Visible light-induced partial oxidation of cyclohexane on WO3 loaded with Ptnanoparticles

Abstract

Photocatalytic oxidation of cyclohexane (CHA) with molecular oxygen (O2) was carried out using WO3 loaded with Pt nanoparticles (Pt/WO3) under irradiation of visible light (λ > 420 nm). The Pt/WO3 catalysts promote oxidation of CHA and give rise to partial oxidation products such as cyclohexanol (CHA-ol) and cyclohexanone (CHA-one) with ca. 93% selectivity. Among the catalysts, Pt/WO3 with 0.2 wt% Pt shows the highest activity. The high selectivity for partial oxidation on Pt/WO3 is because subsequent photocatalytic decomposition of partial oxidation products is suppressed. In the Pt/WO3 system, the photoformed electrons on the conduction band of WO3 are consumed by a multi-electron reduction of O2 on the Pt particles (formation of H2O and H2O2), where a single-electron reduction of O2 is unfavored. This suppresses the formation of a superoxide anion (O2˙−) that promotes decomposition of CHA-ol and CHA-one and, hence, results in selective formation of partial oxidation products.