Photocatalytic C-H bond activation by surface anchoring of [CoII(Saloph)(His)] complex on Ag-TiO2 nanocomposite

t. A novel heterojunction plasmonic photocatalyst [Co(Saloph)(His)]/Ag-TiO2 as a nanohybrid material was applied to the photocatalytic activities ranging from the C-H bond cleavage of alcohols to aldehyde using different oxidants, O2, H2O2, or TBHP under irradiation of visible-light and NHPI as co-catalysts. The mentioned material was synthesized by photo-deposition of metallic silver nanoparticles on titanium oxide surface, followed by a modiffcation of cobalt(II) Saloph complex under ultrasonic agitation conditions using a histidine linker to reach a photocatalyst under 50 nm and bandgap of 2.64 eV. The [Co(Saloph)(His)]/Ag-TiO2 nanohybrid was characterized by EDS, XRD, DRS, FT-IR, PL spectroscopies, FESEM imaging, and BET technique. This three-component plasmonic photocatalyst revealed a high rate of photocatalytic effciency with 95% conversion and 99% selectivity in aerobic conditions. The higher photocatalytic performance of [Co(Saloph)(His)]/Ag-TiO2 than those of Co(Saloph)/TiO2 and Ag-TiO2 NPs can be attributed to Localized Surface Plasmonic Resonance (LSPR) of these motives. Therefore, this three-component nanohybrid provides an effcient interfacial electron transfer process through a synergistic effect, which in turn produces a nanocatalyst, beneffting from stability and fast selective C-H bond activation of alcohols at ambient temperature using O2 as an inexpensive environmentally-friendly oxidant.