Photocatalytic cross-coupling of methanol and formaldehyde on a rutile TiO2(110) surface

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/ja400978r

The photocatalytic oxidation of methanol on a rutile TiO₂(110) surface was studied by means of thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The combined TDS and XPS results unambiguously identify methyl formate as the product in addition to formaldehyde. By monitoring the evolution of various surface species during the photocatalytic oxidation of methanol on TiO₂(110), XPS results give direct spectroscopic evidence for the formation of methyl formate as the product of photocatalytic cross-coupling of chemisorbed formaldehyde with chemisorbed methoxy species and clearly demonstrate that the photocatalytic dissociation of chemisorbed methanol to methoxy species occurs and contributes to the photocatalytic oxidation of methanol. These results not only greatly broaden and deepen the fundamental understanding of photochemistry of methanol on the TiO₂ surface but also demonstrate a novel green and benign photocatalytic route for the synthesis of esters directly from alcohols or from alcohols and aldehydes.

Full text of DOI:10.1021/ja400978r

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Article
Photocatalytic Cross-coupling of Methanol and
Formaldehyde on a Rutile TiO2(110) Surface
Qing Yuan, Zongfang Wu, Yuekang Jin, Lingshun Xu, Feng Xiong, Yunsheng Ma, and Weixin Huang
J. Am. Chem. Soc., Just Accepted Manuscript • DOI: 10.1021/ja400978r • Publication Date (Web): 14 Mar 2013
Downloaded from http://pubs.acs.org on March 15, 2013
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Photocatalytic Cross-coupling of Methanol and
Formaldehyde on a Rutile TiO2(110) Surface
Qing Yuan, Zongfang Wu, Yuekang Jin, Lingshun Xu, Feng Xiong, Yunsheng Ma, Weixin
Huang*
Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of
Materials for Energy Conversion, and Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science
and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
ABSTRACT: The photocatalytic oxidation of methanol on a rutile TiO2(110) surface was
studied by means of thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) and x-ray photoelectron
spectroscopy (XPS). The combined TDS and XPS results unambiguously identify methyl
formate as the product in addition to formaldehyde. By monitoring the evolution of various
surface species during the photocatalytic oxidation of methanol on TiO2(110), XPS results give
direct spectroscopic evidence for the formation of methyl formate as the product of
photocatalytic cross-coupling of chemisorbed formaldehyde with chemisorbed methoxy species
and clearly demonstrate that the photocatalytic dissociation of chemisorbed methanol to methoxy
species occurs and contributes to the photocatalytic oxidation of methanol. These results not only
greatly broaden and deepen the fundamental understanding of photochemistry of methanol on
the TiO2 surface but also demonstrate a novel green and benign photocatalytic route for the
synthesis of esters directly from alcohols or from alcohols and aldehydes.
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1. INTRODUCTION
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Photocatalysis has received remarkable interest as a green and sustainable solution for the
energy and environmental issues since Fujishima and Honda’s first reports of UV-light-induced
redox chemistry on TiO2.1 Among various photocatalytic reactions, the photocatalytic
conversion of methanol is of particular importance. Methanol as a hole scavenger greatly
enhances the activity of photocatalysts in photocatalytic splitting of water to hydrogen.2 The
photocatalysis of methanol is also prominent in environmental photocatalysis,3 photocatalytic
selective oxidation4 and photocatalytic reforming reactions.5 Meanwhile, as a simple prototype
for many organic compounds, methanol is adopted as the probe molecule for the fundamental
studies of complex photocatalytic reactions on oxide surfaces.
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Many experimental and theoretical studies have been performed to study the chemistry and
photochemistry of methanol on the rutile TiO2(110) surface, a typical model catalyst of TiO2.6-10
Methanol dissociates primarily on oxygen vacancies and steps of TiO2(110) surface; on the ideal
TiO2(110) surface methanol molecularly chemisorbs but arguments still exist on whether
methanol can dissociate on the Ti4+ sites or not.11-26 Recently, the photochemistry of methanol on
the TiO2(110) surface has been explored.24,27-32 Methanol can be photocatalyzed into
formaldehyde and chemisorbed methoxy species was identified to be the active species.
