The catalytic conversion of biomass platform chemicals using abundant non-noble metal nanocatalysts is a challenging topic. Here, high-density cobalt oxide nanoparticles loaded on biomass-derived porous N-doped carbon (NC) was fabricated by a tandem hydrothermal pyrolysis and mild nitrate decomposition process, which is a green and cheap preparation method. The Co3O4 nanoparticles with the average size of 12 nm were uniformly distributed on the porous NC. The nanocomposites also possessed large surface area, high N content, good dispersibility in isopropanol, and furfural absorbability. Due to these characteristics, the novel cobalt nanocatalyst exhibited high catalytic activity for producing furfuryl alcohol, yielding 98.7% of the conversion and 97.1% of the selectivity at 160 °C for 6 h under 1 bar H2. The control experiments implied that both direct hydrogenation and transfer hydrogenation pathways co-existed in the hydrogenation reaction. The excellent catalytic activity of Co3O4@NC was attributed to the cooperative effects of porous NC and Co3O4 nanoparticles. This approach provides a new idea to design effective high-density non-noble metal oxide nanocatalysts for hydrogenation reactions, which can make full use of sustainable natural biomass.
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