Themed collection 2024 Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers HOT articles

As global resources become scarce and environmental issues become increasingly severe, developing photocatalytic technology for efficiently and cleanly degrading pollutants has become a research trend.

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) integrate photoactive and catalytic entities within a 3D structure. This review classifies photocatalytic MOFs by photosensitizer and catalyst localization and their roles in artificial photosynthesis.

A comprehensive review of the preparation strategies, structures and applications of In-MOFs in the last eight years is presented. Moreover, future development trends are highlighted.

The electrochemical conversion of carcinogenic nitrate to ammonia (turning waste into wealth) using perovskite oxide-based catalysts aims to create a globally sustainable environment.

Recent progress in the therapeutic applications of polyoxometalates (POMs) to target protein aggregates in neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) is reviewed.

This review article focuses on the ubiquitous icosahedral Au₁₃ core protected by organic ligands as a benchmark and derives empirical rules for tuning and enhancing photoluminescence properties through surface modification and heterometal doping.

This review summarizes the progress in recent decades regarding the structure–activity relationships of various well-defined metal-NHC catalysts in the polymerization of olefins, particularly α-olefins, styrene, norbornene, and others.

We summarize the different synthetic strategies of MOF-derived micro-/nano-materials to date, including but not limited to calcining, phosphating, sulfurization, the selenylation method, ion exchange, and etching strategies.

This review offers a comprehensive summary of the advanced electrocatalysts for HzOR-assisted water electrolysis. The inherent relationship between various regulatory strategies and the catalytic performance of electrocatalysts is discussed.

This review highlights the application of redox-active ligands for achieving substrate activation and reactivity through multielectron transfer at earth-abundant transition metal complexes.

Based on the relationship between keywords, six typical hydrogen storage alloys in the field of poisoning were investigated.

How anions modulate the HER catalytic mechanism.

This review highlights the factors that can dictate the properties of cluster-based catalysts towards coupling reactions, such as ligand effect, doping effect, support effect, and defective effect.

This review summarizes advancements in g-C₃N₄-based direct Z and S-scheme heterostructures for solar H₂O₂ synthesis, exploring advanced characterization methods to verify the charge transfer mechanism.

This mini-review summarises the recent progress of doping strategies and elucidates the corresponding element substitution mechanisms in sodium vanadium phosphate (N3VP) for obtaining high-performance cathode materials.

We describe the interactions between iridium(III) complexes and peptides and the emerging applications of iridium(III)–peptide bioconjugates in biomedical fields, summarizing and commenting on their widespread applications for bioimaging and therapy.

Surface modification of MOF particle for overcoming biological barriers.

The reduction of Pt(IV) complexes can be monitored by various analytical techniques. These techniques hold significant promise in elucidating the mechanisms of Pt(IV) prodrug activation, aiding in the rational design of novel Pt(IV) prodrugs.

This review highlights the recent advances in the photocatalytic applications of porphyrin-based MOFs in aqueous environments for solar fuel generation and water remediation.

This review examines recent advancements in co-catalyst design and loading strategies for photoelectrochemical CO₂ reduction, emphasizing deposition methods such as physical vapor deposition, drop-casting, and photo/electrodeposition.

Two polar and tropical coordinated decanuclear regioisomeric cuprofullerenes with Cu^I atoms coordinating on CC bonds of the two polar zones around pentagons and the tropical zone of the equator have been successfully assembled, respectively.

Intense NB-UVB emission at 312 nm and super-long persistent luminescence for >100 h have been realized in a LiCaPO₄:Gd³⁺ phosphor after ceasing X-ray excitation, accompanied by a remarkable white-to-brown photochromism phenomenon.

A composition and structure optimization strategy combined with a two-step sintering (TSS) process is proposed to design and fabricate (1−x)Ba_0.85Ca_0.15Zr_0.1Ti_0.9O₃−xBi(Mg_1/2Sn_1/2)O₃ (BCZT-BMSx-TSS) lead-free ceramics.