Henderson et al. proposed that chemisorbed methoxy species is formed only by the thermal
dissociation of methanol on TiO2(110).27,30,31 Yang et al. proposed that molecularly chemisorbed
methanol on Ti4+ sites of TiO2(110) can undergo the photocatalytic dissociation to form
chemisorbed methoxy species.24,29,32 However, by far, only formaldehyde has been observed as
the product of methanol photocatalytic oxidation on TiO2(110) surface, which is in the dramatic
contrast to the rich photochemistry of methanol on TiO2-based catalysts. Meanwhile, only very
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few spectroscopic studies have been reported on the photochemistry of methanol on rutile
TiO2(110) surface.33,34
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In a just appeared work Phillips et al.35 firstly reported the sequential photooxidation of
methanol to methyl formate on TiO2(110) covered with O adatoms by means of thermal
desorption spectroscopy (TDS), scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and theoretical
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calculations. Very recently Guo et al. also reported the formation of methyl formate as the
product of photooxidation of methanol on bare TiO2(110) by means of TDS. Here we report our
combined TDS and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) study of methanol photocatalytic
oxidation on the bare TiO2(110) surface in which methyl formate was observed as the product in
addition to formaldehyde. By monitoring the evolution of various surfaces species during the
photocatalytic oxidation of methanol on the TiO2(110) surface, our XPS results for the first time
give direct spectroscopic evidence for the formation of methyl formate as the product of
photocatalytic cross-coupling of chemisorbed formaldehyde with chemisorbed methoxy species
and clearly demonstrate that the photocatalytic dissociation of chemisorbed methanol to methoxy
species occurs and contributes to the photocatalytic oxidation of methanol.
2. EXPERIMENTAL SECTION
All experiments were performed in a Leybold stainless-steel ultrahigh vacuum (UHV)
chamber with a base pressure of 1.2  10-10 mbar. The UHV chamber was equipped with
facilities for x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy with the newly-installed XR 50 x-ray source
(SPECS GmbH) and PHBIOS 100 MCD hemispherical energy analyzer (SPECS GmbH),
ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy, low energy electron diffraction, and differential-pumped
thermal desorption spectroscopy. The rutile TiO2(110) single crystal purchased from MaTeck
was mounted onto a Ta support plate (1 mm thick and of the same dimensions as the crystal)
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with a high temperature alumina-based inorganic adhesive (Aremco 503) and graphite powder
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( 99.9995%，Alfa Aesar China Co., Ltd.). The Ta support was cooled and resistively heated by
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two Ta wires spot-welded to its back side. The sample temperature could be controlled between
100 and 1273 K and was measured by a chromel-alumel thermocouple spot-welded to the
backside of the sample. Prior to experiments, the TiO2(110) sample was cleaned by repeated
cycles of Ar ion sputtering and annealing at 1000 K for 10min until LEED giving a sharp (11)
diffraction pattern and no contaminants could be detected by XPS.
Methanol (99.8%, Sinopharm Chemical) was purified by repeated freeze-pump-thaw cycles.
Formaldehyde was generated via thermal decomposition of paraformaldehyde (95%, Sinopharm
Chemical) in a glass tube connected to the UHV apparatus. Prior to experiments,
paraformaldehyde was thoroughly degassed by the overnight pumping at 60 °C. The purity of all
reactants was checked by QMS prior to experiments. A line-of-sight stainless steel doser
(diameter: 8 mm) positioned  2 cm in front of the TiO2(110) surface was used for the exposures
of methanol and formaldehyde to keep the chamber pressure below 5×10-10 torr. The doser could
be retracted 50 mm after the exposure. All exposures were reported in Langmuir (1 L = 1.010-6
Torrs) without corrections for the gauge sensitivity. During the TDS measurements, the sample
was positioned 1 mm away from a collecting tube of a differential-pumped QMS and the
heating rate was 2 K/s. XPS spectra were recorded using the Mg K radiation (h = 1253.6 eV)
with a pass energy of 20 eV. The C 1s XPS spectrum was peak-fitted with the XPSPEAK
software (Version 4.1) and the line shape (%Gaussian-Lorentzian = 80%) and full-width at the
half-maximum (1.50 eV) were fixed during the peak-fitting process.
The UV irradiation was accomplished using a 100 W high-pressure Hg arc lamp (Oriel 6281)
which provides a pressure-broadened emission spectrum from gaseous Hg in the UV-light region.
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When the light wavelength is below 250 nm, the light irradiance of this source decreases rapidly
and is only 0.05 mW/m2 for the 200 nm light at a distance of 0.5 m.37 The absorption of
methanol in the UV region below 200 nm can thus be neglected under our experimental
condition. A water filter was used to remove the IR portion of the emission spectrum. The UV-
light was focused onto the tip of a single strand, 0.6 mm diameter fused silica fiber optic cable
that directed the light through a UHV-compatible feedthrough onto the TiO2(110) face without
exposure to extraneous surfaces. An exposure of TiO2(110) crystal at 110 K to the UV-light
resulted in the rising of crystal temperature no more than 3 K.
