Themed collection 2016 most accessed Catalysis Science and Technology articles

Room-temperature catalytic oxidative decomposition of harmful formaldehyde (HCHO) in indoor air is summarized.

The interactions of solvents with catalysts, substrates and products all influence the rate and selectivity of reactions and should be considered to ensure a reaction is run under optimum conditions.

Emerging concepts and novel possibilities in catalysis by zeolites for a new scenario in chemical and energy vector production.

Two-dimensional zeolites have been studied and developed as diverse and fundamentally new forms of 3D framework structures.

Within the green chemistry context, heterogeneous catalysis is more and more applied to organic synthesis. The well known ‘click chemistry’ and especially its flagship, the copper-catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition reaction (CuAAC), is now catch up by such heterogenisation process and copper ions or metals have been grafted or deposited on or into various solids, such as (bio)polymers, charcoal, silica, zeolites, POM or MOF.

We highlight the evolution and tunability of catalytic function of transition metal carbides under oxidative and reductive environments for selective deoxygenation reactions.

Metal nanoparticles (Au, Ag, Cu, Pd, Pt, Ir, Rh, Au–Pd alloy etc.) supported on inert support (ZrO₂, zeolite) can be direct photocatalysts to series of organic synthesis with visible light irradiation.

Formic acid, the simplest carboxylic acid, could serve as one of the better fuels for portable devices, vehicles and other energy-related applications in the future.

Recently, there has been growing interest in the transformation of renewable biomass into value-added chemicals and biofuels.

Developing novel and efficient catalysts is a critical step in common heterogeneous hydrogenation and oxidation reactions.

Silver nanoalloy electrocatalysts with comparable activity and better stability than commercial Pt/C for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in advanced metal–air batteries and fuel cells.

We summarize relevant applications and limitations of metal-supported carbons and nanocarbons in the synthesis of valuable products and the recent advances in this field.

Low-temperature NH₃-SCR has attracted considerable attention owing to the vast demand in industrial furnaces and its energy-conserving feature. This review summarizes the recent advances in the application of ceria-based catalysts for low-temperature NH₃-SCR.

In this review, the recent developments in the field of enantioselective cycloaddition reactions using powerful bifunctional amine-thiourea and amine-squaramide organocatalysts have been described.

Carbonaceous deposits on heterogeneous catalysts are traditionally associated with catalyst deactivation. However, they can play a beneficial role in many catalytic processes, e.g. dehydrogenation, hydrogenation, alkylation, isomerisation, Fischer–Tropsch, MTO etc. This review highlights the role and mechanism by which coke deposits can enhance catalytic performance.

The recent advances of organic synthesis reactions based on heterogeneous visible-light photocatalysis are reviewed.

Asymmetric reactions catalyzed by iron complexes have attracted considerable attention because iron is a ubiquitous, inexpensive, and environmentally benign metal. This overview charts the development and application of chiral iron bis(oxazoline) and pyridine-2,6-bis(oxazoline) catalysts through their most prominent and innovative uses in asymmetric catalysis, especially in Lewis acid and oxidation catalysis.

Rigorous regulations of nitrogen oxide emissions require the development of technologies for their removal from exhaust gases.

Mesopore incorporation into ZSM-5 enhances the dispersion of Pd nanoparticles significantly accelerating m-cresol conversion relative to a conventional microporous ZSM-5, and dramatically increasing selectivity towards the desired methylcyclohexane deoxygenated product.

The post-synthetic modification of azolium containing MOFs generated a new heterogeneous N-heterocyclic carbene catalyst (1-Pd), which is very active for Sonogashira cross coupling reaction.

We employed ZIF-8 rhombic dodecahedra and nanocubes as catalysts to obtain insights into the surface catalysis of MOFs based on facet-dependent catalytic activity for Knoevenagel condensation.

Hydrangea-like NiCo₂S₄ hollow microspheres are proposed as an advanced electrocatalyst for both oxygen reduction and evolution reactions.

A visible-light-induced oxidative phosphinylation of arylacetylenes catalyzed by an inexpensive organic dye was demonstrated to be effective under mild conditions.

Catalytic hydrogenation of CO₂ to formate with an Ir^III(METAMORPhos) complex in the presence of DBU requires a trans-dihydride for catalytic turnover, with an off-cycle trihydride as the dormant species.

