Alcohol production from fatty acids via Ni₃Fe/Rutile: revealing the role of oxygen vacancy and metal-support electronic density characteristics

Ni₃Fe clusters anchored on rutile (R-TiO₂) were synthesized by hydrothermal (HT), coprecipitation (CP) and impregnation (IM) methods, and the catalytic performance of different NiFe/R-TiO₂ catalysts were investigated for hydrogenation of fatty acid into alcohol. Notably, HT-NiFe/R-TiO₂ catalyst, with the highest specific surface area and Ni₃Fe nanoparticles dispersion, exhibited the best hydrogenation activity towards alcohol production, with complete conversion and yield reach of 92.5 % at 4 MPa H₂, 210 ℃ and 6 h. The structure–reactivity relationship was investigated by a series of catalysts characterization, DFT calculation and corroborated through hydrogenation performance evaluations. Anchoring Ni₃Fe clusters onto highly dispersed basic site surfaces with different Ov concentrations can change the electron distribution and strength of the metal-support interaction, causing more stable adsorption of the H and acids molecular toward fatty alcohol production. This work provides further insight into the structure–activity of NiFe/TiO₂ catalysts synthesized through different methods.