Synergy of Pt Single Atom and Clusters toward Selective Glycerol Oxidation

Abstract Selective oxidation of excess glycerol to glyceric acid is a significant reaction but the reaction is inhibited by the C−H activation that has a high energy barrier. Here, we introduced Pt single atom species (Pt−O−Ce) into Pt/CeO 2 , which gave a high glycerol conversion of 90.9% with a high glyceric acid selectivity of 83.2% under the mild reaction conditions (T=100 °C, O 2 flow of 5 mL min −1 , and non‐alkaline). The C−H bond can be easily adsorbed and activated over Pt−O−Ce, which facilitated the selective oxidation of primary C−OH with a bidentate adsorption on Pt cluster , verified by the CO‐DRIFT, XPS, HRTEM, and in situ IR adsorption experiments. This synergy provided a way to design stable and active catalyst in biomass conversion.