The catalytic dehydration of 1,3-butanediol into butadiene was investigated over various aluminosilicates with different SiO₂/Al₂O₃ ratios and pore architectures.

A new combination of three chemical imaging methods has been developed and applied to fresh and spent co-based Fischer–Tropsch catalysts.

The effect of physicochemical properties on catalyst deactivation, overall olefin selectivity and ethylene/propylene ratio during the methanol-to-olefins (MTO) reaction is presented for two zeolites with the DDR topology, Sigma-1 and ZSM-58.

Co-promoted molybdenum phosphide nanoparticles have been successfully prepared and explored for the first time as a cost-effective electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER).

The first example of base-free catalytic dehydrogenation of formic acid using reversible cyclometalation at Rh(I) is discussed, using a combination of experimental and computational methods.

A facile and effective microwave-assisted route has been developed to synthesize electrochemically active pure and transition metal-doped manganese oxide nanoballs for fuel cell applications.

Electrocatalytic water splitting to produce H₂ plays an important role in the capture, conversion, and storage of renewable energy sources, such as solar energy and wind power.

Density Functional Theory (DFT) based models have been widely applied towards investigating and correlating the reaction mechanism of CO₂ electroreduction (ER) to the activity and selectivity of potential electrocatalysts.

Ethylene oligomerisation properties of TEAl-modified Cr/Ti/SiO₂ ethylene polymerisation Phillips-type catalysts studied with in situ UV-vis-NIR diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and gas chromatography.

Ce_0.5Zr_0.5O₂ prepared by the complexing–coprecipitation method (CZ-2) exhibits higher oxygen storage capacity (OSC) and thermal stability than that prepared by coprecipitation (CZ-1) or the complexing–coprecipitation-solution (CZ-3) method. After being aged at 1100 °C for 6 h, CZ-2a exhibited the highest OSC and catalytic activity.

CrO_x/SiO₂ catalysts with high propene/olefin yield, stable towards irreversible deactivation, are proposed for the oxidative dehydrogenation of propane with CO₂.

Methoxy adsorbed on MoO_x/Fe₂O₃ surfaces.

Lattice matching holds the secret to the Ru-catalysed hydrogenation of xylose to xylitol, a key reaction in practical biomass conversion.

IR photon-initiated photocatalytic hydrogen production of the Ag₂O/TiO₂ catalyst is demonstrated and the functions of Ag₂O and TiO₂ in “dark photocatalysis” are discussed.

Pt photodeposition over titania in the presence of high methanol concentrations promotes the genesis of highly dispersed, metallic nanoparticles, active for photocatalytic hydrogen production.

The selective hydrogenation of furfural at ambient temperature has been investigated using a Pd/TiO₂ catalyst.

Efficient and cost effective nicotinamide cofactor regeneration is essential for industrial-scale bio-hydrogenations employing flavin-containing biocatalysts such as the Old Yellow Enzymes.

In the presence of Mo⁶⁺-doped α-MnO₂ (Mo–MnO₂), various sulfides could efficiently be oxidized to the corresponding sulfoxides as the major products. In addition, Mo–MnO₂ could repeatedly be reused.

An efficient cobalt(II)-anchored Cr-MOF (Cr-MIL-101-NH₂) catalyst, Co(II)@Cr-MIL-101-P2I, has been successfully synthesized by one-pot modification of the terminal amino group with pyridine-2-aldehyde and anchoring of Co(II) ions into the mesoporous Cr-MOF support.

The Fe–Co–g-C₃N₄ catalyst is highly effective for the selective oxidation of cyclohexene to 2-cyclohexene-1-one using oxygen in water.

Fatty acid salt contaminants proved detrimental for efficient hydrogen production in the aqueous phase reforming of an industrial crude glycerol.

A one-dimensional model of Fischer–Tropsch catalyst layers is used for optimization of layer thickness and transport pore fraction to avoid diffusive restrictions and improve productivity.

1% Au/TiO₂ catalysts prepared by a variety of methods were studied for the base-free oxidation of glucose.

Mix & match: we show that combining simple heuristic models with experimental validation is an effective method for optimising supported mixed oxide catalysts.

H₂O₂-treated CuO nanostructures show 40–68× higher OER activity than Cu nanoparticles.

Chloromethane conversion into light olefins leads to distinct deactivation pathways in zeolite H-ZSM-5 compounded with bentonite and α-Al₂O₃ as binder and filler.