ZnO/Fe-thioporphyrazine composites as efficient photocatalysts for oxidation of glycerol to value-added C3 products in water

Abstract

Photocatalytic selective oxidation of glycerol to value-added C₃ products is a promising strategy for the valorization of glycerol. In this work, an inorganic/organic composite material by integrating zinc oxide (ZnO) with iron thioporphyrazine (FePz) was prepared to act as photocatalyst for photocatalytic oxidation of glycerol in water. The effects of FePz surface modification on the physicochemical properties and photocatalytic performance of ZnO were systemically studied. More importantly, the integration of ZnO with FePz could markedly improve the visible light absorption ability and effectively promote the separation of photogenerated charges. Meanwhile, introducing FePz onto the ZnO surface was beneficial to the adsorption capacity of glycerol. Just because of this, ZnO/FePz composite exhibited excellent photocatalytic activity for oxidizing glycerol in water, C₃ products including glyceraldehyde and dihydroxyacetone were obtained from this composite photocatalytic system. Additionally, the active species responsible for glycerol oxidation were also determined.