Synthesis of mordenite by solvent-free method and its application in the dimethyl ether carbonylation reaction

Mordenite with different Si/Al ratios were synthesized by solvent-free method and used for dimethyl ether(DME)carbonylation reaction.The influence of Si/Al ratio in the feedstock on the structure,porosity and acid sites were systematically investigated.The characterization results showed that with the increase of Si/Al ratio in the feedstock,part of silicon species fail to enter the skeleton and the specific surface area and pore volume of the samples decreased.The amount of weak acid and medium strong acid decreased alongside with the increasing Si/Al ratio,and the amount of strong acid slightly increased.The Al atoms preferentially enter the strong acid sites in the 8 member ring(MR)channel during the crystallization process.The high Si/Al ratio sample had more acid sites located in the 8 MR channel,leading to more active sites for carbonylation reaction and higher catalytic performance.Appropriately increasing the Si/Al ratio was beneficial for the improvement of carbonylation reaction activity over the mordenite(MOR)catalyst.

Hollow FeCo-FeCoP@C nanocubes embedded in nitrogen-doped carbon nanocages for efficient overall water splitting

Designing readily available and highly active electrocatalysts for water splitting is essential for renewable energy technologies.Here we present the construction of FeCo-FeCoP@C hollow nanocubes encapsulated in nitrogen-doped carbon nanocages(FeCo-FeCoP@C@NCCs) through controlled carbonization and subsequent phosphorization of a Prussian blue analogue.With stronger electronic interaction and hollow structure,the as-obtained FeCo-FeCoP@C@NCCs material requires small overpotentials of 91 mV and280 mV to deliver 10 mA cm^(-2) in 1 M KOH toward hydrogen and oxygen evolution,respectively.More importantly,applying this material for overall water splitting,it only requires 1.64 V to afford10 mA cm^(-2) and exhibits impressively durability over 40 h without obvious performance decay.The present approach inspires potentials for the controllable synthesis of multi-component catalysts for practical applications.

Co-aromatization of methane and hexane over Pt encapsulated in ZSM-5 zeolite and the electronic effect of K promoters

The co-aromatization of methane with higher hydrocarbons represents a promising route to valorize methane, an abundant but underexploited carbon resource. In this study, we elucidate a novel approach to enhance the catalytic co-aromatization of hexane and methane by confining Pt within zeolite catalysts and modulating its electron density. Our findings show that encapsulating Pt within MFI structure is pivotal for activating the feedstock and fostering the formation of aromatic products. Interaction between K atoms and the silanol nest forms siloxy groups which are critical for the stabilization of Pt species. Tuning the K content in PtSn@MFI catalysts adeptly alters the electronic configuration of Pt clusters. This modification is corroborated by infrared and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis, and density functional theory calculations. Remarkably, the catalyst with 0.8 wt% K exhibits an optimal Pt electron density, driving its superior efficacy in the co-aromatization reaction, converting 0.78 mol of methane for each mole of hexane processed. By employing ~(13)C isotopic labeling and solid-state NMR studies, we demonstrate the participation of methane in the adsorbed species inside the zeolite channel and its incorporation to the benzyl site of the substitute group and phenyl rings in aromatic compounds, underscoring the importance of Pt encapsulation.

Reduction and carburization of iron oxides for Fischer–Tropsch synthesis

The activation of iron oxide Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis(FTS) catalysts was investigated during pretreatment: reduction in hydrogen followed by carburization in either CO or syngas mixture, or simultaneously reduction and carburization in syngas. A combination of different complementary in situ techniques was used to gain insight into the behavior of Fe-based FTS catalysts during activation. In situ XRD was used to identify the crystalline structures present during both reduction in hydrogen and carburization. An increase in reduction rate was established when increasing the temperature. A complete reduction was demonstrated in the ETEM and a grain size dependency was proven, i.e. bigger grains need higher temperature in order to reduce. XPS and XAS both indicate the formation of a small amount of carbonaceous species at the surface of the bulk metallic iron during carburization.

Active learning to overcome exponential-wall problem for effective structure prediction of chemical-disordered materials

Chemical-disordered materials have a wide range of applications whereas the determination of their structures or configurations isone of the most important and challenging problems. Traditional methods are extremely inefficient or intractable for large systemsdue to the notorious exponential-wall issue that the number of possible structures increase exponentially for N-body systems.Herein, we introduce an efficient approach to predict the thermodynamically stable structures of chemical-disordered materials viaactive-learning accompanied by first-principles calculations. Our method, named LAsou, can efficiently compress the samplingspace and dramatically reduce the computational cost. Three distinct and typical finite-size systems are investigated, including theanion-disordered BaSc(O_(x)F_(1−x))3 (x = 0.667), the cation-disordered Ca_(1−x)Mn_(x)CO_(3) (x = 0.25) with larger size and the defect-disordered ε-FeC_(x) (x = 0.5) with larger space. The commonly used enumeration method requires to explicitly calculate 2664, 1033,and 10496 configurations, respectively, while the LAsou method just needs to explicitly calculate about 15, 20, and 10configurations, respectively. Besides the finite-size system, our LAsou method is ready for quasi-infinite size systems empoweringmaterials design.

