Electrodeposition of activated carbon on Ni foam for monolithic catalysts and intensification of hydrogenation performance in a micropacked bed

Activated carbon (AC) is coated on Ni foam (NF) via an electrodeposition (ED) method to develop Pd/AC/NF monolithic catalysts, and the hydrogenation of alpha-methylstyrene (AMS) is adopted in a micropacked bed (MPB) to evaluate the catalyst performance. Compared with the suspension circulation (SC) method, the ED method can provide thinner AC coatings with layered structures. The active component Pd proves to be uniform on the coatings. These thin coatings improve the contact efficiency between the AMS and Pd sites and reduce the shedding of catalysts. The catalysts by ED exhibit better external mass transfer performance, activity, and stability compared with the catalysts by SC, and the maximum difference in the activity is 15.2%. The decrease in the activity of the catalysts by ED is 2.1% for 72 h. The ED method has practicability for fabricating monolithic catalysts with good hydrogenation and mass transfer performance in the MPB.