Photo-thermal synergistically catalytic conversion of glycerol and carbon dioxide to glycerol carbonate over Au/ZnWO4-ZnO catalysts

[Display omitted] •Photo-thermal catalytic approach is promising for improving catalyst performance.•ZnWO4-ZnO is effective in thermal-driven glycerol carbonylation.•Au loading further enhanced the catalytic performances especially with visible light irradiation.•A strong photo-thermal synergistic effect was observed over x%Au/ZnWO4-ZnO for the highly promoted catalytic performance. Converting glycerol and CO2 into glycerol carbonate offers a green pathway for utilizing biodiesel by-product glycerol and greenhouse gas CO2 as well as synthesizing the important chemical compound glycerol carbonate. In this study, for the first time, the abundant visible light was introduced into thermal-driven glycerol carbonylation system, aiming to improve catalyst performance via breaking the thermodynamic equilibrium limitations. Here x%Au/ZnWO4-ZnO catalysts were designed for the photo-thermal catalytic system. It was found that, ZnWO4-ZnO itself was effective in glycerol carbonylation even under thermal-driven condition, and the loading of plasmonic Au further enhanced the catalytic performances especially with visible light irradiation. The visible light responsivity of the catalysts and reaction temperatures played important roles for the photo-thermal performance of x%Au/ZnWO4-ZnO, indicating the strong photo-thermal synergistic effect for the highly promoted catalytic performance. This study suggests the photo-thermal synergistic catalysis is one of efficient approaches for further improving catalytic performance.