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3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Figure 1A shows CH3OH TDS spectra from TiO2(110) surfaces covered with 1.80, 0.97, 0.42
and 0.15 ML (1 ML = 5.21014 sitescm-2) adsorbed methanol that could be reproducibly
prepared by a 0.014 L CH3OH exposure at 110 K, a 0.014 L CH3OH exposure at 110 K followed
by the flash to 160, 230 and 300 K, respectively. Agreeing with previous results,15-18 four
CH3OH desorption features were observed at 154, 210, 330 and 495 K, respectively
corresponding to the molecular desorption of physisorbed CH3OH, CH3OH(a) chemisorbed on
the bridging-bonded O sites, CH3OH(a) chemisorbed on the Ti4+ sites, and the recombinative
desorption of methoxy species (CH3O(a)). The saturating coverage of CH3OH(a) chemisorbed
on the Ti4+ sites was herein defined as 0.77 ML.15,26 Figure 1B shows C 1s XPS spectra after the
TiO2(110) surface covered with 1.80 ML adsorbed methanol was flashed to elevated
temperatures. The TiO2(110) surface covered with 1.80 ML adsorbed methanol gives an intense
and broad C 1s peak with the binding energy at 287.5 eV, corresponding to adsorbed
CH3OH(a).18 Flashing the surface to elevated temperatures desorbs adsorbed CH3OH(a) from the
surface and results in the weakening of C 1s XPS feature at 287.5 eV; meanwhile, the existence
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of additional C 1s feature becomes evident. For examples, the C 1s XPS spectrum of the surface
flashed to 300 K is broadened and asymmetric, and that of the surface flashed to 350 K exhibits a
weak peak centering at 286.9 eV. Thus we performed the peak-fitting analysis of the C 1s XPS
spectra of surfaces flashed to elevated temperatures and found that these C 1s XPS spectrum
could be well fitted with two components with the binding energy at 287.5 and 286.9 eV. The C
1s feature at 286.9 eV can be assigned to be CH3O(a) species on TiO2(110).18 These XPS results
agree with previous reports of the formation of methoxy species upon methanol adsorption on
TiO2(110). Estimated from the integrated peak areas of C 1s features, the coverages of CH3OH(a)
and CH3O(a) are respectively 1.73 and 0.07 ML on TiO2(110) surface exposed to 0.014 L
CH3OH at 110 K. The coverage of CH3OH(a) decreases to 0.90, 0.35, 0.08, and 0 ML after the
surface was flashed to 160, 230, 300, and 350 K, respectively; correspondingly, the coverage of
CH3O(a) initially does not vary, then decreases to 0.05 ML after the flash at 350 K and
disappears after the flash at 750 K, corresponding to the recombinative desorption of methanol.
As shown in Figure 2A, adsorbed CH3OH(a) gives the O 1s binding energy at 534.0 eV. Due to
the strong interference arising from TiO2 surface, the O 1s binding energy of chemisorbed
CH3O(a) species could not be unambiguously identified, but is likely located at 532.3 eV
indicated from the O 1s XPS difference spectra (Figure 2B).
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Figure 3 shows TDS spectra of m/z=31, 29 and 60 signals after the TiO2(110) surface covered
with 0.42 ML adsorbed methanol was irradiated by the UV-light for different times. After a 30s’
irradiation, the methanol desorption peak at 330 K weakens (Figure 3A & 3B), meanwhile, a
new desorption feature appears at 270 K in the TDS spectrum of m/z=29 signal (Figure 3B)
that can be assigned to desorption of formaldehyde. This suggests the UV-light-induced
photocatalytic oxidation of chemisorbed methanol to chemisorbed formaldehyde on the
TiO2(110) surface, agreeing with previous reports.27,32 With the prolonging of irradiation time,
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the methanol desorption peak keeps decreasing, and the formaldehyde desorption feature reaches
the maximum after a 1min’s irradiation but then keeps decreasing. The decrease of formaldehyde
desorption feature is accompanied by the appearance and growth of a new desorption feature at
230 K in the TDS spectra of both m/z=29 and m/z=31 signals. We have thus performed a
careful scan of likely species by mass spectroscopy and found the desorption of the m/z=60
signal that is also located at 230 K (Figure 4). As shown in Figure 3C, the desorption feature of
m/z=60 signal is neglectable after a 30s’ irradiation but then keep growing with the prolonging
of the irradiation time. As shown in Figure 4, the desorption features of m/z=60, 31, 29 signals at
230 K vary in the same trend under all investigated experimental conditions, demonstrating that
these signals arise from the same species. Thus the TDS results demonstrate the formation of
another product as well as formaldehyde that exhibits m/z signals of 60, 31, 29 in its mass
spectrum.