Hollow CoS_x/MoO₃ derived from ZIF-67 shows preferred selective trapping and conversion of LiPSs as a modified separator material for LSBs.

A metal acetate-assisted alcohol thermal (MAA) method overcomes the shortcomings of the complex polyacrylonitrile pre-oxidation process and provides a general and scalable method to prepare a flexible carbon nanofiber film.

By increasing the charge of organic ligands to enhance the ionic bonds, a series of CuI-based hybrid structures with significantly improved stability are fabricated, showing potential as new solid-state lighting phosphors and X-ray scintillators.

We designed an ASCs based on curled MOF nanosheets. Due to the Jahn–Teller effect and lattice strain "double enhance" the conductivity and regulate the nanostructure of MOF, which results in a high energy density of the assembled ASCs.

We synthesized Ba–Pb–S chalcogenide compounds with tunable bandgap properties using a discrete molecular precursor strategy. Ba_0.5Pb_0.5S has a 1.77 eV optical bandgap, p-type characteristics, and shows great potential for optoelectronic applications.

A bioinspired photocatalytic system with an inorganic compartment is designed and fabricated for H₂ evolution. The system enables sustained evolution of hydrogen with a higher yield than that in control catalysis in a bulk catalyst suspension.

Five cage-like halogenated o-carborane molecular ferroelectric crystals were successfully obtained with the highest T_c reaching 437 K. This provides a novel avenue for the further design of high T_c carborane ferroelectric crystals.

Insights into structural isomerization in organoiridium picolinamidate complexes were obtained through experimental studies and density functional theory calculations.

An acentric lead titanium-tellurate crystal, Pb₄Ti₃TeO₁₃, was extracted using spontaneous crystallization with the pyrochlore structure as a template. It exhibited a large SHG response and a wide transmission range.

γ-Bi₂MoO₆ exhibits a 9.9-times stronger second harmonic generation (SHG) response than that of KDP, large birefringence of 0.21 at 1064 nm, and relatively large band gap of 2.57 eV.

A cost-effective method to gently convert stone into high-specific-surface-area porous carbon is presented. The supercapacitor performance exceeds that of YP50F. The method bridges the gap between carbon neutrality and clean energy applications.

Studies on typical rough-textured inorganic materials showed that the superhydrophobicity of intrinsically hydrophilic inorganic materials originates from a O₂²⁻ predominant O₂ molecular adsorption layer induced by anion vacancies.

A molecule-based spin qubit and quantum sensor candidate, N@C₆₀, was developed to detect the ¹H nuclei in a metal–organic framework through pulsed-EPR.

Metallic transition metal dichalcogenide nanosheets decorated with amorphous subnanometric Pd nanoparticles exhibit comparable HER performance to that of commercial Pt–C.

This manuscript describes the intrinsic relationship between potential-dependent HCOOH/C₂H₅OH selectivity and dynamically evolved copper chalcogenides under the CO₂ electroreduction process.

A novel 2D energetic MOF [Cu(ATRZ)(N₃)₂]_n was prepared by single-crystal-to-single-crystal transformation to encapsulating N₃⁻, which is a new copper azide variant with excellent safety and excellent laser initiation performance.

High-performance hydrated phase copper molybdate with improved electrochemical performance is reported for hybrid supercapacitors.

Crystal structures and optoelectronic performance of hybrid two-dimensional lead bromide halide perovskites are elaborately regulated by pyridyl cations, which achieve a significantly enhanced birefringence of 0.315 (550 nm) for crystal 2.

In this paper, we successfully prepared a Z-scheme Cu/WO₂/C-BOB heterostructure with  LSPR effect for efficient photocatalytic nitrogen fixation reaction, which provides a new idea for the study of plasma Z-scheme heterojunction photocatalysts.

