HY demonstrates outstanding catalytic performance even at a low temperature of 130 °C and a high WHSV of up to 42.21 h−1, achieving a benzene conversion of ∼25 % and a cyclohexylbenzene selectivity of ∼85 %, which remained stable for 300 h. By contrast, the conventional Ni/HY catalyst yields a mere 2.5 % benzene conversion under identical conditions. Comprehensive characterizations and density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that Ni PS plays crucial roles in the hydroalkylation of benzene to cyclohexylbenzene. The formation of Ni PS leads to high Ni dispersion, generating more active sites for hydrogenation. Concurrently, the robust interaction between Ni PS and Ni reduces the reactivity of adsorbed H species, impeding the deep hydrogenation of benzene to cyclohexane, while still effectively allowing the formation of cyclohexene. After being adsorbed by the strong acid sites within Ni PS, the intermediate cyclohexene can be smoothly transported through the mesoporous structure of Ni PS to HY for alkylation. All these factors culminate in the exceptional catalytic performance of Ni/Ni-PS/HY.