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The photocatalytic oxidation of 0.42 ML adsorbed methanol on the TiO2(110) surface was
further studied with XPS (Figure 5A). The C 1s features of chemisorbed CH3OH(a) and CH3O(a)
were observed respectively at 287.5 and 286.9 eV on the surface prior to the irradiation. After
irradiation, a new C 1s feature with the binding energy at 288.4 eV evolves. The adsorption of
formaldehyde on the TiO2(110) surface was comparatively studied by XPS and the C 1s binding
energy of adsorbed formaldehyde on the TiO2(110) surface was determined to be 288.5 eV
(Figure 6A). Figure 5B compares the intensity variation of different C 1s features as a function
of the irradiation time. With the prolonging of the irradiation time the total intensity does not
vary much, but the C 1s feature at 287.5 eV keeps weakening while that at 288.4 eV keeps
growing; the C 1s feature at 286.9 eV weakens after a 1min’s irradiation, then does not change
much, and grows a bit after a 20min’s irradiation. Figure 5C shows C 1s XPS spectra after the
TiO2(110) surface covered with 0.42 ML adsorbed methanol was irradiated for 20min and then
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flashed to elevated temperatures. The corresponding intensity variation of different C 1s features
as a function of the flashing temperature is displayed in Figure 5D. Three C 1s features at 286.9,
287.5 and 288.4 eV are present on the surface subjected to a 20min’s irradiation. After flashing
to 240 K, the features at 286.9 and 288.4 eV weaken simultaneously, corresponding to the
desorption peak of m/e=60, 31 and 29 signals at 230 K in the TDS spectra; the further flashing
to 290 K results in the disappearance of the feature at 288.4 eV and the weakening of the feature
at 287.5 eV, corresponding to the desorption peak of formaldehyde at 270 K and the partial
desorption of chemisorbed CH3OH(a), respectively; the feature at 287.5 eV disappears and the
feature at 286.9 eV weakens after the flash at 450 K and the surface restores to the clean one
after flashing to 750 K, corresponding to the desorption of chemisorbed CH3OH(a) and the
recombinative desorption of chemisorbed CH3O(a). It could be seen that the coverages of
various surface species estimated from XPS measurement of the TiO2(110) surface covered with
0.42 ML adsorbed methanol directly irradiated for 20min (Figure 5D) differ from those
estimated from XPS measurement of the same starting surface with the same total irradiation
time whose irradiation and subsequent XPS measurement were divided into four sequences (the
last data in Figure 5B). This indicates that the efficiency of photocatalytic reaction should be
sensitive to the employed experimental procedure.
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Above TDS and XPS results clearly demonstrate that in addition to previously reported
formaldehyde, a new product is formed during the photocatalytic oxidation of methanol on the
TiO2(110) surface under our investigated conditions. This product gives m/z=60, 31, 29 signals
in the mass spectroscopy and gives two C 1s features with the binding energy at 286.9 and 288.4
eV in the XPS spectrum. We thus identified the product to be methyl formate (HCOOCH3).
Kominami et al. observed the selective oxidation of methanol to methyl formate over powder
TiO2 photocatalysts irradiated by UV-light and heated at elevated temperatures 38 and our results
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clearly demonstrate the formation of methyl formation during the photocatalytic oxidation of
methanol on TiO2(110) surface under UHV conditions. Chemisorbed formaldehyde formed by
the photocatalytic oxidation of methanol on TiO2(110) surface participates the reaction forming
methyl formate and likely surface reactions include (i) the thermally-activated cross-coupling of
formaldehyde and methanol as reported on Au surfaces,39 (ii) the photocatalytic cross coupling
of formaldehyde and methanol, (iii) the esterification of formic acid intermediate formed by
oxidation of formaldehyde with methanol, and (iv) the dimerization of formaldehyde via Tish-
chenko-type reaction.40 Kominami et al. proposed that the photocatalytic oxidation of methanol
to methyl formate mainly proceeds through the intermediate of formaldehyde followed by its
thermal-activated dimerization.38 We performed controlled experiments of adsorption and
(thermal/photocatalytic) reaction of formaldehyde and coadsorption and (thermal/photocatalytic)
reaction of formaldehyde and methanol on the TiO2(110) surface. Figure 6B shows TDS spectra
after the TiO2(110) surface was exposed to 0.01 L HCHO at 110 K. Besides the molecular
desorption of formaldehyde at 288 K, only a weak desorption trace of C2H4 was observed at 690
K that arises from the subsurface Ti interstitials or surface oxygen vacancies-mediated coupling
reaction of formaldehyde on TiO2(110) surface.41,42 Figure 6C shows TDS spectra after the
TiO2(110) surface was exposed to 0.01 L HCHO at 110 K followed by a UV-light irradiation for
20 min. Comparing with Figure 6B, the desorption trace of m/z=27 grows and broadens,
demonstrating that the UV-light irradiation can induce surface reactions of formaldehyde on the
TiO2(110) surface which will be discussed elsewhere. No formation of formic acid and methyl
formate was observed during the adsorption and (thermal/photocatalytic) reaction of
formaldehyde on the TiO2(110) surface at 110 K. Figure 7A shows TDS spectra after the
TiO2(110) surface was exposed to 0.42 ML methanol and subsequently to 0.01 L HCHO at 110
K. The desorption traces of methanol and formaldehyde dominate the TDS spectra and the
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formation of methyl formate (m/z=60) was not observed. Figure 7B shows TDS spectra after the
TiO2(110) surface was exposed to 0.42 ML methanol and subsequently to 0.01 L HCHO at 110
K followed by a UV-light irradiation for 5 min. Besides the desorption traces of methanol and
formaldehyde, the desorption trace of methyl formate (m/z=60) was clearly observed at 220 K.
