Themed collection 2020 Catalysis Science & Technology Hot Articles

For many decades hydrogen production from water by photocatalytic methods has been pursued over a variety of semiconductor powder catalysts featuring many structures and compositions. The stoichiometric formation of molecular hydrogen and oxygen has stayed largely elusive.

The synthesis of chiral molecules is of great importance to the pharmaceutical, agrochemical, flavour and fragrance industries.

This review presents the key factors to construct a productive whole-cell biocatalytic cascade exemplified for the biotransformation of renewable fatty acids.

Distinct local environments for atomically dispersed Rh species on anatase TiO₂ result from reduction treatments under CO and H₂.

Suspensions of platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) were formed in molten LiCl–LiBr–KBr via thermal decomposition of H₂PtCl₆, and subsequently evaluated for thermal stability and CO oxidation activity.

Bimetallic MIL-101(Al/Fe)–NH₂ exhibits enhanced acid–base bifunctional catalytic activity due to its synergistic mechanism and hierarchical pore system.

Pt on both ordered mesoporous Al-SBA-15 and commercial amorphous mesoporous silica–alumina bi-functional catalysts were prepared and studied for n-heptane hydro-isomerization and n-hexadecane hydro-cracking.

We show that the optimal catalyst for a given reaction equalizes the free energies of intermediates in an adsorbed phase, and in consequence is described by a surface energy proportional to the enthalpy of this reaction.

Ordered mesoporous carbon films with high surface area, good electrical conductivity and an improved distribution of NPs with tunable composition show high electrocatalytic activity in HER.

The solar-driven reduction of nitrate to nitrogen has been studied in the presence of a formate hole scavenger, over a series of Au- and Ag-decorated TiO₂ catalysts.

A larger number and a more uniform distribution of cobalt sites with almost the same intrinsic activity results in higher carbon monoxide hydrogenation rate in the mordenite compared to ZSM-5 zeolite.

Lean NO reduction by CO at low temperature.

Spin polarized density functional theory computations were performed to elucidate electronic effects based on first-row transition metal doped Fe(100) and Fe₅C₂(100) surfaces for CO dissociation.

Macromolecular organic photocatalysts consisting of a PMMA network with integrated conjugated moiety have broad and promising applications in visible light-promoted photoredox catalysis.

The alkali metal potassium has the functions of structure promotion and electronic modulation in metal oxides.

CoTiO₃ with oxygen vacancies was used as a cocatalyst for the photochemical reduction of CO₂ to CO. The bond length of the double bond between C and O in CO₂ increases from 1.17 Å to 1.25 Å in the activation step.

Density functional theory and experimental evidence provide insight into the mechanism of polyolefin microstructure modulation using redox-active Ni(II) α-diimine catalysts.

The presence of capping ligands can block the adsorption of the amine ligand on gold NPs, preventing the formation of a ligand–metal interface able to activate H₂ for selective hydrogenation reactions.

A water-enabled reaction to a polyester building block is found to widely occur in the conversion of glucose to HMF.

A graphitic carbon nitride/tetrakis-(4-hydroxyphenyl)porphyrin nanohybrid smartly fabricated with special Cu showed excellent photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance.

We studied the effect of Lewis acidity in metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) on their activity as catalyst supports for the esterification of CO to dimethyl carbonate.

A new strategy in the synthesis of M–N–C type catalysts was introduced through the combination of plasma pre-treatment followed by conventional pyrolysis, which demonstrated higher ORR activity and stability than pristine M–N–C catalysts.

A water splitting photoanode composed of hematite (α-Fe₂O₃) nanorods modified with Co(salen) was proven to exhibit special photoelectrochemical oxygen evolution activity.

The development of earth-abundant and low-cost electrocatalysts with high performance toward the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) plays a key role in water splitting.

Different types of Cu–Ti interfacial structures determine different tolerance abilities of catalysts towards SO₂ poisoning during CO oxidation at 250 °C.

Titanocalix[4]arenes are shown to be active for the ROP of cyclic esters under N₂ or air with the mono-methoxy complex [Ti(NCMe)Cl(p-tert-butylcalix[4]arene(O)₃(OMe))] performing best.

The experimental data of photoreduction of CO₂ using undoped and N-doped TiO₂ photocatalysts were used for micro-kinetic modelling.

Engineering an alcohol dehydrogenase with enhanced activity and stereoselectivity toward diaryl ketones: reduction of steric hindrance and change of the stereocontrol element.

A thermal switch of selectivity for a phenoxy-imine titanium catalyst was studied by combining kinetic studies and a “polymer-to-catalyst” approach.

In this work, the potential of combining Shilov-type Pt^II and micellar catalysis to realize the challenging terminal C–H hydroxylation of saturated n-alkanes using water as the reaction medium is demonstrated.

Synergy effect between photocatalysis and H₂O₂-mediated heterogeneous photo-Fenton catalysis on highly robust Ti-substituted La_1−xTi_xFeO₃ perovskites led to high performances under UV-A light in water treatment.

Versatile and recyclable heterogeneous photocatalysts based on the use of glass wool supported ruthenium complexes and organic dyes.

