Solar-driven valorization of glycerol towards production of chemicals and hydrogen

Reverse microemulsion-based synthesis was successfully applied to the preparation of nanosized TiO2 particles in anatase and rutile crystalline phases. The resulted nano-oxides were found to have smaller average crystalline size, higher surface area and narrower band gap than commercial TiO2 samples, P25 and DT-51. All the TiO2 materials were used as supports for platinum nanoparticles prepared by incipient wetness impregnation and deposition-precipitation methods. The photo-catalytic activities of these materials were compared in the reaction of glycerol photo-reforming in aqueous media using simulated solar light. The results showed that different crystalline phases of titania have different effects on hydrogen production and selectivity of intermediate products. Anatase was found to be more selective towards glyceraldehyde, while the presence of rutile promoted a more selective reaction towards glycolaldehyde. Rutile also exhibited a higher productivity of hydrogen compared to anatase.