The results of these controlled experiments unambiguously prove that methyl formate is formed
on the TiO2(110) surface at 110 K by the photocatalytic cross coupling of formaldehyde and
methanol instead of dimerization of formaldehyde proposed by Kominami et al.38 Therefore, the
formation of methyl formate during the photocatalytic oxidation of methanol on the TiO2(110)
surface consists of two sequential photocatalytic reactions (Figure 8): the photocatalytic
oxidation of methanol to formaldehyde followed by the photocatalytic cross coupling of
formaldehyde and methanol. Concerning the photocatalytic cross coupling mechanism, Phillips
et al.35 proposed the involvement of a transient HCO intermediate made photochemically from
formaldehyde but Guo et al. 36 argued that such a transient HCO intermediate was not necessary.
Since all the photocatalytic oxidation reactions occur on the TiO2(110) surface at 110 K, the
photocatalytic cross coupling between aldehydes and alcohols catalyzed by TiO2 should be facile
and might be developed to a novel green and benign route to synthesize esters directly from
alcohols or from alcohols and aldehydes.
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Our TDS results (Figure 3) demonstrate the photocatalytic oxidation of methanol to
formaldehyde dominates the initial 1min’s photocatalytic oxidation of methanol on the TiO2(110)
surface, thus the decrease of the C 1s peak at 286.9 eV and the appearance and growth of the C
1s peak at 288.4 eV in the corresponding XPS results (Figure 5A & 5B) suggest the formation of
formaldehyde by the photocatalytic oxidation of methoxy species on the surface. These
observations agree with previous reports27,30 that chemisorbed methoxy species on the Ti4+ sites
of TiO2(110) surface is the active species in the photocatalytic oxidation of methanol to
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formaldehyde. Beyond 1min, both photocatalytic oxidation of methanol to formaldehyde and
photocatalytic cross-coupling of methanol and formaldehyde occur on the surface, the C 1s peak
at 288.4 eV in the XPS spectra contributed by both formaldehyde and methyl formate reasonably
keeps growing but the C 1s peak at 286.9 eV in the XPS spectra contributed by both methoxy
species and methyl formate does not decreases as expected since the methoxy species
continuously gets supplied by the dissociation of chemisorbed methanol (Figure 5A & 5B). The
dissociation of chemisorbed methanol on the Ti4+ sites of TiO2(110) surface to the methoxy
species during the photocatalytic oxidation of methanol on the TiO2(110) surface occurs via two
likely mechanisms: one is that the photocatalytic oxidation of methoxy species shifts the thermal
equilibrium between chemisorbed methanol and methoxy species toward the formation of
methoxy species, as proposed by Henderson et al.;27,30,31 the other is the photocatalytic
dissociation of chemisorbed methanol to the methoxy species as proposed by Yang et al..24,29,32
Since our XPS results provide the relative surface coverage variation of different surface species
during the photocatalytic oxidation of methanol on the TiO2(110) surface (Figure 5B), we
performed the following preliminary reaction kinetic analysis to elucidate the mechanism of the
dissociation of chemisorbed methanol the Ti4+ sites of TiO2(110) surface to methoxy species.
