Highly Selective Photocatalytic Conversion of Glucose on Holo-Symmetrically Spherical Three-Dimensionally Ordered Macroporous Heterojunction Photonic Crystal

Photocatalytic conversion of biomass is considered an effective, clean, and environmentally friendly route to obtain high-valued chemicals and hydrogen. However, the limited conversion efficiency and poor selectivity are still the main bottlenecks for photocatalytic biomass conversion. Herein, we report the highly selective photocatalytic conversion of glucose solution on holo-symmetrically spherical three-dimensionally ordered macroporous TiO₂-CdSe heterojunction photonic crystal structure (s-TCS). The obtained s-TCS photocatalysts show excellent stability and strong light harvesting, uniform mass diffusion and exchange, and efficient photogenerated electrons/holes separation and utilization. The optimized s-TCS-4 photocatalyst displays the highest photocatalytic performance for glucose oxidation and hydrogen production. The glucose conversion, lactic acid selectivity, and yield on s-TCS-4 are about 95.9%, 94.3%, and 96.4%, respectively. The photocatalytic production of lactic acid for s-TCS-4 (18.5 g/L) is 2.3 times higher than the pure spherical TiO₂ photonic crystal without CdSe (s-TiO₂, 8.1 g/L), and the hydrogen production rate of s-TCS-4 is 9.4 times that of s-TiO₂. For the first time, we reveal that the photocatalytic conversion of glucose to lactic acid is a third-order and four-electron-involved reaction. This work could shed some new light on the efficient photocatalysis conversion of biomass to highly value-added products with high selectivity and yield, and simultaneously sustainable hydrogen evolution.