Copper-based activated-carbon (AC)-supported catalysts were synthesized by a facile ammonia evaporation–impregnation method. Unlike the conventional Cu/SiO₂ catalyst, which showed highly catalytic selectivity towards ethylene glycol (EG) or EtOH, Cu/AC catalysts display unique selectivity to methyl glycolate (MG). The catalytic performance relies on the high content of surface Cu⁺ species and the relatively large copper particles with moderate hydrogenation activity.

Au/TiO₂ catalyst is firstly reported to be efficient in the hydrogenation of nitrobenzene to produce p-aminophenol with a high PAP selectivity of 81% and overall yield more than 63%. The catalyst is also quite stable and can be reused for at least 4 times with only slight decrease in activity.

Ag/AgCl@cotton-fabric plasmonic photocatalyst has been synthesized by a facile method, which exhibits excellent stability for the decomposition of RhB and conveniency in the separation and recovery of the catalyst from the solution.

CoAl alloy catalyst is found, for the first time, to be highly active, selective and reusable for the synthesis of diols via the hydrogenolysis of glycerol under mild conditions. The products and the catalyst could be self-separated from the reaction system through a simple reactor.

Sulfur doped ZnO/TiO₂ nanocomposite photocatalysts were synthesized by a facile sol-gel method. The structure and properties of catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-vis diffusive reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and N₂ desorption-adsorption isotherm. The XRD study showed that TiO₂ was anatase phase and there was no obvious difference in crystal composition of various S-ZnO/TiO₂. The XPS study showed that the Zn element exists as ZnO and S atoms form SO²⁻₄. The prepared samples had mesoporosity revealed by N₂ desorption-adsorption isotherm result. The degradation of Rhodamine B dye under visible light irradiation was chosen as probe reaction to evaluate the photocatalytic activity of the ZnO/TiO₂ nanocomposite. The commercial TiO₂ photocatalyst (Degussa P25) was taken as standard photocatalyst to contrast the prepared different photocatalyst in current work. The improvement of the photocatalytic activity of S-ZnO/TiO₂ composite photocatalyst can be attributed to the suitable energetic positions between ZnO and TiO₂, the acidity site caused by sulfur doping and the enlargement of the specific area. S-3.0ZnO/TiO₂ exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity under visible light irradiation after Zn amount was optimized, which was 2.6 times higher than P25.

A series of Cu/HMS (HMS=hexagonal mesoporous silica) catalysts, synthesized by ion exchange at temperatures from 303 to 363 K, are extensively investigated as catalysts for the hydrogenation of dimethyl oxalate to ethylene glycol. The physicochemical properties and catalytic activity are compared with those of a catalyst prepared by the conventional impregnation method. Characterization of the Cu/HMS catalysts shows that the surface and textural structure of the HMS support as well as the dispersion and nature of copper species depend strongly on the ion-exchange temperature. Temperature-programmed reduction patterns reveal the presence of three types of copper species. N₂O titration experiments show that the catalyst prepared by ion-exchange treatment at 333 K has the highest metallic copper surface area. A 98 % ethylene glycol yield is attained over the catalyst ion-exchanged at 333 K, illustrating that an optimum ion-exchange temperature is beneficial for the generation of copper catalysts with enhanced activity.

Catalytic direct dehydrogenation of methanol to formaldehyde was carried out over Ag-SiO₂-MgO-Al₂O₃ catalysts prepared by sol-gel method. The optimal preparation mass fractions were determined as 8.3% MgO, 16.5% Al₂O₃ and 20% silver loading. Using this optimum catalyst, excellent activity and selectivity were obtained. The conversion of methanol and the selectivity to formaldehyde both reached 100%, which were much higher than other previously reported silver supported catalysts. Based on combined characterizations, such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), diffuse reflectance ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis, DRS), nitrogen adsorption at low temperature, temperature programmed desorption of ammonia (NH₃-TPD), desorption of CO₂ (CO₂-TPD), etc., the correlation of the catalytic performance to the structural properties of the Ag-SiO₂- MgO-Al₂O₃ catalyst was discussed in detail. This perfect catalytic performance in the direct dehydrogenation of methanol to formaldehyde without any side-products is attributed to its unique flower-like structure with a surface area less than 1 m²/g, and the strong interactions between neutralized support and the nano-sized Ag particles as active centers.