Carbon and vanadium Co-doped titanium dioxide nanoparticles for selective photocatalytic oxidation of alcohols

The application of photocatalytic method in organic syntheses is gaining attention due to its eco-friendly and mild conditions. In this study, vanadyl oxalate was used as a precursor to synthesize vanadium and carbon codoped TiO2 nanoparticles using commercial P25 TiO2 as the base material. This method produced TiO2 nanoparticles with improved properties due to doping and introduction of oxygen vacancies. The synthesized V/CTiO2 nanoparticles were used as photocatalysts for selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzylaldehyde. Notably, when acetonitrile was used as the solvent, the doped nanoparticles exhibited increased photocatalytic activity compared to undoped TiO2. Oxygen vacancies and V5+/V4+ pairs play a crucial role in activating reactants and separating photo-induced charge carriers, enhancing photocatalytic efficiency. We propose a mechanism where the selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol is driven by the synergy of superoxide radicals and holes.