Continuous flow reduction of organic dyes over Pd-Fe alloy based fibrous catalyst in a fixed-bed system

Continuous flow chemistry has been considered as a green technology for modern catalytic industry as it not only improves the manufacture efficiency but also facilitates the sustainability. Herein we report a facile method for synthesizing bimetallic Pd-Fe alloy nanoparticles catalysts anchored on N doped carbon (NC) functionalized fibrous aluminium silicate fibers (ASFs). The as-prepared ASF@NC/PdFe catalytic fibers are packed into a column to construct a fixed-bed system, which exhibits excellent treatment capacity and durability for continuous catalytic hydrogenation of organic dyes. Typically, the flow rate of the fixed-bed is high up to 200 mL/min for 4-nitrophenol and methylene blue reduction, which is one of the most efficient fixed-bed catalytic systems. The catalytic turnover frequency is calculated to be as high as 59.6 min⁻¹ due to the enhanced synergetic effect of Pd and Fe. Furthermore, only slight loss of activity for the fixed-bed is observed even after nine successive catalytic cycles.