# Plasma-Enabled Pd/C Catalysts with Rich Carbon Defects for High-Performance Phenol Selective Hydrogenation

## TL;DR

A new plasma treatment method improves the performance of Pd/C catalysts for phenol hydrogenation by creating carbon defects that enhance stability and selectivity.

## Contribution

A novel argon plasma treatment is introduced to engineer carbon defects in Pd/C catalysts, improving dispersion and performance in phenol hydrogenation.

## Key findings

- Plasma treatment creates rich carbon defects that anchor Pd nanoparticles and improve their dispersion.
- The PL-Pd@ACAr catalyst achieves 99.9% phenol conversion with 97% selectivity to cyclohexanone at 70 °C.
- The catalyst maintains high stability over six consecutive reaction cycles.

## Abstract

The selective hydrogenation of phenol to cyclohexanone is a pivotal reaction for producing nylon precursors. Conventional Pd/C catalysts, however, suffer from weak metal–support interactions, leading to size heterogeneity and agglomeration of Pd nanoparticles, which degrades their activity and stability. Herein, we report a facile argon plasma treatment to engineer rich defects on an activated carbon (AC) support, resulting in a highly dispersed and stable catalyst (denoted as PL-Pd@ACAr). Characterization results indicate that the abundant carbon defects in PL-Pd@ACAr enhance the anchoring of Pd precursors, ensure the uniform dispersion of Pd nanoparticles, and effectively modulate their electronic structure. Consequently, the plasma-enabled PL-Pd@ACAr catalyst achieves 99.9% phenol conversion with 97% selectivity to cyclohexanone at a mild temperature of 70 °C and maintains exceptional stability over six consecutive cycles. This work provides a robust and efficient strategy for the surface engineering of carbon supports to design high-performance hydrogenation catalysts.