Titania nanotubes were synthesized via a simple alkali hydrothermal treatment of P25 (Degussa) nanoparticles and the formation mechanism of TiO2 nanotubes was primarily analyzed based on the characterizations by TEM and XPS. Then, the novel WO3/TiO2 nanotube catalyst was prepared by an incipient wetness method using the TiO2 nanotube as the support and ammonium tungstate as the precursor, and was characterized by means of N2 adsorption, TEM, XRD, XPS and Raman spectroscopy. The catalytic performance of the as-prepared composite was investigated for the preparation of glutaraldehyde (GA) from the selective oxidation of cyclopentene (CPE). The 20 wt% catalyst showed 97.9% of CPE conversion and 69.3% of GA selectivity. It was found that the active tungsten species were highly dispersed and there was strong interaction between tungsten species and the titania nanotube support at tungsten oxide content ＜20 wt%. The leaching of the active sites was very small and had little effect on the catalytic performance. In addition, the WO3/TiO2 nanotube catalyst was very stable and could be reused for at least seven times. The deactivated catalyst could be regenerated by simple calcination.

Key words: mesoporous TiO2 nanotube, WO3/TiO2 nanotube catalyst, cyclopentene, selective oxidation, hydrogen peroxide, glutaraldehyde