In situ IR study of adsorbed species and photogenerated electrons during photocatalytic oxidation of ethanol on TiO2

The reaction pathways for the photocatalytic oxidation of ethanol on the TiO2 surface at 30 °C were studied by in situ infrared (IR) spectroscopy. The coverage of ethanol and water was found to play a key role in how the reaction is initiated. The low ethanol coverage on the H2Oad-containing TiO2 surface produced adsorbed formate (HCOO−ad) as a primary intermediate; the high ethanol coverage on the H2Oad-deficient TiO2 surface produced adsorbed acetate (CH3COO−ad) as a major intermediate during the initial period (i.e., 2 min) of the photocatalytic oxidation. The adsorbed species and reaction products observed during in situ IR studies suggest the low-coverage ethanol reaction is initiated by •OH, whereas the high-coverage ethanol reaction is initiated by hole. The hole-initiating ethanol oxidation on the H2Oad-deficient TiO2 surface produced adsorbed acetic acid (CH3COOHad)/CH3COO−ad, and built up photogenerated electrons, giving a parallel increase in the IR intensity of CH3COO−ad and the IR background at 2000 cm−1 (i.e., a measure of photogenerated electrons). As the high-coverage ethanol reaction proceeded toward producing CO2/H2O, adsorbed H2O accumulated and the coverage of CH3CH2OHad/CH3CH2Oad decreased on the TiO2 surface, shifting the reaction from hole-initiating to •OH-initiating.