Visible light-driven methanol dehydrogenation and conversion into 1,1-dimethoxymethane over a non-noble metal photocatalyst under acidic conditionsElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Additional data including some of the experimental methods, XPS spectra, XRD patterns, the activity of photocatalytic H2evolution, data of GC-MS, photocurrent response and photoluminescence (PL) spectra. See DOI: 10.1039/c8cy01030g

The dehydrogenation and conversion of methanol into 1,1-dimethoxymethane (DMM) was achieved over noble metal-free photocatalyst CdS/Ni2P under visible light. This photocatalytic process for methanol-to-H2and DMM conversion is efficient and atom economic, with an optimal rate and selectivity of DMM of 188.42 mmol g−1h−1and 82.93%, respectively. This work supplies a new green approach for the direct efficient conversion of methanol into DMM and provides a promising avenue for sustainable bio-methanol applications.