Localized surface plasmon resonance effect–mediated in-situ photochemical–formation of H2O2 for high epoxidation performance over LaSrCoNiO6 nanoparticles

[Display omitted] •LaSrCoNiO6 nanoparticles exhibit an unusual and tunable LSPR effect in the visible region.•LSCNi-N catalyst exhibits selectivity of up to 72.3% in a 93.4% conversion of cinnamyl alcohol.•LSCNi-N catalyst shows 91.8% selectivity of styrene oxide at almost 100% conversion of styrene.•The high epoxidation selectivity derives from the in-situ photochemical formation of H2O2 mediated by the LSPR effect of LSCNi-N catalyst. Selective aerobic epoxidation of allylic alcohols and olefins presents a promising solution to the modern chemical industry. However, the development of non-noble metal catalysts with superior catalytic performance for this reaction remains a significant challenge. This study introduces a plasmonic photothermal-catalytic system centered around nano LaSrCoNiO6 (LSCNi-N) catalyst, enabling the epoxidation of cinnamyl alcohol and styrene mediated by LSPR effect under visible light illumination (>420 nm). This catalyst exhibits superior epoxidation catalytic performance, with selectivities of up to 72.3 % in a 93.4 % conversion of cinnamyl alcohol and 91.8 % selectivity of styrene oxide at almost 100 % conversion of styrene. Mechanistic studies reveal that the high selectivity derives from the in-situ photochemical formation of H2O2 mediated by the localized surface plasmon resonance effect of LSCNi-N and hole scavenger effect of cinnamyl alcohol. These findings highlight the potential of designing plasmonic transition-metal oxidic catalysts to overcome challenges in selectively synthesizing fine chemicals through visible light catalysis.