Photocatalytic partial oxidation of α-methylstyrene over TiO2 supported on zeolites

The photocatalytic reaction in the partial oxidation of α-methylstyrene (α-MS) to acetophenone (AP) was investigated for TiO2 supported on Y-type, moredenite, and ZSM-5 zeolites. XRD and FT-Raman results demonstrated that the anatase is the stable phase of TiO2 supported on zeolites and no rutile phase was observed in the supported catalysts calcined at 723–973 K. TiO2 supported on zeolites was found to catalyze the partial oxidation of α-MS to AP under light irradiation (>290 nm). The photocatalytic activity of TiO2 supported on zeolites was significantly improved by the addition of the water to the organic solvent. It was found that the optimized amount of water added for TiO2 supported on zeolite catalysts was smaller than that for TiO2 catalyst.