Solvent controlled selective photocatalytic oxidation of benzyl alcohol over Ni@C/TiO2

The oxidation of aromatic alcohols to produce carbonyl compounds is of great significance in fine chemical production. The traditional oxidation produces waste gas and pollutes the environment during the reaction. As a new field, photocatalysis has attracted people's attention because of its environmental friendliness. At present, there have been much research on TiO2, or noble metal modified TiO2 to catalyze alcohol oxidation, but the high cost is not conducive to large-scale production. Herein, a Ni@C/TiO2 catalyst was prepared by in-situ hydrothermal synthesis. This catalyst has a better oxidation effect on benzyl alcohol than Ni@C supported on TiO2 on the market and has a good catalytic effect on aromatic alcohols with different substituents. It is more interesting that the selectivity of the product can be adjusted by choosing different reaction solvents. The highly active catalyst with low cost and wide applicability has certain significance for the large-scale use of photocatalytic alcohol oxidation.