CeO 2 nanoparticles supported on 2D nanostructured layered double hydroxide as a nanocatalyst: Facile synthesis, characterization and catalytic activity

The oxidation of cyclohexane employing tert-butyl hydroperoxide provides an appealing alternative to the present commercial method of manufacturing cyclohexanone and cyclohexanol (KA oil), which are important ingredients in the manufacture of nylon. CeO 2 nanoparticles supported on 2D nanostructured layered double hydroxide nanocatalyst were developed as an effective, stable, and reusable heterogeneous catalyst for the selective aerobic oxidation of cyclohexane to KA-oil in this work. The resultant material was characterized using a variety of physical techniques, including ICP-AES, XRD, FTIR, SEM, EDX, TEM, TGA, and BET surface area analysis. A maximum conversion of 38.91% was achieved with 97.69% KA oil selectivity using CeO 2 -NPs@LDH nanocatalyst after 6 h at 353 K. Furthermore, the hot filtration test demonstrated that CeO 2 -NPs@LDH was a heterogeneous catalyst that could be recycled at least five times without significant loss of catalytic activity.