Efficient and Selective Photocatalytic Conversion of Methanol Using Porous Au-WO₃ and Visible Light

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are common pollutants found in indoor and outdoor air. An efficient removal process for high-concentration VOCs can be a challenging task, having a new elimination process would a crucial development. In the past, we have a developed a continuous flow gas-phase reactor to monitor the visible light photocatalytic oxidation of methanol with porous WO₃and Au loaded WO₃. Porous WO₃had a much higher activity than commercial WO₃and doping with Au improved upon that activity in both samples. In the present studies, we focus on changing the reaction conditions, specifically the concentration of methanol and oxygen to improve upon the visible light photoactivity of porous WO₃based materials. The change in conditions also have shown to have a major impact on the reaction intermediates and photooxidation pathways on the photocatalytic oxidation of methanol. The continuous flow gas phase reactor was hooked up to a GC-MS which used to monitor the photooxidation process of methanol. EPR and XRD was used to determine the phase of WO₃. The Lewis acidity of the materials were monitored with the use of TPD. Finally, Nitrogen physisorption was used to monitor the porosity of the materials.