Hong Longfei, Zhang Huiyan, Hu Liangdong, Xiao Rui, Chu Sheng
Key Laboratory of Energy Thermal Conversion and Control of Ministry of Education, School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China.
Sci Adv. 2024 Jul 26;10(30):eadn9441. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adn9441.
Current photocatalytic technologies mainly rely on the input of high-energy ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) light to obtain the desired excited states with adequate energy to drive redox reactions, precluding the use of low-energy near-infrared (NIR) light that occupies ~50% of the solar spectrum. Here, we report the efficient utilization of NIR light by coupling the low-energy NIR photons with reactive biomass conversion. A unique mechanism of photothermally synergistic photocatalysis was revealed for the selective biomass conversion under NIR light. Using biomass-derived 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) conversion as a model reaction, it was found that NIR and UV-vis light featured markedly different reaction patterns. 5-Formyl-2-furancarboxylic acid (FFCA) was almost exclusively produced under NIR light, whereas UV-vis light favored the formation of 2,5-diformylfuran (DFF) as the major product. This work provides a paradigm for sustainable and selective chemical synthesis using the Earth's abundant resources, sunlight and biomass.
当前的光催化技术主要依赖于输入高能紫外-可见光（UV-vis）以获得具有足够能量驱动氧化还原反应的所需激发态，从而排除了使用占太阳光谱约50%的低能量近红外（NIR）光。在此，我们报告了通过将低能量近红外光子与生物质反应转化相耦合来有效利用近红外光。揭示了一种在近红外光下用于选择性生物质转化的光热协同光催化独特机制。以生物质衍生的5-羟甲基糠醛（HMF）转化作为模型反应，发现近红外光和紫外-可见光具有明显不同的反应模式。在近红外光下几乎只生成5-甲酰基-2-呋喃羧酸（FFCA），而紫外-可见光有利于生成主要产物2,5-二甲基呋喃（DFF）。这项工作为利用地球上丰富的资源——阳光和生物质进行可持续和选择性化学合成提供了一个范例。
