For more and purer hydrogen-the progress and challenges in water gas shift reaction

The water gas shift(WGS) reaction is a standard reaction that is widely used in industrial hydrogen production and removal of carbon monoxide. The improved catalytic performance of WGS reaction also contributes to ammonia synthesis and other reactions. Advanced catalysts have been developed for both high and low-temperature reactions and are widely used in industry. In recent years, supported metal nanoparticle catalysts have been researched due to their high metal utilization. Low-temperature catalysts have shown promising results, including high selectivity, high shift rates, and higher activity potential. Additionally, significant progress has been made in removing trace CO through the redox reaction in electrolytic cell. This paper reviews the development of WGS reaction catalysts, including the reaction mechanism, catalyst design, and innovative research methods. The catalyst plays a crucial role in the WGS reaction, and this paper provides an instant of catalyst design under different conditions. The progress of catalysts is closely related to the development of advanced characterization techniques.Furthermore, modifying the catalyst surface to enhance activity and significantly increase reaction kinetics is a current research direction. This review goals to stimulate a better understanding of catalyst design, performance optimization, and driving mechanisms, leading to further progress in this field.

Engineering Vacancy-Atom Ensembles to Boost Catalytic Activity toward Hydrogen Evolution

The dissociation of water is the rate-determining step of several energy-relating reactions due to high energy barrier in homolysis of H-O bond.Herein,engineering vacancy-atom ensembles via injecting oxygen vacancy(V O)into single facet-exposed TiO_(2)-Pd catalyst to form V_(O)-Pd ensemble is proposed and implemented.The outstanding activity of as-prepared catalyst,1.5-PdTV_(O),toward water dissociation is established with a turnover frequency of 240 min^(−1) in ammonia borane hydrolysis at 298 K.Density functional theory simulation suggests that the V_(O)-Pd ensemble is responsible for the high intrinsic catalytic activity.Water molecules tend to be dissociated on V_(O) sites and ammonia borane molecules on Pd atoms.Those H atoms from water dissociation on V_(O) combine with H atoms from ammonia borane on Pd atoms to generate H_(2).This insights into engineering vacancy-atom ensembles catalysis provide a new avenue to design catalytic materials for important energy chemical reactions.

Polar O-Co-P Surface for Bimolecular Activation in Catalytic Hydrogen Generation

Boron hydrides release an abundant amount of hydrogen in the presence of a suitable catalyst.Accelerating bimolecular activation kinetics is the key to designing cost-effective catalysts for borohydride hydrolysis.In this study,the bimolecular activation of a polar O-Co-P site demonstrated superior hydrogen-generation kinetics(turnover frequency,TOF=37 min−1,298 K)and low activation energy(41.0 kJ mol^(−1))close to that of noble-metal-based catalysts.Through a combination of experiments and theoretical calculations,it was revealed that the activated dangling oxygen atom in the Co–O precursor effectively replaced via surface-phosphorization because of strong electronic interactions between the dangling oxygen and P atoms.This substitution modulated the local coordination environment and electronegativity around the surface Co sites and formed a new polar O-Co-P active site for optimizing the activation kinetics of ammonia borane and water.This strategy based on bimolecular activation may create new avenues in the field of catalysis.

Co_(2)N Nanoparticles Anchored on N-Doped Active Carbon as Catalyst for Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Zinc–Air Battery

The development of efficient catalytic electrode toward oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)is still a great challenge for the wide use of zinc–air batteries.Herein,Co_(2)N nanoparticles(NPs)anchored on N-doped carbon from cattail were verified with excellent catalytic performances for ORR.The onset and half-wave potentials over the optimal catalyst reach to 0.96 V and 0.84 V,respectively.Current retention rates of 96.8%after 22-h test and 98.8%after running 1600 s were obtained in 1 M methanol solution.Density functional theory simulation proposes an apparently increased electronic states of Co_(2)N in N-doped carbon layer close to the Fermi level.Higher charge density,favorable adsorption,and charge transfer of intermediates originate from the coexistence of Co_(2)N NPs and N atoms in carbon skeleton.The superior catalytic activity of composites also was confirmed in zinc–air batteries.This novel catalytic property and controllable preparation approach of Co_(2)Ncarbon composites provide a promising avenue to fabricate metal-containing catalytically active carbon from biomass.

Simulation of Countercurrent Multi-Effect Drying System

The paper bulids a countercurrent multi-effect drying process model which can be expressed as a linear programming(LP) problem with the minimum total energy consumption as target function. Based on the model it can be conventient to solve the heat load , degree of drying and other drying parameters of each effect. And it realizes the mathematical simulation an analysis of multi-effect drying process. Such process not only reuses the secondary steam but also utilizes the high energy grade. Drying silica sand using 1-effect drying to 5-effect drying is presented as an example. The energy consumption and energy saving rate are compared by using co-current multi-effect drying and countercurrent multi-effect drying. As a summary, the countercurrent multi-effect drying is better than co-current drying. Considered the equipment investment and energy conservation, the study also concluded that the countercurrent 4-effect drying is the optimum selection, and it can save 57.6% energy compared to countercurrent 1-effect drying.

Wood-derived integrated air electrode with Co-N sites for rechargeable zinc-air batteries

The sluggish reaction kinetics in oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)is one of the bottlenecks in next generation energy conversion systems.The integrated design strategy based on simultaneously constructing active sites and forming porous carbon network will address this concern by facilitating charge exchange,mass transfer and electron transportation.In this article,a three-dimensional integrated air electrode(Co-N@ACS)containing Co-N sites and hierarchically porous carbon is fabricated via growth of Co-doped ZIF-8 in activated wood substrate and synchronous pyrolysis.The optimized integrated air electrodes exhibit ultrahigh ORR activity(E_(1/2)=0.86 V).Co-N sites provide outstanding ORR activity,and hierarchically porous structures facilitate oxygen diffusion and electrolyte penetration.Aqueous zinc-air battery assembled with Co-N@ACS possesses open-circuit voltage of 1.46 V,peak power density of 155 mW cm^(-2) and long-term stability of 540 cycles(180 h).Solid-state zinc-air battery assembled with Co-N@ACS shows open-circuit voltage up to 1.36 V and low charge-discharge voltage gap(0.8 V).This design strategy paves the way for the conversion of wood biomass to integrated air electrodes and catalytically active carbon for next generation energy storage and conversion devices.