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Photoelectrochemical oxidation of organic substrates in organic media

Author

Listed:
  • Tengfei Li

    (The University of British Columbia)

  • Takahito Kasahara

    (The University of British Columbia)

  • Jingfu He

    (The University of British Columbia)

  • Kevan E. Dettelbach

    (The University of British Columbia)

  • Glenn M. Sammis

    (The University of British Columbia)

  • Curtis P. Berlinguette

    (The University of British Columbia
    The University of British Columbia
    The University of British Columbia)

Abstract

There is a global effort to convert sunlight into fuels by photoelectrochemically splitting water to form hydrogen fuels, but the dioxygen byproduct bears little economic value. This raises the important question of whether higher value commodities can be produced instead of dioxygen. We report here photoelectrochemistry at a BiVO4 photoanode involving the oxidation of substrates in organic media. The use of MeCN instead of water enables a broader set of chemical transformations to be performed (e.g., alcohol oxidation and C-H activation/oxidation), while suppressing photocorrosion of BiVO4 that otherwise occurs readily in water, and sunlight reduces the electrical energy required to drive organic transformations by 60%. These collective results demonstrate the utility of using photoelectrochemical cells to mediate organic transformations that otherwise require expensive and toxic reagents or catalysts.

Suggested Citation

  • Tengfei Li & Takahito Kasahara & Jingfu He & Kevan E. Dettelbach & Glenn M. Sammis & Curtis P. Berlinguette, 2017. "Photoelectrochemical oxidation of organic substrates in organic media," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-5, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-017-00420-y
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-00420-y
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    Cited by:

    1. Yang Liu & Huishan Shang & Bing Zhang & Dongpeng Yan & Xu Xiang, 2024. "Surface fluorination of BiVO4 for the photoelectrochemical oxidation of glycerol to formic acid," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Jinghao Wang & Siyang Li & Caoyu Yang & Huiwen Gao & Lulu Zuo & Zhiyu Guo & Pengqi Yang & Yuheng Jiang & Jian Li & Li-Zhu Wu & Zhiyong Tang, 2024. "Photoelectrochemical Ni-catalyzed cross-coupling of aryl bromides with amine at ultra-low potential," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    3. Zhenhua Li & Lan Luo & Min Li & Wangsong Chen & Yuguang Liu & Jiangrong Yang & Si-Min Xu & Hua Zhou & Lina Ma & Ming Xu & Xianggui Kong & Haohong Duan, 2021. "Photoelectrocatalytic C–H halogenation over an oxygen vacancy-rich TiO2 photoanode," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-13, December.

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