Direct oxidation of benzene to phenol with dioxygen is an attractive and challenging subject. V⁴⁺ vanadium species play an important role in the reaction. Nano vanadium oxide which consists mainly of the quadrivalence vanadium species was synthesized via hydrothermal method and used to catalyze the reaction without addition of reducing reagent. Investigations about performances of catalysts show that 3.7% conversion of benzene and nearly 100% selectivity of phenol are given over the fresh catalyst VO-N-A. Morphology observations display that the VO-N-A is made of nano-plate. Thermogravimetric curve illuminates that the catalyst is stable under the reaction temperature.

A series of Cu@Pd/C with different Pd contents was prepared using the galvanic reduction method to disperse Pd on the surface of Cu nanoparticles on Cu/C. The dispersion of Pd was regulated by the Cu(I) on the surface, which was introduced by pulse oxidation. The Cu₂O did not react during the galvanic reduction process and restricted the Pd atoms to a specific area. The pulse oxidation method was demonstrated to be an effective process to control the oxidization degree of Cu on Cu/C and then to govern the dispersion of Pd. The catalysts were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM), high angular annular dark field scanning TEM (HAADF-STEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) mapping, X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), auger electron spectroscopy (AES), and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES), which were used to catalyze the hydrogen evolution from ammonia borane. The Cu@Pd/C had much higher activity than the PdCu/C, which was prepared by the impregnation method. The TOF increased as the Cu₂O in Cu/C used for the preparation of Cu@Pd/C increased, and the maximum TOF was 465 mol_H2 min⁻¹ mol_Pd⁻¹ at 298 K on Cu@Pd_0.5/C-640 (0.5 wt % of Pd, 640 mL of air was pulsed during the preparation of Cu/C-640). The activity could be maintained in five continuous processes, showing the strong stability of the catalysts.