High-throughput screening of 222 hydroxyborates identified three as promising short-wavelength ultraviolet nonlinear optical. with phase-matching second harmonic generation capacity extending to the solar blind region (200–280 nm).

Benefiting from the long-range synergistic effect between Pt_n clusters and Zn₁ single atoms, Pt_n@Zn₁-N–C displays superior catalytic performance in selective hydrogenations.

H* is generated on Pd single atoms and then migrates to neighboring S sites on which H₂ is produced, representing catalytic synergism via hydrogen spillover, which enables Pd₁/S_v-MnPS₃ to be active and durable for the HER.

A low-cost carrier is developed and the size of Ru nanoparticles is reduced to enhance the performance of Ru catalysts used in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER).

Designing multi-transition metal-based sulfides holds promise for alkaline water electrolysis, whereas the selection of suitable, cheap candidates and a facile building strategy remains challenging.

A giant {Mo₄₂Ti₁₂} was reported as the largest MoTOC, which exhibits excellent transformation of BA to BAD to BZA.

Ethylene glycol oxidation (EGOR) is an important step in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycling, and it is a thermodynamically more favorable anode reaction in comparison with the oxygen evolution reaction (OER).

The heterostructure is elaborately designed by a self-assembly strategy, wherein Ag₁₆(GSH)₉ nanoclusters serve as photosensitizers to participate in interfacial charge transfer, ultimately resulting in significantly enhanced photoredox catalysis.

The construction of Schottky heterojunction in Co₃(PO₄)₂@MXene accelerates the directional transfer of electrons at the interface, achieving efficient hydrogen evolution performance under high current density conditions in seawater electrolysis.

High-performance NIR emission was observed in Cs₂NaInCl₆:Tm³⁺, where the sensitizer Sb³⁺ achieved high-efficiency NIR emission and Te⁴⁺ enabled blue-light excitation.

The introduction of cerium oxide into cobalt phosphide can significantly regulate the electronic structure, modify the catalytic activity and finally enhance the electrochemical performance of lithium–sulfur batteries.

Compound 1 is the first hetero-POTa containing Si element, and the largest hetero-POTa at present. The proton conductivity of 1 reaches 3.63 × 10⁻³ S cm⁻¹ at 75 °C and 95% RH, which is comparable to the proton-conducting POMs reported.

An organic–inorganic hybrid ferroelastic [TMIm][MnCl₄] with high T_c presents distinct photoluminescence responses to ferroelastic phase transitions.

Group 3 and 13 light metal pyrazolates reversibly insert carbon dioxide. The inverse correlation of their catalytic activity and carboxophilicity is striking.

A free-standing CC/KZHCF composite can be directly employed as the working electrode for effective separation and recovery of Co²⁺ and Li⁺ from waste LiCoO₂ cathode.

The anti-thermal quenching of Cr³⁺ is determined by the attribution of the defect level, which originates from the coupling between the doped ion Cr³⁺ and the V_O. NIR pc-LED achieves an NIR output power of 59.67 mW with working current of 150 mA.

By introducing [AgS₃] and [NaQ₆] (Q = S, Se) into the A^IRE^IIIC^IVQ^VI₄ family, four new RE-based chalcogenides with wide band gaps and large birefringence have been rationally designed and fabricated.

Increasing the Ni content in LLOs helps to reduce the number of intrinsic V_o, thereby stabilizing the lattice oxygen. HLR materials with high Ni content exhibit improved cycling stability and lower voltage decay.

The CoCuMnMoNi high-entropy alloy constructed by thermal cracking of organic frameworks as a catalytic intercalation layer for lithium–sulfur batteries to achieve bi-directional fast catalytic conversion of polysulfides/sulfides.

Starting from the pivotal structure–performance relationship, three compounds are synthesized through halogen regulation, and the photoluminescence is dependent on the structure.

The nature of a built-in electric field within supported metal catalysts plays a crucial role in regulating gas adsorption and electron transfer during the gas-sensing process.