Construction of a g-C3N4-driven photocatalytic system for boosted biomass-derived alcohol oxidation: a promising route towards sustainable biomass valorization

As one of those natural carbon-based non-toxic and non-metallic materials, g-C3N4 has exhibited excellent electronic and structural properties that make it versatile as an efficient photocatalyst, which was widely mentioned in applications of photocatalytic oxidation reactions. Recently, a gradually increased number of research efforts have been focused on the development of novel g-C3N4-based composite catalysts for better photocatalytic biomass valorization. In this context, this paper aims to retrospect the progress of the g-C3N4-driven photocatalytic oxidation of biomass-derived alcohols represented by 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and benzyl alcohol (BA). The core concerns are discussed to elaborate the effects of structural regulating approaches of g-C3N4-based photocatalysts on biomass-derived alcohol oxidation performance, involving intrinsic structure optimization, dye sensitization, and heterojunction construction. Also, influences of key external condition parameters, including the light source, oxygen source, and solvent, on the g-C3N4-based photocatalytic system are discussed. The viewpoints proposed in this paper may contribute to the design, synthesis, and modification of novel g-C3N4-based photocatalytic materials, thus providing potential opportunities to enhance the photocatalytic selective oxidation performance of biomass-derived alcohols for a better sustainable biomass refining system.