Tuning the photocatalytic activity of bismuth wolframate: towards selective oxidations for the biorefinery driven by solar-light.

The sol-gel entrapment of nanostructured BiWO enhances the activity and the selectivity of the short-gap semiconductor in the sunlight-driven photo-oxidation of trans-ferulic and trans-cinnamic acid dissolved in water with air as the primary oxidant. Valuable products such as vanillin, benzaldehyde, benzoic acid and vanillic acid are obtained. This provides the proof of concept that photocatalysis could be a promising technology in tomorrow's solar biorefineries.