Model I: Assuming that the dissociation of chemisorbed methanol to methoxy species is only
thermally controlled at 110 K, it is plausible that the activation energy of the thermal
dissociation reaction is low and the chemisorbed methanol and methoxy species are in the
thermal equilibrium.27,30,31 Thus the photocatalytic oxidation of methanol on the TiO2(110)
surface can be described as the following (Obr means the bridging-bonded O sites of TiO2(110)
surface):
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K
CH OH(a)  Obr  CH O(a)  Obr H
3
3
hv,r2
CH O(a)  Obr HCHO(a)  Obr H
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hv,r3
CH O(a)  HCHO(a)  Obr HCOOCH (a)  Obr H
3
3
And the surface coverage change of different surface species can be expressed as the following:
d[CH3O(a)]
 0
dt
d[HCHO(a)]
 r2  r3
dt
d[HCOOCH3 (a)]
 r3
dt
And the peak intensity change of different C 1s features can be expressed as the following:
d[HCOOCH3 (a)]
dI(288.4eV) d[HCHO(a)]


 r2
dt
dI(286.9eV)
dt
dt
dt
d[CH3O(a)] d[HCOOCH3 (a)]


 r3
dt
dt
Model II: Assuming that the dissociation of chemisorbed methanol to the methoxy species is
photocatalytic, the photocatalytic oxidation of methanol on the TiO2(110) surface can be
described as the following:
hv,r
1
CH OH(a)  Obr CH O(a)  Obr H
3
3
hv,r2
CH O(a)  Obr HCHO(a)  Obr H
3
hv,r3
CH O(a)  HCHO(a)  Obr HCOOCH (a)  Obr H
3
3
And the surface coverage change of different surface species can be expressed as the following:
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d[CH3O(a)]
 r  r2  r3
1
dt
d[HCHO(a)]
dt
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9
 r2  r3
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d[HCOOCH3 (a)]
 r3
dt
And the peak intensity change of different C 1s features can be expressed as the following:
d[HCOOCH3 (a)]
dI(288.4eV) d[HCHO(a)]


 r2
dt
dI(286.9eV)
dt
dt
dt
d[CH3O(a)] d[HCOOCH3 (a)]


 r  r2
1
dt
dt
The reaction kinetics following model I suggests that both the C 1s feature at 286.9 eV and the
C 1s feature at 288.4 eV should increase with the prolonging of the irradiation time while that
following model II suggests that with the prolonging of the irradiation time, the C 1s feature at
288.4 eV should increase and the peak intensity of the C 1s feature at 286.9 eV should depend on
the reaction rates r1 and r2. Comparing with the results shown in Figure 5B, particularly with the
peak intensity change of the C 1s feature at 286.9 eV, model II is reasonable but model I is not.
Therefore, our results clearly demonstrate that the photocatalytic dissociation of chemisorbed
methanol on the Ti4+ sites of TiO2(110) surface to the methoxy species occurs and contributes to
the photocatalytic oxidation of methanol on TiO2(110) surface, although the thermal dissociation
mechanism can not be excluded.
Phillips et al.35 have just reported the sequential photooxidation of methanol to methyl formate
on TiO2(110) covered with O adatoms by means of thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS),
36
scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and theoretical calculations. Very recently Guo et al.
reported the formation of methyl formate as the product of photooxidation of methanol on bare
35,36
TiO2(110) by means of TDS. Comparing with their work
in which the sequential
photooxidation of methanol to methyl formate on the TiO2(110) surface was evidenced by means
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of TDS, our results are still of great significance and novelty. Firstly, our XPS results clearly
demonstrate the evolution of various surfaces species during the photocatalytic oxidation of
methanol on the TiO2(110) surface and thus provide direct and unambiguous spectroscopic
evidence for the formation of methyl formate as the product of photocatalytic cross-coupling of
chemisorbed formaldehyde with chemisorbed methoxy species. Secondly, in Phillips et al.’s
work 35 the exposure of the employed TiO2(110) surface to O2 was needed for the occurrence of
the photooxidation of methanol to methyl formate but in both Guo et al.’s work36 and our case
such a pretreatment of TiO2(110) surface is not required. Phillips et al. proposed that the
exposure of the TiO2(110) surface to O2 acts to heal the TiO2(110) surface and that the O
adatoms formed on TiO2(110) surface by O2 exposure are not required for the photocatalytic
reactions. As evidenced by the formation of CH3O(a) upon methanol adsorption and the
formation of ethylene upon formaldehyde adsorption, our rutile TiO2(110) sample is also with
certain amounts of bulk defects and surface oxygen vacancies, however, the photooxidation of
methanol to formaldehyde and methyl formate could occur without pretreatment. Thus it seems
that the density of bulk defects in TiO2(110) surface strongly affects the efficiency of the
photocatalytic oxidation reactions of methanol. The light absorption and photo-excitation
processes mainly occur in the bulk of TiO2(110) sample, thus the bulk defects can serve as hole
traps that severely suppress the participation of the holes into the photooxidation reaction
occurring on the TiO2(110) surface. Thirdly, our results clearly demonstrate that the
photocatalytic dissociation of chemisorbed methanol on the Ti4+ sites of TiO2(110) surface to the
methoxy species occurs and contributes to the photocatalytic oxidation of methanol on the
TiO2(110) surface.
