Carrier‐Dynamics‐Regulated BiOI/Au/TiO <sub>2</sub> Z‐Scheme Photoanode for Selective Glycerol Photoelectrooxidation and Mass‐Transfer‐Enhanced Continuous‐Flow Operation
ABSTRACT Selective conversion of biomass‐derived glycerol into high‐value chemicals is challenged by poor selectivity and mass‐transfer limitations. Here, a BiOI/Au/TiO 2 photoanode is developed, where plasmonic Au mediators facilitate a transition from Type‐II to Z‐scheme charge transfer. This heterojunction preserves strongly oxidative holes on the TiO 2 surface, as confirmed by femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy and spatially resolved MnO x photodeposition. In situ characterizations and density functional theory (DFT) reveal that this hole‐rich interface strengthens specific primary hydroxyl (pri‐OH) adsorption, lowering the rate‐determining dehydrogenation barrier to ∼0.6 eV. It also promotes rapid glyceraldehyde (GLAD) desorption, suppressing over‐oxidation. In a static H‐cell, the photoanode achieves 87% GLAD selectivity with a glycerol conversion rate of 341.25 mmol·m −2 ·h −1 . To overcome diffusion limitations, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were employed to design a continuous‐flow reactor for the 100 cm 2 large‐area photoanode. The flow system prevents product accumulation, boosting GLAD selectivity from 48% (H‐cell) to 77% for the large‐area electrode, with enhanced glycerol conversion (60.34%) and stable 120 h operation. This work provides a laboratory scale‐up by integrating nanoscale reprogramming with macroscale reactor engineering.
Authors
- Dongping Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4705-8774)
- Hongxia Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0146-5259)
- Rufeng Tian
- Lu Niu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6945-4412)
- Lei Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2027-4271)
- Yiming Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8766-9318)
- Wanggang Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6753-4432)
- Yi-Xiang Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4021-4228)
Institutions
- China Academy of Engineering Physics (CN)
- Taiyuan University of Science and Technology (CN)
- Taiyuan University of Technology (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Angewandte Chemie International Edition
- Published
- 2026-06-18
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.5402705
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Photocatalysis Techniques
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00