Selective oxidation of benzene to phenol by Fe-CN/TS-1 catalysts under visible light irradiation

Fe-g-C3N4 (denoted as Fe-CN) and titanium silicate zeolite (TS-1) hybrid materials were fabricated by a facial thermal polymerization approach using dicyandiamide, metal chloride as precursors and TS-1 zeolite as a support. The structure and textural properties of the resulting hybrid materials were thoroughly characterized by X-ray diffraction, UV-Vis spectrophotometry, nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherm, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electrochemical measurement. The as-synthesized Fe-CN/TS-1 composites could be used as heterogeneous catalysts for the photocatalytic selective oxidation of benzene to phenol using H2O2 as benign oxidant under ambient conditions. It is found that the Fe-CN/TS-1 hybrid materials show superior photocatalytic performance for the phenol production from benzene to sole Fe-CN and TS-1 catalysts. Under the optimal conditions, up to 10.0% phenol yield (based on benzene) is achieved over the hybrid materials, with 18.4% phenol selectivity (based on H2O2). (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.