Decomposition Pathways of Glycerol on Titania-supported Pt and Cu Nanocatalysts
EMSL Project ID
47541
Abstract
Understanding the reaction mechanism is a key issue in the development of catalysts that can effectively convert glycerol, a top listed biomass-derived feedstock, to value-added chemicals. The research objective of this proposal is to determine how the local structure of TiO2-supported Pt and Cu nanocatalysts affects the decomposition of glycerol towards diols. The approach is to follow the surface reaction of molecular species (reactant molecules, possible intermediates and product molecules) at molecular level on TiO2-supported Pt and Cu nanocatalysts. In situ scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) coupled with other spectroscopic tools will be used to ascertain fundamental issues such as a) the adsorption configuration of the glycerol and intermediates; b) the initial bond scission processes; c) the reactivity of the interface sites; d) the size effect of the isolated metal nanoparticles; e) the role of the reduction and the polymorphs of the oxide; and f) the elementary reaction pathways involving different sites. The STM based reaction study method is expected to identify the specific reactive sites and address their role in the elemental reaction steps of glycol decomposition. This work will provide the field of glycol biorefinery a molecular-level understanding of the reaction pathways. The reaction mechanisms can lead to strategies for improving the efficiency of the conversion of glycerol towards diols. Conversion processes developed for glycerol would also be applicable to other inexpensive bio-feedstock (e.g. glucose) and greatly increase the diversity of the biorefinery.
Project Details
Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
Start Date
2012-10-01
End Date
2014-09-30
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Co-Investigator(s)
Team Members
Related Publications
Chen L, Z Li, RS Smith, BD Kay, and Z Dohnalek. 2014. "Conversion of 1,2-Propylene Glycol on Rutile TiO2(110)." Journal of Physical Chemistry C. doi:10.1021/jp504770f [In Press]
Li Z, BD Kay, and Z Dohnalek. 2013. "Dehydration and Dehydrogenation of Ethylene Glycol on Rutile TiO2(110)." Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. PCCP 15(29):12180-12186. doi:10.1039/c3cp50687h
Li Z, Z Fang, MS Kelley, BD Kay, RJ Rousseau, Z Dohnalek, and DA Dixon. 2014. "Ethanol Conversion on Cyclic (MO3)3 (M = Mo, W) Clusters." Journal of Physical Chemistry C 118(9):4869-4877. doi:10.1021/jp500255f
Xia Y, K Zhu, TC Kaspar, Y Du, B Birmingham, KT Park, and Z Zhang. 2013. "Atomic Structure of the Anatase TiO2(001) Surface." Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 4(17):2958-2963. doi:10.1021/jz401284u.
Zhu K ,Xia Y ,Tang M ,Wang Z ,Lyubinetsky I ,Ge Q ,Dohnalek Z ,Park K T,Zhang Z 2015. "Low-Temperature Reductive Coupling of Formaldehyde on Rutile TiO2(110)" Journal of Physical Chemistry C