Appraisal of photoelectrocatalytic oxidation of glucose and production of high value chemicals on nanotube Ti/TiO2 electrode

The present work describes an alternative process for glucose oxidation via photoelectrocatalytic technique using Ti/TiO2 nanotubes as photoanodes. Under optimum experimental conditions, which entailed 10.0 mM glucose in 0.1 M Na2SO4, pH 6.60, Eapp = 1.5 V and UV irradiation we were able to convert 78% of glucose following 180 min of photoelectrocatalysis. Out of that, only 28% was, in effect, converted to CO2 as detected by total organic carbon removal. During the course of the process, a large part of this glucose was found to be transformed into products among them including Arabinose, Arabinitol, 4-ketoglicose, glucohexodialdose, Glucone-δ-Lactone, 6-deoxiglucose and Gluconic Acid, where this detection was aided by ion-exchange chromatography with amperometric detection and gas chromatography-mass spectra. The results thus essentially demonstrate that photoelectrocatalys can be considered a suitable alternative in fostering glucose conversion, in aqueous medium, to high added value products using a relatively simple and economic method.