Journal of Catalysis
Journal of Catalysis
5 years ago

Photocatalytic CC bond cleavage in ethylene glycol on TiO2: A molecular level picture and the effect of metal nanoparticles

Photocatalytic CC bond cleavage in ethylene glycol on TiO2: A molecular level picture and the effect of metal nanoparticles
Polyol conversion to value-added products is of great interest for the bio-diesel industry. Photocatalytic oxidation processes may offer a green approach for polyol conversion; however the lack of comprehensive mechanistic understanding from an interdisciplinary perspective limits or even misleads the design of highly selective and efficient photocatalysts for such process. Here we have studied the photocatalytic polyol conversion on pristine TiO2 and metal (Au, Pd, and Pt) nanoparticles (NPs) decorated TiO2 using ethylene glycol (EG) as the model compound. We have developed a mechanistic picture at molecular level by coupling in-situ surface science study on rutile (110) surface with in-situ vibrational-mass spectrometry study on TiO2 nanopowders. The CC bond cleavage was found to be the only pathway in EG photo-conversion under deaerated conditions, leading to the formation of formaldehyde and hydrogen. We rationalized that the desorption of the surface adsorbed H (Hads) to be the rate determining step (RDS), making pristine TiO2 a poor photocatalyst that only catalyze the EG conversion at very low surface coverages. The addition of metal NPs on TiO2 surface promotes the desorption of Hads significantly, thus leading to an enhanced CC bond cleavage performance at higher surface coverages that is more applicable.

Publisher URL: www.sciencedirect.com/science

DOI: S0021951717302890

You might also like
Discover & Discuss Important Research

Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.

  • Download from Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download from AppInChina

Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.