Photocatalyst reaction, efficiency

Reduction of carbon dioxide produces a number of products like alcohols, acids, aldehydes etc. Since the photocatalytic reduction is a multielectron process, the products formed in the reaction system consist of many compounds, both in liquid (alcohols, aldehydes, acids etc.) as well as gaseous state (CO, CH4, and unreacted CO2 etc.). The exact identification and quantification of these products are required for the analysis of the overall reaction efficiency and hence the design of a better photocatalyst. Normally used analytical techniques are GC, HPLC, LC-MS, IR, IEC, UV-Vis, or 13C NMR. 

Nevertheless, photoactive MOFs also show unique photocatalytic properties that other materials cannot compete with, especially in organic synthesis applications. MOFs create the opportunity to combine photocatalyst with organocatalyst. One example is the chiral MOF, namely, Zn-PYIl, which exhibits high selectivity for photocatalytic asymmetric a-alkylation of aldehydes, as demonstrated in Fig. 4.13c. The Zn-PYll has also been synthesised via a PSM process of the parent MOF Zn-BClPl (top of Fig. 4.13c), which has been synthesised via solvothermal reaction from L-N-tert-butoxycarbonyl-2-(imidazole)-l-pyrrolidine (l-BCIP) [58]. The key point of the PSM process is the removal of the protective tert-butoxycarbonyl (Boc) moiety to expose active sites, which are likely to be the N — H of pyrrolidine of the L-BCIP molecules that is located within the channels according to dye adsorption test. This has been realised by microwave irradiation in dry lV,lV-dimethyl-formamide solution. The activated Zn-PYIl shows a high reaction efficiency (74 % in yield) and excellent enantioselectivity (92 % ee) in photocatalytic a-alkylation of aliphatic aldehydes compared to that of other MOFs. 

Recently, it is reported that Xi02 particles with metal deposition on the surface is more active than pure Ti02 for photocatalytic reactions in aqueous solution because the deposited metal provides reduction sites which in turn increase the efficiency of the transport of photogenerated electrons (e ) in the conduction band to the external sjistem, and decrease the recombination with positive hole (h ) in the balance band of Xi02, i.e., less defects acting as the recombination center[l,2,3]. Xhe catalytic converter contains precious metals, mainly platinum less than 1 wt%, partially, Pd, Re, Rh, etc. on cordierite supporter. Xhus, in this study, solutions leached out from wasted catalytic converter of automobile were used for precious metallization source of the catalyst. Xhe XiOa were prepared with two different methods i.e., hydrothermal method and a sol-gel method. Xhe prepared titanium oxide and commercial P-25 catalyst (Deagussa) were metallized with leached solution from wasted catalytic converter or pure H2PtCl6 solution for modification of photocatalysts. Xhey were characterized by UV-DRS, BEX surface area analyzer, and XRD[4]. 

The efficiency of semiconductor PCs in some reactions (such as dehydrogenation of organics, splitting of HjO and H2S, etc.) can be enhanced by depositing tiny islands of additional catalysts, which facilitate certain reactions stages that may not require illumination. For example, islands of Pt metal are deposited on the surface of the composite photocatalyst in Fig.6 with the aim to facilitate the step of H2 formation. 

It is possible that colloidal photochemistry will provide a new approach to prebiotic syntheses. The work described previously on redox reactions at colloidal ZnS semiconductor particles has been carried on successfully by S. T. Martin and co-workers, who studied reduction of CO2 to formate under UV irradiation in the aqueous phase. ZnS acts as a photocatalyst in the presence of a sulphur hole scavenger oxidation of formate to CO2 occurs in the absence of a hole scavenger. The quantum efficiency for the formate synthesis is 10% at pH 6.3 acetate and propionate were also formed. The authors assume that the primeval ocean contained semiconducting particles, at the surface of which photochemical syntheses could take place (Zhang et al 2007). 

However, the pathways for these reactions, particularly in the gas phase, have been only -.rtially characterized. In a wide variety of these reactions, coordinatively unsaturated, highly reactive metal carbonyls are produced [1-18]. The products of many of these photochemical reactions act as efficient catalysts. For example, Fe(C0)5 can be used to generate an efficient photocatalyst for alkene isomerization, hydrogenation, and hydrosilation reactions [19-23]. Turnover numbers as high as 3000 have been observed for Fe(C0)5 induced photocatalysis [22]. However, in many catalytically active systems, the active intermediate has not been definitively determined. Indeed, it is only recently that significant progress has been made in this area [20-23]. 

It is well-known that nano-TiO is one of the suitable semiconductors for photocatalyst and has been applied in various photoeatalytic reactions (Fujishima et al., 2000). However, its properties, not only the photoefficiency or activity but also the photoresponse, are not sufficient (Kawai and Sakata, 1980). Meanwhile, the high recombination ratio of photoinduced electron-hole pairs also reduces its catalytic efficiency. Therefore various modifications have been performed on nano-TiO to promote its catalytic ability and develop new photoeatalytic functions (Ohno et al., 1996 Litter, 1999 Nawio et al., 1999 Choi et al., 1994 Nishikawa et al., 2001 Amiridis et al., 1999). 

As seen in reaction (6.5.3) photogenerated holes are consumed, making electron-hole separation more effective as needed for efficient water splitting. The evolution of CO2 and O2 from reaction (6.5.6) can promote desorption of oxygen from the photocatalyst surface, inhibiting the formation of H2O through the backward reaction of H2 and O2. The desorbed CO2 dissolves in aqueous suspension, and is then converted to HCOs to complete a cycle. The mechanism is still not fully understood, with the addition of the same amount of different carbonates, see Table 6.2, showing very different results [99]. Moreover, the amount of metal deposited in the host semiconductor is also a critical factor that determines the catalytic efficiency, see Fig. 6.7. 

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