Photocatalytic oxidation of aromatic alcohols to aldehydes in aqueous suspension of home-prepared titanium dioxide
Abstract Oxygenated aqueous suspensions of home-prepared (HP) and commercial TiO2 catalysts were used in a batch photoreactor for carrying out the oxidation of benzyl alcohol (BA) and 4-methoxybenzyl alcohol (MBA) under different operative conditions. HP catalysts were synthesized from TiCl4 and underwent a hydrolysis treatment of different times under mild conditions. The textural characterization of catalysts was carried out with XRD, SEM observations, BET surface area and porosity measurements. For both alcohols the main oxidation products were the corresponding aromatic aldehydes and CO2. The HP catalysts exhibited selectivity values towards the aldehyde production up to 28% (BA convers…
Home-prepared anatase, rutile, and brookite TiO2 for selective photocatalytic oxidation of 4-methoxybenzyl alcohol in water: reactivity and ATR-FTIR study
5th European Meeting on Solar Chemistry and Photocatalysis -- OCT 04-08, 2008 -- Palermo, ITALY
Photocatalytic oxidation of aromatic alcohols to aldehydes in aqueous suspension of home prepared titanium dioxide
In this paper some intrinsic electronic properties of home prepared (HP) TiO2 catalysts were investigated by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and quasi-Fermi level measurements. These powders were used for carrying out the photocatalytic oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde and CO2 in water; the selectivity for aldehyde formation was enhanced by the addition of small amounts of ethanol, a typical hole trap. The values of band gap, valence band and conduction band edges are almost identical for all the HP samples in which anatase phase is predominant, whereas appreciable differences can be noticed for an HP sample containing high amount of rutile phase. A comparative ATR-FTIR study of…