Selective Photocatalytic Oxidation of Benzyl Alcohol at Ambient Conditions using Spray-Dried g-C3N4/TiO2 Granules

Abstract

In the 2010-decade, significant progresses have been made in the photocatalytic properties of graphitic-carbon nitride (g-C3N4). In this study, we synthesized and characterized a new photocatalyst, spray-dried g-C3N4/TiO2 granules, through a simple pyrolysis process of urea and TiCl4 as the precursors. The photocatalytic oxidation of benzyl alcohol (BA) to benzaldehyde (BAL) was carried out in a batch reactor in the presence of pure g-C3N4, g-C3N4/TiO2, and spray-dried g-C3N4/TiO2 granules at ambient pressure and under visible light irradiation at different conditions, including reaction time, temperature, and catalyst loading. The results showed that the new photocatalyst, spray-dried g-C3N4/TiO2 granules (TCNg), is much more effective on the photocatalytic oxidation of benzyl alcohol and also possesses high atom efficiency, high yield, and an average turnover frequency (TOF) of over 550 h-1. Finally, the DFTB + method was used to investigate the frontier orbitals and to determine the band gap of TiO2, g-C3N4, and g-C3N4/TiO2.