Se-Doped Porous Carbon Supported Pt to Boost Selective Oxidation of Ethylene Glycol to Glycolic Acid

Biomass-derived polyols can be reformed to value-added chemicals by electrochemical selective oxidation process. Ethylene glycol (EG) and glycerol (GLY) are produced in a large surplus, hence rational design of electrocatalysts for efficient selective oxidation of these biomass-derived molecules should be required to utilize the EG and GLY. Various organic acids such as glycolic acid (GCA), oxalic acid (OXA) and formic acid (FA) can be produced in the oxidation pathway of EG. [1] In particular, EG selective oxidation targeted at the production of GCA, which has broad applications in skin care, textile industry and adhesives. Herein, we fabricated heteroatom doped porous carbons as support materials of highly dispersed Pt nanoparticles and applied to selective oxidation of EG to GCA. By introducing Se in carbon materials, the highly selective production of GCA was achieved with significant conversion of EG over 90%. The porous structure of carbon support led to well dispersed Pt nanoparticle and this morphology was observed by SEM and TEM. XPS and Raman analyses revealed that doped Se atoms changed electronic properties of carbon materials and induced defects into the carbon lattice structure. These properties greatly enhanced the electrocatalytic activity and stability of Pt/SePC, resulting that GCA yield reached to and remained around 85% during several repeated tests for the EG selective oxidation. Our study could highlight favorable strategy of catalyst design with heteroatom doping for ethylene glycol conversion to glycolic acid. [1] D. Jang, H. Han, J. Maeng, W. Yoon, M. Park and W. B. Kim, Highly active PdSb catalysts on porous carbon for electrochemical oxidation reactions of biomass-derived C1–C3 alcohols, Mater. Adv. , 2022, 3, 5964-5973.