Faculty Publications
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Item Design and development of TiO2 coated microflow reactor for photocatalytic partial oxidation of benzyl alcohol(Elsevier B.V., 2020) Pradhan, S.R.; Nair, V.; Giannakoudakis, D.A.; Lisovytskiy, D.; Colmenares, J.C.The synthesis of valuable organic compounds from naturally available and renewable biomass is an open field of research towards adaptation in real-life applications. Photocatalytic valorization is assumed as a potential candidate, although the lower efficiency of the traditional batch photocatalytic reactor sets some drawbacks. Recently, photocatalytic microreactors revealed as a prosperous candidate for various photocatalytic reactions, especially for selective oxidation. This area of research is challenging due to the development of the proper photocatalytic microreactor for the targeted application. Deposition of the catalyst on the internal surface of the microreactor, the sufficient utilization of the irradiation, optimization of the reaction parameters are among the most vital parameters that should be considered upon the design. Although, to obtain the most active material and tune its crucial features to maximize its catalytic performance inside the microreactors is the uppermost important part. This work introduces ultrasound-assisted TiO2 deposition on the inner walls of a perfluoroalkoxyalkane microtube under mild conditions. The deposition experiments were carried out with commercial and sol-gel synthesized TiO2. The materials were characterized by XRD, UV–vis DRS, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and nitrogen sorption. The photocatalytic activities of the TiO2 nano-engineered fluoropolymer based microreactors were evaluated for the oxidation of benzyl alcohol in flow. © 2020 The Author(s)Item Ultrasound-assisted decoration of CuOx nanoclusters on TiO2 nanoparticles for additives free photocatalytic hydrogen production and biomass valorization by selective oxidation(Elsevier B.V., 2021) Giannakoudakis, D.A.; Qayyum, A.; Nair, V.; Khan, A.; Pradhan, S.R.; Prekodravac, J.; Rekos, K.; LaGrow, A.P.; Bondarchuk, O.; ?omot, D.; Triantafyllidis, K.S.; Colmenares, J.C.The herein presented ultrasound-assisted ultra-wet (US-UWet) impregnation synthetic approach was followed in order to avoid the drawbacks of the conventional wet impregnation synthesis. The goal was to homogeneously decorate the surface of the TiO2 nanoparticles with nanometric sized (< 4 nm) clusters of mixed cupric and cuprous oxides. The physicochemical features of the nanocomposite (TiO2[sbnd]CuOx) were determined by high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscope (HAADF-STEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Diffuse reflectance (DR) spectroscopy. TiO2[sbnd]CuOx showed an enhanced and continuous capability to generate molecular hydrogen upon low power ultraviolet irradiation. The benchmark commercial TiO2 P25 did not reveal any H2 formation under these conditions. TiO2[sbnd]CuOx presented also a high efficiency for the additives-free selective partial oxidation of two well established biomass derived model platform chemicals/building blocks, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and benzyl alcohol (BnOH) to the value-added chemicals 2,5-diformylfuran (DFF) and benzyl aldehyde (PhCHO), respectively. The nanocomposite showed higher DFF and PhCHO yield compared to P25. © 2021