Dual photocatalytic effect of Ag/TiO2 site for the total reduction of N2O and selective oxidation of alcohols to valuable carbonyl compounds

Abstract

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is an important greenhouse gas emitted by anthropogenic activities, with a concentration that keeps increasing in the atmosphere. To limit its impact, thermal N2O degradation pathway is traditionally considered by main emitting actors. Nevertheless, N2O activation and upgrading as oxygen source in chemical transformations have recently received significant attention. Here, we propose to combine photocatalytic decomposition of N2O into climate neutral products N2 and H2O in the presence of primary or secondary alcohols as reducing agents. This dual reaction which simultaneously combines photoreduction of N2O and alcohols oxidation was extended to the selective transformation of alcohols into valuable ketones and aldehydes using Ag/TiO2 in acetonitrile as dual-reaction site, easily prepared by photodeposition method and loaded with only 0.3 wt% of silver.