Photocatalytic transformation of selected biomass derivatives to value added chemicals and hydrogen fuel

Biomass is the most bountiful renewable carbon resource on earth. Photocatalytic transformation is a promising method to utilize biomass to obtain high-value-added chemicals and it has more obvious advantages compared with thermochemical and biological processes due to the milder operational conditions, fewer reagents and equipment. Semiconductor material is one of the most common kinds of heterogeneous biomass photocatalysts, which has the advantages of high selectivity, stable catalytic performance, long activation time, and low cost. In this paper, the significant research progress on the photocatalytic transformation of biomass with semiconductor materials to produce high-value-added chemicals is reviewed, and the three most typical semiconductor photocatalysts (TiO2, CdS, and g-C3N4) are detailed. The photocatalytic mechanism and photocatalytic system optimization including structural mod-ification, metal co-catalyst loading, and introduction of heterojunction are presented. Besides, the main problems, the development direction and trend of semiconductor materials in photocatalytic transformations of biomass in the future are prospected, which provide guidance and inspiration for the further development of semiconductor photocatalysts and make contributions to the progress in efficient utilization of biomass. (c) 2023 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Chemical Society and Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.