Highly dispersed Pt catalyst supported on nanoporous carbon derived from waste PET bottles for reductive alkylation

Nanoporous carbon (NPC) derived from waste polyethyleneterephthalate (PET) bottles was prepared by a MgO-templated method and employed as a support for a highly dispersed platinum catalyst. The NPCs and Pt/NPCs catalysts were characterized by BET, SEM, TEM, XRD and ICP-OES. The catalytic performance of the NPC supported Pt catalysts for reductive alkylation of p-aminodiphenylamine (p-ADPA) with methyl isoamyl ketone (MIAK) was investigated. The textural properties of the NPC prepared could be tailored by changing the size of the MgO-template and the MgO/waste PET powder mass ratio. When the pore size was below 14 nm, the catalytic performance of the Pt/NPCs for the reductive alkylation could be improved with increasing the pore size of the NPCs. Profiting from the higher mechanical strength and the ideal pore structure, Pt/O@NPC50(1/1)–PTA had excellent reusability, which could maintain 98% conversion of p-ADPA after reused 10 times.