Photocatalytic fenton-like system with atomic Fe on carbon nitride boost selective glucose oxidation towards gluconic acid

[Display omitted] •Photocatalytic Fenton-like system was effective for the selective oxidation of glucose towards gluconic acid.•Gluconic acid selectivity as high as 91.6% was achieved at glucose conversion of 36.3% within 30 min.•The introduction of atomically dispersed Fe into g-C3N4 signally improved light adsorption and carrier separation efficiency.•Singlet oxygen was identified as main reactive species for the selective oxidation of glucose. Peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation is a prospective technique for pollutant degradation, but less attention has been paid to the tunable modulation and effective utilization of reactive oxygen species in selective oxidation. Herein, we develop a photocatalytic Fenton-like system with Fe single-atom supported on carbon nitride that generates singlet oxygen (1O2) as dominant active species to selectively oxidize glucose to gluconic acid. The loading of atomic Fe onto carbon nitride can notably aggrandize the light absorption and boost the photon-generated carriers transfer efficiency. With PMS and simulated sunlight, the Fe single-atom catalyst afforded a glucose conversion of 36.3% with gluconic acid selectivity up to 91.6%, as is superior to the state-of-the-art catalytic systems. Control experiments and theoretical analysis reveal that the excellent catalytic performance of Fe single-atom supported on carbon nitride is resulted from the enhanced photocatalytic activity with better PMS activation ability.