Perspectives on the Development in the Selective Oxidation of Glycerol to Value-Added Chemicals via Photoelectrocatalysis Coupled with Hydrogen Evolution

Abstract

Harvesting sunlight to produce clean hydrogen fuel remains one of the main challenges for solving the energy crisis and ameliorating global warming. Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is considered to be a promising method for H₂ production in the future. However, the efficiency still remains challenging due to the sluggish reaction dynamics for water oxidation. Recently, the thermodynamically favorable oxidation of glycerol in PEC systems has gained significant attention for its ability to produce value-added chemicals while simultaneously generating hydrogen. This process not only enhances the yield of high-value products but also minimizes energy consumption and reduces CO₂ emissions. Valuable products from glycerol oxidation include 1,3-dihydroxyacetone (DHA), glyceraldehyde (GLD), tartronic acid (TA), formic acid (FA), and glyceric acid (GA). Thus, it is important to improve selectivity and productivity. In this work, we mainly summarize the recent research progress in improving the selectivity and productivity of glycerol upgrading products on the different photoanodes.

Keywords

Photoelectrocatalysis / PEC glycerol oxidation / Value-added chemicals / H₂ production

Ethics Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

The statement is required for all original articles which informs readers about the accessibility of research data linked to a paper and outlines the terms under which the data can be obtained.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Grant No. 51972318).

Declaration of Competing Interest

The author declares that he/she has no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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