A NOVEL OPTICALLY TRANSPARENT THIN LAYER ELECTRODE FOR IN SITU IR SPECTROELECTROCHEMISTRY

A novel design of IR OTTLE is shown to have sufficient sensitivity and experi- mental simplicity for obtaining IR spectra of the species generated during electrochemical oxidation-reduction.

A Study of Near-and Super-Critical Fluids Using Diamond Anvil Cell and in-Situ FT-IR Spectroscopy

The phase relation and solution structure of water and NaCl aqueous solution have been observed and examined by using the hydrothermal diamond anvil cell (HDAC) at elevated temperatures and pressures and the in situ FT-IR spectroscopy. The temperature of observations ranges from 25 to 850°C and the pressure up to 10 or 30 kb. At first, we observed the phase transition process from halite+liquid+vapour (H+L+V) to L+H, then to L (or supercritical fluid, SCF), and another path: H+L+V→L+V→L (or SCF) in heating process. By means of the visual microscope, the authors found that in the L+V immiscibility field L+V exhibits an ordered structure, i.e. a large visual cluster of solvent around ions. The liquid phase is manifested by vapour bubbles. When phase transitions are observed, the authors examined their infrared spectra by using the FT-IR microscopy simultaneously. In the case of the phase transition from liquid (L) to liquid + vapor (L+V) immisciblity field of NaCl solutions, a sudden change (strong frequency shift) of infrared spectra of the aqueous solution is observed near the critical temperature of water as the temperature is raised from 25 to 650°C. The frequency of the maximum intensity of OH symmetric and asymmetric vibration varies with respect to temperature. The sharp peak of the OH stretching vibration of the maximum intensity appears in an interval from 300 to 400°C. It is indicated that the hydrogen bonding network is weakened and broken at last near the critical point of water, which causes the aqueous solution to become more associated. Besides, a pressure indicator (a mineral or compound) was introduced to the HDAC.

Studies on the Hydrogenation of Acetonitrile over Fresh Mo_2C/γ-Al_2O_3 Catalyst by In-situ IR Spectroscopy

The adsorption of acetonitrile, the co-adsorption of acetonitrile with CO, and hydrogenation of acetonitrile on fresh Mo2C/γ-Al2O3 catalyst were studied by in situ IR spectroscopy. It was found out that CH3CN exhibited strong interaction with the fresh Mo2C/γ-Al2O3 catalyst and was adsorbed mainly on Moδ+ sites of fresh Mo2C/γ-Al2O3 catalyst. Moreover, CH3CN could affect the shifting of IR spectra for CO adsorption towards a lower wave number. The IR spectroscopic study on acetonitrile hydrogenation showed that CH3CN could be easily hydrogenated in the presence of H2 on the Mo2C/γ-Al2O3 catalyst. Furthermore, it was observed that CH3 CN could be selectively hydrogenated to imines on fresh Mo2C/γ-Al2O3 catalyst. Additionally, the active sites of fresh Mo2C/γ-Al2O3 catalyst might be covered with coke during the hydrogenation reaction of acetonitrile. The treatment of catalyst with hydrogen at 673 K could not completely remove coke deposits on the surface of the Mo2C/γ-Al2O3 catalyst.

Study on the Reaction Behavior of Some Trinuclear Complexes of Transition Metals: [Fe_2M(μ_3-O) (μ-O_2CCH_3)_6(H_2O)_3]·xH_2O by the Method of Probe Reaction of Acetic Acid

The reaction behaviors of the title complexes have been studied in thesystem of dinitrogen gas by means of in situ IR. It has been found that some activefragments created at some stage of the thermal decomposition process of the complexes.enable.the acetic acid both obtained from the ligand of the complexes and introducedfrom outside to convert to acetone by decarboxylation. Their optimum reaction temperatures are of 240~270℃ for [Fe2MnO(O2CCH3),(H2O)3], 290~320 C for [Fe3Q(O2CCH3)6(H2O)3], 300~330℃ for [Fe2CoO(O2CCH3),(H2O)3] and 320~ 350℃for [Fe2NiO(O2CCH3)6(H2O)3], indicating the lowering sequence of the activity of active species. At the same time it has been shown that this activity may come from thejoined contributions of both the coordinating capability of the hetero-metals in the complexes and their structural factors. On the basis of the TGA, DTA and EI-MS data,the composition of the active fragments has been tentatively inferred as [Fe2MnO(O2CCH3)3-2].

