Mechanochemical Synthesis of Oxygenated Carbon Catalyst for Efficient Cellulose Hydrolysis

Highly oxygenated carbon catalyst was prepared through solid-phase mechanochemical oxidation of simple activated carbon. The catalyst showed excellent reactivity towards hydrolysis of cellulose resulting in 85% glucose after only 20 min of reaction time. This study reports the first use of mechanochemical oxidation for heterogeneous carbon catalyst synthesis.