Regulating the interfacial electronic coupling of PtNi/TiO2 via bond evolution for highly efficient hydrogenation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural

Solar-driven photocatalytic hydrogenation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in the aqueous solution to form 2,5-dihydroxymethylfuran (DHMF) is an environmentally friendly method to produce fine chemical products. Herein, we demonstrate that a bimetallic PtNi-decorated TiO2 photocatalyst (PtNi/TiO2) exhibits excellent catalytic activity for selective HMF hydrogenation. Specifically, compared with the low conversion of Pt/TiO2 (1.56%) and Ni/TiO2 (0%), an HMF conversion efficiency of 100% and a DHMF selectivity of 99.7% are achieved on PtNi/TiO2 under mild conditions. The detailed structure and in-situ characterizations first reveal the strong electronic coupling between PtNi alloy and TiO2, which not only effectively promotes charge migration but also undergoes the evolution of surface chemical bonds during the photocatalytic HMF process. Furthermore, the significantly enhanced η2-(C, O) aldehyde adsorption configuration of HMF molecules to form DHMF via the CH-O·immediate route is also evidenced. This work provides a new insight for designing and fabricating highly efficient photocatalysts for HMF selective hydrogenation.