Effect of pore mesostructure on the electrooxidation of glycerol on Pt mesoporous catalysts

Abstract

Glycerol is a renewable chemical that has become widely available and inexpensive owing to the increased production of biodiesel. Noble metal materials are effective catalysts for the production of hydrogen and value-added products through the electrooxidation of glycerol. In this study, we developed three platinum systems with distinct pore mesostructures, e.g., hierarchical pores (HP), cubic pores (CP) and linear pores (LP), all with high electrochemically active surface area (ECSA). The ECSA-normalized GEOR catalytic activity of the systems follows HPC > LPC > CPC > commercial Pt/C. Regarding the oxidation products, we observe glyceric acid as the main three-carbon product (C3), with oxalic acids as the main two-carbon oxidation product. DFT-based theoretical calculations support the glyceraldehyde route going through tartronic acid towards oxalic acid and also help in understanding why the dihydroxyacetone (DHA) route is active despite the absence of DHA amongst the observed oxidation products.