Fluorinated and platinized Titania for Glycerol oxidation

In this research, photocatalysts based on TiO₂ modified by fluorination and platinum addition were evaluated in the glycerol oxidation. These materials were characterized by different instrumental analysis techniques to determine the physicochemical properties. It was found that the surface modification lead to improve the materials absorption in the Visible region of the electromagnetic spectra and to increase the surface area of TiO₂. By HPLC analysis was possible to observed that the photocatalysts 0.5% Pt-F-TiO₂ showed the highest yield and selectivity towards glyceraldehyde (GAL). It was also observed that the increase in the platinum content until values of 2% had a negative effect in the effectiveness of fluorinated Titania in the glycerol photo-oxidation. The fluorination and platinum addition modify some physicochemical properties of TiO₂, leading also to modify the reaction mechanism and selectivity during glycerol partial photo-oxidation and the dose of photocatalysts is an important reaction condition to obtain GAL and Dyhidroxyacetone (DHA) with yields above to 70%.