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We have also compared the yield of methyl formate in the photocatalytic oxidation of
methanol on the TiO2(110) surfaces covered with different amounts of adsorbed methanol
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(Figure 9). The yield increases as the coverage of adsorbed methanol increases from 0.15 ML to
0.42 ML, thus the increase of methanol chemisorbed on the Ti4+ of TiO2(110) is beneficial to the
photocatalytic oxidation of methanol, supporting that methanol chemisorbed on the Ti4+ of
TiO2(110) is the photocatalytic active species. However, further increase of the coverage of
adsorbed methanol from 0.42 ML to 0.97 ML results in the reduction of the yield of methyl
formate, suggesting that the presence of CH3OH(a) chemisorbed on the bridging-bonded O sites
of TiO2(110) surface should suppress the photocatalytic oxidation of methanol. A likely reason is
that the adsorption of methanol on the bridging-bonded O sites of TiO2(110) surface reduces the
number of vacant bridging-bonded O sites available for the formation of surface hydroxyl,
another surface intermediate formed in both the photocatalytic oxidation of methoxy species to
formaldehyde and the photocatalytic cross-coupling of methoxy groups and formaldehyde. The
desorption temperature of methyl formate from the surface was found to shift to the low
temperature with the increase of methanol coverage, which could be attributed to the increasing
repulsive interaction among surface adsorbates.
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4. Conclusions
In summary, we have successfully identified methyl formate as well as formaldehyde to be the
products of the photocatalytic oxidation of methanol on the rutile TiO2(110) surface. Direct
spectroscopic evidence has been provided for the first time to unambiguously prove the
formation of methyl formate as the product of the photocatalytic cross-coupling of chemisorbed
formaldehyde with chemisorbed methoxy species and to clearly demonstrate that the
photocatalytic dissociation of chemisorbed methanol to methoxy species on the Ti4+ sites of
TiO2(110) surface occurs and contributes to the photocatalytic oxidation of methanol on the
TiO2(110) surface. Our findings are valuable not only in the molecular-level understanding of
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photocatalytic reactions over TiO2-based photocatalysts but also in the development of green and
benign photocatalytic route for the synthesis of esters directly from alcohols or from alcohols
and aldehydes.
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AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
huangwx@ustc.edu.cn (W.H.)
Notes
The authors declare no competing financial interest.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was financially supported by National Basic Research Program of China
(2013CB933104, 2010CB923301), National Natural Science Foundation of China (21173204),
Chinese Academy of Sciences, MOE Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.
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Figure Captions
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Figure 1. (A) TDS spectra of m/z=31 (methanol) after the TiO2(110) surface was exposed to
0.15, 0.42, 0.97 and 1.80 ML methanol at 110 K. (B) C 1s XPS spectra after the TiO2(110)
surface was exposed 1.80 ML methanol at 110 K and flashed to the indicated temperatures.
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Figure 2. (A) O 1s XPS spectra after the TiO2(110) surface was exposed 1.80 ML methanol at
110 K followed and flashed to the indicated temperatures. (B) O 1s difference spectra obtained
from Figure 2A.
Figure 3. TDS spectra of (A) m/z=31 (methanol and methyl formate), (B) m/z=29 (methanol,
formaldehyde and methyl formate) and (C) m/z=60 (methyl formate) after the TiO2(110) surface
was exposed to 0.42 ML methanol at 110 K followed by the UV-light irradiation for 0 s (a), 30 s
(b), 1 min (c), 5 min (d), 10 min (e) and 20 min (f).
Figure 4. TDS spectra after the TiO2(110) surface was exposed to 0.42 ML methanol at 110 K
followed by the UV-light irradiation for the indicated times.
