Solar-light-driven photocatalytic selective oxidation of biomass-derived 5-hydroxymethylfurfural to 2,5-diformylfuran over 2D g-C3N4/BiOCl heterostructures photocatalyst

Biomass is a natural and renewable carbon resource. One of the possible green approaches to “carbon neutrality” is catalytic conversion of biomass resources into high value-added chemicals. As a result, photocatalytic selective oxidation of the biomass product 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) to 2,5-dicarbonylfuran (DFF) is an ecologically benign and energy efficient method. In this study, 2D g-C 3 N 4 /BiOCl heterostructures composites were prepared by easy ultrasonication-assisted stirring method for the first application of photocatalytic oxidation of 5-HMF to DFF. The physicochemical properties of the synthesized materials were characterized by SEM, XRD, FT-IR, XPS, UV–vis, BET surface area, PL and EPR analysis. The experimental results show that the g-C 3 N 4 /BiOCl composite is superior to pure g-C 3 N 4 and BiOCl in the oxidation of 5-HMF to DFF. The improved photocatalytic performance of the g-C 3 N 4 /BiOCl composites can be attributed to the improved visible light absorption, the creation of compact and intact Z-type heterojunction, increased surface area and enhanced separation efficiency of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. In addition, the photocatalyst has high stability and reusability. A putative photocatalytic process is proposed based on the respective energy band locations of these two semiconductors.