A facile and scalable microwave-polyol method has been utilised to introduce vacancies onto SnO₂–CNT surfaces which significantly brings down the overpotential to around 150 mV during the electrochemical reduction of CO₂.

Core–shell MFI@TON composites were designed and synthesized as a highly shape-selective catalyst for toluene alkylation by passivating the nonselective acid sites and tuning the diffusion behavior.

Designing high-efficiency and low-cost bifunctional electrocatalysts for both the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is of great significance to produce hydrogen by water electrolysis.

Heating Pd/NHC complexes with aliphatic amines induces Pd–NHC bond cleavage, while treating the complexes with primary or secondary aliphatic amines in the presence of strong bases promotes the activation of molecular Pd/NHC catalysis.

P addition to Pd increases dehydrogenation selectivity and increases catalyst stability.

First principles simulations show that in Fe and N co-doped carbon, Fe coordination controls the activity for oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution reactions, and that including the electrostatic potential has a major influence at high potential.

The influence of common inorganic anions on photocatalytic CO₂ reduction has been investigated in a semiconductor/complex (CdS/Co(bpy)₃Cl₂) system.

In the past, H₂O₂ has been used as an oxidant when Ti-based materials are used as catalysts at ambient conditions.

The Zn-Co@N–C composites are developed by direct annealing of Zn–Co ZIF materials. The size of Co particles could be adjusted by the introduced Zn species. The activity in CO₂RR is gradually improved with the decrease of Co particle size.

The effects of different exchanging ions including Ag, Cu, and Sn on enhancing the photocatalytic activity of KNbTeO₆ are investigated by means of experiments and calculations.

DFT calculations disclosed the mechanism of the target reaction and the origin of unusual nucleophilicity of organocalcium. More reactive analogues were designed.

Continuous reductive amination was performed using NH₃BH₃ through reversible magnetic bimetallic fixation at room temperature.

Ni₂P/Ni₅P₄ with Janus nanostructure was fabricated via a controllable phosphidation approach and the interfacial effects were revealed by DFT theory.

A new unspecific peroxygenase (UPO) generating a variety of epoxidized derivatives of unsaturated fatty acids has been discovered and engineered by heterologous expression of a putative upo gene.

Doping with a suitable amount of Ce enhances the SCR performance of FeTi catalysts.

We report a combined experimental and computational study of the Buchwald–Hartwig cross-coupling of amides by N–C(O) cleavage (transamidation) using well-defined, air- and moisture-stable [Pd(NHC)(allyl)Cl] precatalysts.

Titanium-substituted FAU stabilizes aromatic alkenes to greater extents than BEA and mesoporous silica.

Mg-Sn-Beta zeolites with different Mg/Sn molar ratios were prepared from the parent deAl-Beta by a coimpregnation method. It shows higher selectivity for the conversion of glucose to methyl lactate than post-synthesized Sn-Beta.

Acid treated P25 catalysts (HP25-x, x represents the treatment temperature) were successfully fabricated via a simple soaking and drying process for photocatalytic H₂ production.

Hydrogen isotope effects are influenced by adsorbate coverage: at high coverages, isotope effects are lower than at low coverages. This helps to rationalize observed isotope effects, allowing more precise elucidation of reaction mechanisms.

A strong solid Lewis acid catalyst has been successfully obtained by modifying a known procedure of fluorinating γ-aluminium oxide, which was pre-calcined under vacuum.

Novel magnetically recoverable nickel nanoparticles (Ni NPs) stabilized by imidazolium-amidinate ligands selectively hydrogenate alkynes into (Z)-alkenes under mild conditions.

OMS-2-based nanocomposites doped with sodium phosphotungstate were prepared and their remarkably enhanced catalytic activity and recyclability in aerobic oxidative dehydrogenation of N-heterocycles were examined in detail.

Kinetic experiments show that both methoxy species and carbon monoxide are primary products. Adsorption of one water molecule reversibly blocks at least two copper atoms in active species.

The strong interaction between BiOCl and PDI preferentially formed. Owing to the strongly coupled heterojunction interface and conjugated structure of PDI, a rapid interfacial charge transfer was allowed from PDI to BiOCl across the interface.

Lactic acid (LA) has been produced with cascade reactions under non-noble metal and base-free conditions.

We describe a novel approach to prepare cellular methanol synthesis catalysts by combining additive manufacturing (AM) of a Cu–Al alloy followed by selective leaching of Al with aqueous NaOH solutions.

Amorphous CoFe(OH)_x hollow hierarchical microspheres are fabricated by using a polyhedral Cu₂O template. CoFe(OH)_x shows excellent OER activity and long-term durability due to its unique hollow hierarchical structure and composition.

The Pd/MIL-125-NH₂ hybrid photocatalyst exhibits great advantages in charge separation and molecule activation, with sufficient generation of both superoxide radical and singlet oxygen toward selective oxidation of organic molecules.

In this paper, the first photoelectrocatalytic 3-pyridinemethanol oxidation to 3-pyridinemethanal and vitamin B₃ was investigated.

Based on substrate-coupled cofactor regeneration system, a high 2-propanol tolerance SmADH2 together with TBCR system can synthesise structurally diverse chiral alcohols at a high substrate loading with only 1.25 equivalents of 2-propanol.