Issue 24, 2021

Visible-light-driven prompt and quantitative production of lactic acid from biomass sugars over a N-TiO2 photothermal catalyst

Abstract

Chemocatalytic production of lactic acid from biomass feedstock is an alternative route with high potential, but with the prerequisites of long reaction time, high temperature, and/or a tailored catalyst. In this work, an N-TiO2 photothermal catalyst prepared by a simple sol–gel method using urea as a nitrogen and carbon source could catalyse a variety of biomass sugars to quantitatively produce lactic acid (up to 98.9% yield) in water under visible light and at a low temperature of 60 °C in a time as short as 30 min. N-TiO2 provides a suitable valence band position (2.51 eV) for the photo-oxidation reaction, with more active species being formed on the catalyst surface (e.g., h+, e, ˙OH and ˙O2) and a light-induced heating effect caused by the carbon photothermal layer, which can effectively activate carbohydrates to undergo a cascade reaction process. Theoretical calculations show that the charge of N-TiO2 is highly separated, in which the N element acts as an electron trap and is enriched with plenty of electrons, leading to effective isolation of holes and electrons. In addition, the N-TiO2 catalyst exhibits good reusability and can be recycled with little loss of activity. The developed N and C-enhanced photothermal synergistic protocol opens up an avenue for producing organic acids from renewable biomass resources under mild conditions.

Graphical abstract: Visible-light-driven prompt and quantitative production of lactic acid from biomass sugars over a N-TiO2 photothermal catalyst

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
23 Aug 2021
Accepted
07 Nov 2021
First published
08 Nov 2021

Green Chem., 2021,23, 10039-10049

Visible-light-driven prompt and quantitative production of lactic acid from biomass sugars over a N-TiO2 photothermal catalyst

Y. Cao, D. Chen, Y. Meng, S. Saravanamurugan and H. Li, Green Chem., 2021, 23, 10039 DOI: 10.1039/D1GC03057D

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