Specific Photocatalytic C-C Coupling of Benzyl Alcohol to Deoxybenzoin or Benzoin by Precise Control of C-H Bond Activation or O-H Bond Activation by Adjusting the Adsorption Orientation of Hydrobenzoin Intermediates.

Benzyl alcohol (BA) is a major biomass derivative and can be further converted into deoxybenzoin (DOB) and benzoin (BZ) as high-value products for industrial applications through photocatalytic C-C coupling reaction. The photocatalytic process contains two reaction steps, which are (1) the C-C coupling of BA to hydrobenzoin (HB) intermediates and (2) either dehydration of HB to DOB or dehydrogenation of HB to BZ. We found that generation of DOB or BZ is mainly determined by the activation of C-H or O-H bonds in HB.

Engineered Half-Unit-Cell MoS/ZnInS Monolayer Photocatalysts and Adsorbed Hydroxyl Radicals-Assisted Activation of C-H Bond for Efficient C-O Bond Cleavage in Lignin to Aromatic Monomers.

Photocatalysis has high potential in the cleavage of C-O bond in lignin into high-value aromatic monomers; however, the inefficient C-H bond activation in lignin and a low hydrogen transfer efficiency on the photocatalyst's surfaces have limited its application in photocatalytic lignin conversion. This study indicates that the cleavage of the C-O bond can be improved by the generation of the C radical intermediate through C-H bond activation, and the formation of desirable aromatic products can be significantly improved by the enhanced hydrogen transfer efficiency from photocatalyst surfaces to aromatic monomeric radicals. We elaborately designed the half-unit-cell MoS/ZnInS monolayer with a thickness of ∼1.

Improved Lignin Conversion to High-Value Aromatic Monomers through Phase Junction CdS with Coexposed Hexagonal (100) and Cubic (220) Facets.

Photocatalysis has the potential for lignin valorization to generate functionalized aromatic monomers, but its application has been limited by the slow conversion rate and the low selectivity to desirable aromatic products. In this work, we designed the phase junction CdS with coexposed hexagonal (100) and cubic (220) facets to improve the photogenerated charge carriers' transfer efficiency from (100) facet to (220) facet and the hydrogen transfer efficiency for an enhanced conversion rate of lignin to aromatic monomers. Water is found as a sufficient external hydrogen supplier to increase the yields of aromatic monomers.

Enhanced plasmonic photocatalytic performance of C doped TiN nanocrystals through ultrathin carbon layers.

Carbon-doped TiN nanoparticles on an ultrathin carbon layer, were successfully used for photocatalytic dye degradation synthesised by a simple calcination process. The resulting catalyst exhibited remarkable plasmonic photocatalytic performance under visible light irradiation. In comparison with benchmark rutile TiO and g-CN/TiO heterostructure catalysts, the first-order reaction rate constant of the developed catalyst improved approximately 34.