Light-driven catalysis on catalytically versatile group VIII metals, which has been widely used in thermal catalysis, holds great potential in solar-to-chemical conversion. We report a novel photocatalysis process for the selective hydrogenolysis of aryl ethers in lignin on a heterogeneous catalyst of non-precious Ni nanoparticles supported on ZrO₂. Three aryl ether bonds in lignin were successfully cleaved under mild conditions with excellent conversion and good to excellent selectivity under visible light irradiation. We also used solar irradiation to demonstrate a significant reduction in the total energy consumption. The light irradiation excited interband transitions in Ni nanoparticles and the resultant energetic electrons enhanced the activity of reductive cleavage of the aryl ethers. Its application potential was illustrated by the depolymerization of dealkaline lignin to give a total monomer yield of 9.84 wt% with vanillin, guaiacol, and apocynin as the three major products.

中文翻译：

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非等离子体镍纳米粒子在温和条件下催化木质素中芳醚的可见光选择性氢解

广泛用于热催化的多功能 VIII 族金属的光驱动催化在太阳能到化学转化方面具有巨大潜力。我们报告了一种新的光催化工艺，用于在 ZrO ₂上负载的非贵镍纳米颗粒的多相催化剂上选择性氢解木质素中的芳基醚. 木质素中的三个芳基醚键在温和条件下成功裂解，在可见光照射下具有优异的转化率和良好的选择性。我们还使用太阳辐射来证明总能耗显着降低。光照射激发了 Ni 纳米颗粒中的带间跃迁，由此产生的高能电子增强了芳醚的还原裂解活性。其应用潜力通过脱碱性木质素的解聚得到9.84wt%的总单体产率来说明，其中香草醛、愈创木酚和夹竹桃素作为三种主要产物。