Photoactive Amphiphilic Nanoreactor: A Chloroplast-Like Catalyst for Natural Oxidation of Alcohols

Abstract Exploring catalytic processes performed under natural conditions is interesting, but there remains a great challenge in developing highly efficient catalysts for natural oxidation of alcohols. Herein, we report a chloroplast-like catalyst comprised of photoactive carbon dots (CDs), catalytically active Pt nanoparticles, and amphiphilic nanotubes. Under simulated and real natural reaction conditions, our catalysts exhibited remarkable activity and long-term reusability for the oxidation of various alcohols, significantly outperforming that of other counterpart catalysts and reported thermal/photocatalytic systems. It was demonstrated that when the carbon dots and the amphiphilic nanotubes respectively played a role in the light-harvesting and the substrate transport the Pt/CDs heterointerface acted as the active center for the matter conversion. Such an elaborate cooperation, an advanced process in the photosynthesis of plant, contributed to the excellent catalytic performance. This contribution provides a new design concept for artificial photocatalysts, which is very promising for developing sustainable catalytic processes.