Abstract

Particles of tungsten oxide loaded with a palladium oxide cocatalyst (PdOx/WO3) exhibit higher selectivity in comparison to other photocatalysts, such as Pt/WO3, Pd/TiO2, and Pt/TiO2, in the partial oxidation of alcohols such as 2-propanol to the corresponding aldehydes or ketones (e.g., 80% selectivity for acetone production with ca. 96% conversion of 2-propanol) in water containing molecular O2. A detailed investigation of 2-propanol oxidation as a model reaction revealed significant differences between the reactivities of the WO3 and TiO2 systems. On TiO2 photocatalysts, complete decomposition to CO2 proceeded readily, due to the occurrence of direct oxidation of 2-propanol and acetone adsorbed by holes, resulting in significantly low selectivity for partial oxidation. On the other hand, the rates of acetone peroxidation on WO3 photocatalysts were much lower than those on TiO2 due to the low affinity of the WO3 surface to the substrates, particularly acetone. The low affinity of the WO3 surface also en...

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