The effect of titania structure on Ni/TiO2 catalysts for p-nitrophenol hydrogenation

The catalytic hydrogenation of p-nitrophenol to p-aminophenol was investigated over Ni/TiO2 catalysts prepared by a liquid-phase chemical reduction method. The catalysts were characterized by inductively coupled plasma (ICP), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) and temperature-programmed reduction (TPR). Results show that the titania structure has favorable influence on physio-chemical and catalytic properties of Ni/TiO2 catalysts. Compared to commercial Raney nickel, the catalytic activity of Ni/TiO2 catalyst is much superior, irrespective of the titania structure. The catalytic activity of anatase titania supported nickel catalyst Ni/TiO2(A) is higher than that of rutile titania supported nickel catalyst Ni/TiO2(R), possibly because the reduction of nickel oxide to metallic nickel for Ni/TiO2(A) is easier than that for Ni/TiO2(R) at similar reaction conditions.