Unravelling the reaction mechanism and structure-performance relationship for selective oxidation of ethylene glycol over Pt/Al2O3 catalyst

A series of Pt/Al 2 O 3 catalysts were fabricated by finely adjusting the amount of platinum and investigated in the selective oxidative of ethylene glycol (EG) to glycolic acid (GA) under mild neutral conditions. The 0.90Pt/Al 2 O 3 catalyst showed the maximum turnover frequency (TOF: 1106.6 h −1 ) with the EG conversion of 74.2 % and GA selectivity of 90.2 %. A strong linear relationship between TOF values and Pt 0 concentration was revealed, confirming that Pt 0 species serves as the active sites for GA formation. In addition, in situ diffused reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) results verify the reaction pathways of EG oxidation as follows: C 2 H 6 O 2 → HOCH 2 CHO → HOCH 2 COOH. This work unraveled structure-performance relationship for the selective EG oxidation over Pt/Al 2 O 3 catalyst, providing important guidance for the design of efficient noble catalysts especially for the oxidation reaction of polyols.