Fe5C2 nanoparticles as low-cost HER electrocatalyst:the importance of Co substitution

Constructing and understanding the doping effect of secondary metal in transition metal carbide(TMC)catalysts is pivotal for the design of low-cost hydrogen evolution reaction(HER) electrocatalysts. In this work, we developed a wet-chemistry strategy for synthesizing Co-modified Fe_5C_2 nanoparticles((Fe_(1-x)Cox)_5C_2 NPs) as highly active HER electrocatalysts in basic solution. The structure of(Fe_(1-x)Cox)_5C_2 NPs was characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD), extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectra(EXAFS) and scanning/transmission electron microscopy(S/TEM), indicating that the isomorphous substitution of cobalt in the lattice of Fe_5C_2.(Fe_(0.75) Co_(0.25))_5C_2 exhibited the best HER activity(174 mV for j = -10 mA/cm^2). Computational calculation results indicate that Co provides the most active site for HER. X-ray adsorption spectra(XAS) studies further suggested that the electron transfer in Fe–C bonds are enhanced by the substitution of Co, which modulates the hydrogen adsorption on the adjacent electronic-enriched carbon, and therefore promotes HER activity. Our results affirm the design of lowcost bimetallic TMCs based HER catalysts.

Mild and selective hydrogenation of CO2 into formic acid over electron-rich MoC nanocatalysts

The direct hydrogenation of CO2 using H2 gas is a one-stone-two-birds route to produce highly valueadded hydrocarbon compounds and to lower the CO2 level in the atmosphere.However,the transformation of CO2 and H2 into hydrocarbons has always been a great challenge while ensuring both the activity and selectivity over abundant-element-based nanocatalysts.In this work,we designed a Schottky heterojunction composed of electron-rich MoC nanoparticles embedded inside an optimized nitrogen-doped carbon support(MoC@NC)as the first example of noble-metal-free heterogeneous catalysts to boost the activity of and specific selectivity for CO2 hydrogenation to formic acid(FA)in liquid phase under mild conditions(2 MPa pressure and 70℃).The MoC@NC catalyst with a high turnover frequency(TOF)of 8.20 molFA molMoC^-1 h^-1 at 140℃ and an excellent reusability are more favorable for real applications.

Effect of Surface Oxygen on Dissociation of Methane on Cu(100)

Clean and O-(2√2×√2)R45°Cu(100)surfaces were prepared to study the impact of surface oxygen on the activation of methane dissociation.Auger electron spectroscopy,low energy electron diffraction,infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy,scanning tunneling microscope,and a quadrupole mass-spectrometer for temperature programmed desorption were used to explore the behavior of CH_(4)on the two surfaces.The dissociative adsorption of CH_(4)was observed on oxygen-pre-covered Cu(100)but not on the clean surface indicating surface oxygen promotes the dissociation of the C-H bond.This study can be a reference for the conversion of methane into other high-value-added products with high efficiency and low energy consumption.

Facile synthesis of porous nitrogen-doped holey graphene as an efficient metal-free catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction

Nitrogen-doped graphene is a promising candidate for the replacement of noble metal-based electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reactions （ORRs）. The addition of pores and holes into nitrogen-doped graphene enhances the ORR activity by introducing abundant exposed edges, accelerating mass transfer, and impeding aggregation of the graphene sheets. Herein, we present a straightforward but effective strategy for generating porous holey nitrogen-doped graphene （PHNG） via the pyrolysis of urea and magnesium acetate tetrahydrate. Due to the combined effects of the in situ generated gases and MgO nanoparticles, the synthesized PHNGs featured not only numerous out-of-plane pores among the crumpled graphene sheets, but also interpenetrated nanoscale （5-15 nm） holes in the assembled graphene. Moreover, the nitrogen doping configurations of PHNG were optimized by post-thermal treatments at different temperatures. It was found that the overall content of pyridinic and quaternary nitrogen positively correlates with the ORR activity; in particular, pyridinic nitrogen generates the most desirable characteristics for the ORR. This work reveals new routes for the synthesis of PHNG-based materials and elucidates the contributions of various nitrogen species to ORRs.