One possible replacement for drink containers made from PET is
polyethylene furandicarboxylate (PEF), made from renewable resources.
However, the production of the raw material for PEF from biomass is
still rather inefficient. A new titanium-based photocatalyst could be
about to change this, making it more economical to access the raw
material for PEF from biomass, as a team of researchers report in the
journal Angewandte Chemie.
© Wiley-VCH, re-use with credit to 'Angewandte Chemie' and a link to the original article.
In the valorization of biomass, the key chemical
5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is first obtained from the mix of natural
substances. PEF is a recyclable plastic that can be produced from HMF.
As PEF has very similar properties to PET, the most commonly used
material for plastic bottles, it is used as a biobased replacement.
However, the production of PEF is still expensive, due in large part to
the difficulty in producing the raw material for PEF from HMF.
To produce the raw material for PEF, HMF must be oxidized, and this
step is inefficient for two reasons. First, unwanted byproducts are
formed during oxidation with atmospheric oxygen. In addition, the
titanium-oxide-based catalysts available to date require UV light. Since
UV light only makes up a small portion of the spectrum of sunlight, the
efficiency of this photocatalytic reaction is low, making the process
expensive.
A group of researchers headed by Ya-Qian Lan and Yifa Chen of the
South China Normal University (SCNU) in Nanjing, China, have now
developed a titanium-based photocatalyst that overcomes both obstacles. A
titanium component in conjunction with an organic oxidizing group forms
flat, crystalline nanosheets from an organometallic framework. By
chemically linking the titanium with the organic components, the light
absorption shifts from the UV to the visible range, considerably
increasing efficiency, say the team.
The reaction is also highly selective, as relatively few reaction
partners are required and virtually no waste is formed. The authors
suggest that tailor-made photocatalysts like this could also be used to
make a number of other reactions more sustainable.
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About the Author
Dr. Ya-Qian Lan is a Professor of Chemistry at South China Normal
University (SCNU) in Nanjing, China. His group’s research interests
focus on the application of polyoxometalate-based composite materials in
energy storage and conversion and porous metal–organic frameworks for
applications in catalysis and proton conduction.
Dr. Yifa Chen is a Professor of Chemistry at SCNU. He has long been
dedicated to the design of covalent metal–organic frameworks, membrane
fabrication, and their applications in the fields of catalysis, energy
storage, and environment treatment.