UiO-66 derived ZrO₂@C catalysts for the double-bond isomerization reaction of 2-butene

1-Butene, as one of the widely used chemical raw materials, can be produced by the double bond isomerization of 2-butene. However, the current yield of the isomerization reaction is only up to 20% or so. It is therefore an urgent issue to develop novel catalysts with higher performances. In this work, a high-activity ZrO₂@C catalyst that is derived from UiO-66(Zr) is fabricated. The catalyst is prepared by calcining the precursor UiO-66(Zr) at high temperature in nitrogen, and characterized by XRD, TG, BET, SEM/TEM, XPS and NH₃-TPD. The results demonstrate that the calcination temperature has significant influences on the catalyst structure and performance. Regarding the catalyst ZrO₂@C-500, the selectivity and yield of 1-butene are 94.0% and 35.1%, respectively. The high performance is due to multiple aspects, including the inherited octahedral morphology from parent UiO-66(Zr), suitable medium-strong acidic active sites and high surface area. The present work will lead to a better understanding of the ZrO₂@C catalyst and guide the rational design of high-activity catalysts for the double bond isomerization of 2-butene to 1-butene.