Figure 5. (A) C 1s XPS spectra and (B) the integrated C 1s peak area of each component after
the TiO2(110) surface was exposed to 0.42 ML methanol at 110 K followed by the UV-light
irradiation for the indicated times. Note that these data were obtained in one experiment in which
the UV-light irradiation and the XPS data measurement were performed in sequences. The time
in the bracket indicates the total irradiation time. (C) C 1s XPS spectra and (D) the integrated C
1s peak area of each component after the TiO2(110) surface was exposed to 0.42 ML methanol at
110 K and irradiated for 20 min followed by flashing to the indicated temperatures.
Figure 6. (A) C 1s XPS spectra after the TiO2(110) surface was exposed to 0.01 L HCHO at 110
K. (B) TDS spectra after the TiO2(110) surface was exposed to 0.01 L HCHO at 110 K. (C) TDS
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spectra after the TiO2(110) surface was exposed to 0.01 L HCHO at 110 K followed by a UV-
light irradiation for 20 min.
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Figure 7. (A) TDS spectra after the TiO2(110) surface was exposed to 0.42 ML methanol and
then to 0.01 L HCHO at 110 K. (B) TDS spectra after the TiO2(110) surface was exposed to 0.42
ML methanol and then to 0.01 L HCHO at 110 K followed by a UV-light irradiation for 5 min.
Figure 8. Schematic illustration of the photocatalytic oxidation of methoxy species to
formaldehyde and the subsequent photocatalytic cross-coupling of methoxy species and
formaldehyde to methyl formate on the TiO2(110) surface covered with methanol. The red, green,
yellow and purple spheres represent O, Ti, C and H atoms, respectively.
Figure 9. TDS spectra of methyl formate (m/z=60) after the TiO2(110) surfaces covered with
0.15, 0.42 and 0.97 ML methanol were irradiated by a UV-light for 20 min.
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Figure 1. (A) TDS spectra of m/z=31 (methanol) after the TiO2(110) surface was exposed to
0.15, 0.42, 0.97 and 1.80 ML methanol at 110 K. (B) C 1s XPS spectra after the TiO2(110)
surface was exposed 1.80 ML methanol at 110 K and flashed to the indicated temperatures.
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Figure 2. (A) O 1s XPS spectra after the TiO2(110) surface was exposed 1.80 ML methanol at
110 K and flashed to the indicated temperatures. (B) O 1s difference spectra obtained from
Figure 2A.
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Figure 3. TDS spectra of (A) m/z=31 (methanol and methyl formate), (B) m/z=29 (methanol,
formaldehyde and methyl formate) and (C) m/z=60 (methyl formate) after the TiO2(110) surface
was exposed to 0.42 ML methanol at 110 K followed by the UV-light irradiation for 0 s (a), 30 s
(b), 1 min (c), 5 min (d), 10 min (e) and 20 min (f).
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Figure 4. TDS spectra after the TiO2(110) surface was exposed to 0.42 ML methanol at 110 K
followed by the UV-light irradiation for the indicated times.
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Figure 5. (A) C 1s XPS spectra and (B) the integrated C 1s peak area of each component after
the TiO2(110) surface was exposed to 0.42 ML methanol at 110 K followed by the UV-light
irradiation for the indicated times. Note that these data were obtained in one experiment in which
the UV-light irradiation and the XPS data measurement were performed in sequences. The time
in the bracket indicates the total irradiation time. (C) C 1s XPS spectra and (D) the integrated C
1s peak area of each component after the TiO2(110) surface was exposed to 0.42 ML methanol at
110 K and irradiated for 20 min followed by flashing to the indicated temperatures.
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Figure 6. (A) C 1s XPS spectra after the TiO2(110) surface was exposed to 0.01 L HCHO at 110
K. (B) TDS spectra after the TiO2(110) surface was exposed to 0.01 L HCHO at 110 K. (C) TDS
spectra after the TiO2(110) surface was exposed to 0.01 L HCHO at 110 K followed by a UV-
light irradiation for 20 min.
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Figure 7. (A) TDS spectra after the TiO2(110) surface was exposed to 0.42 ML methanol and
then to 0.01 L HCHO at 110 K. (B) TDS spectra after the TiO2(110) surface was exposed to 0.42
ML methanol and then to 0.01 L HCHO at 110 K followed by a UV-light irradiation for 5 min.
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Figure 8. Schematic illustration of the photocatalytic oxidation of methoxy species to
formaldehyde and the subsequent photocatalytic cross-coupling of methoxy species and
formaldehyde to methyl formate on the TiO2(110) surface covered with methanol. The red, green,
yellow and purple spheres represent O, Ti, C and H atoms, respectively.
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Figure 9. TDS spectra of methyl formate (m/z=60) after the TiO2(110) surfaces covered with
0.15, 0.42 and 0.97 ML methanol were irradiated by a UV-light for 20 min.
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