In this study, we report a simple
inorganic route for the synthesis
of Ru/W18O49 self-assembled coral-like nanostructures,
with the following advantages: It is one step and requires no surfactant
or stabilizing agent; Ru loading is easily tuned, and the as-synthesized
nanomaterials can be used as a catalyst without any further processing.
The preliminary investigations of the catalytic performance of these
as-synthesized Ru/W18O49 nanomaterials appear
quite promising for converting glucose to glycols. The total glycol
selectivity of 82.6% with 100% conversion of glucose was obtained
over 0.03 wt % Ru loading on tungsten nanostructures, which turns
out to be the lowest Ru loading% on support reported to date to achieve
the highest total glycol selectivity among the previously reported
catalyst based on Ru-nano/composite materials. Additionally, preliminary
results show that the concentration of Ru on W18O49 significantly affects the selectivity of the glycol production.
Thus, our methodology will open up a wide range of opportunities regarding
the choice of metals, stoichiometric/nonstoichiometric WOx (x=1–3) as support,
and the viability of further catalytic manipulations. A probable catalytic
mechanism for this catalytic process is also proposed.