Acceptorless Photocatalytic Dehydrogenation of Furfuryl Alcohol (FOL) to Furfural (FAL) and Furoic Acid (FA) over Ti3 C2 Tx /CdS under Visible Light.

Acceptorless photocatalytic dehydrogenation is not only a promising alternative to photocatalytic water splitting for hydrogen generation but also provides a green and sustainable strategy for the synthesis of value-added organic compounds. In this work, Ti3 C2 Tx /CdS nanocomposites were obtained by self-assembly of hexagonal CdS in the presence of preformed Ti3 C2 Tx nanosheets, which serves as a photocatalyst for acceptorless dehydrogenation of biomass-derived furfuryl alcohol (FOL) to furfural (FAL) and furoic acid (FA) in neutral and alkaline medium respectively, with simultaneous generation of stoichiometric hydrogen under visible light. Ti3 C2 Tx MXene acts as an efficient cocatalyst for the photocatalytic dehydrogenation of FOL over CdS, with an optimum performance achieved over 0.50 wt% Ti3 C2 Tx /CdS nanocomposite. This study provides an economic and sustainable strategy for the simultaneous valorization of biomass-derived FOL to produce FAL and FA as well as the production of clean energy hydrogen under mild condition based on noble metal-free semiconductor-based photocatalysts.