Zn‐doping mediated formation of oxygen vacancies in SnO2 with unique electronic structure for efficient and stable photocatalytic toluene degradation

To optimize the electronic structure of photocatalyst,a facile one‐step approach is developed for the simultaneous realization of Zn‐doping and surface oxygen vacancies(SOVs)formation on SnO_(2).The Zn‐doped SnO_(2)with abundant SOVs exhibits efficient and stable performance for photocatalytic degradation of toluene under both low and high relative humidity.Experimental and theoretical calculations results show that the synergistic effects of Zn‐doping and SOVs on SnO_(2)can considerably boost the charge transfer and separation efficiency.Utilizing the in situ DRIFTS and theoretical calculations methods,it is revealed that the benzene ring of toluene is opened at benzoic acid on the SnO_(2)surface and selectively at benzaldehyde on the Zn‐doped SnO_(2)surface.This implies that Zn‐doped SnO_(2)photocatalysts shorten the pathway of toluene degradation,and toxic intermediates can be significantly inhibited.This work could provide a promising and sustainable route for safe and efficient removal of aromatic VOCs with photocatalytic technology.

Photocatalytic decomposition of acrylonitrile with N–F codoped TiO_2/SiO_2 under simulant solar light irradiation

The solid acid catalyst, N-F codoped Ti O2/Si O2 composite oxide was prepared by a sol-gel method using NH4 F as nitrogen and fluorine source. The prepared materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction（XRD）, scanning electron microscopy（SEM）, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy（XPS）, UV-Visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy（UV-Vis）,ammonia adsorption and temperature-programmed desorption（NH3-TPD）, in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy（FT-IR） and N2 physical adsorption isotherm. The photocatalytic activity of the catalyst for acrylonitrile degradation was investigated under simulant solar irradiation. The results showed that strong Lewis and Brnsted acid sites appear on the surface of the sample after N-F doping. Systematic investigation showed that the highest photocatalytic activity for acrylonitrile degradation was obtained for samples calcined at 450°C with molar ratio（NH4F to Ti） of 0.8. The degradation ratio of 71.5% was achieved with the prepared catalyst after 6-min irradiation, demonstrating the effectiveness of photocatalytic degradation of acrylonitrile with N-F codoped Ti O2/Si O2 composite oxide. The photocatalyst is promising for application under solar light irradiation.Moreover, the intermediates generated after irradiation were verified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry（GC-MS） analysis and UV-Vis spectroscopy to be simple organic acids with lower toxicity, and the degradation pathway was also proposed for acrylonitrile degradation with the prepared catalyst.

Spin polarization strategy to deploy proton resource over atomic-level metal sites for highly selective CO_(2) electrolysis

Unlocking of the extremely inert C=O bond during electrochemical CO_(2) reduction demands subtle regulation on a key“resource”,protons,necessary for intermediate conversion but also readily trapped in water splitting,which is still challenging for developing efficient single-atom catalysts limited by their structural simplicity usually incompetent to handle this task.Incorporation of extra functional units should be viable.Herein,a proton deployment strategy is demonstrated via“atomic and nanostructured iron(A/N-Fe)pairs”,comprising atomically dispersed iron active centers spin-polarized by nanostructured iron carbide ferromagnets,to boost the critical protonation steps.The as-designed catalyst displays a broad window(300 mV)for CO selectivity>90%(98%maximum),even outperforming numerous cutting-edge M–N–C systems.The well-placed control of proton dynamics by A/N-Fe can promote*COOH/*CO formation and simultaneously suppress H2 evolution,benefiting from the magnetic-proximity-induced exchange splitting(spin polarization)that properly adjusts energy levels of the Fe sites’d-shells,and further those of the adsorbed intermediates’antibonding molecular orbitals.