Mesoporous silicon-carbon composites: Novel supports of platinum nanoparticles for highly efficient selective oxidation of glycerol

•A self-assembly method between tannic acid and silicic acid was developed.•Silicon-carbon composite supports were prepared.•Silicon-carbon composite supported with nano Pt showed excellent catalytic performance for glycerol oxidation.•The glycerol conversion is 74.4% and glyceric acid selectivity is 86.7%.•Higher activity and selectivity than most of previous reported Pt-supported catalysts.