Polytriazine imide-LiCl semiconductor for highly efficient photooxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde

Ionothermal synthesis of carbon nitride paved the way to a new structural allotrope—polytriazine imide. In this work, we screen available precursors for pristine polytriazine imides and for their graphitic analogs narrowing it to the melamine—urea mixture as the most promising starting material. Photocatalytic activity of materials verified in reaction of benzyl alcohol oxidation to benzaldehyde, which is known to be highly requested chemical with thousands of tons of annual production. Therefore "green" and selective route of production is highly desired. Developed PTI-LiCl was tested for selective photooxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde, demonstrating precious conversion and selectivity rates—96.3% and 91.6%, respectively after 5 hours of UV irradiation. Detailed physical-chemical characterization revealed that PTI materials possessed more ordered and highly condensed structure which grant them improved photocatalytic properties in comparison to graphitic carbon nitride polymorph. Graphical abstract represents two different lines of materials which are known to be various polymorphs of carbon nitride studied comparatively in the present work. One of them is convenient graphitized carbon nitride which is prepared from precursors (melamine, urea or thiourea) via the simple thermal treatment. Another line of materials are prepared via thermal treatment in the eutectic mixture of molten salts. The later line of materials is more active in selective photocatalytic oxidation of benzyl alcohol.