In-Situ Microscopic FTIR Spectroelectrochemistry of Ascorbic Acid in Poly(ethylene glycol)/LiClO_4 Electrolyte Paste and in the Presence of Dispersed Cobalt Hexacyanoferrate Microcrystalline Powder

In-situ microscopic FTIR spectroelectrochemical technique(MFTIRs) was applied to studying the electrochemical oxidation of ascorbic acid(AA) in poly(ethylene glycol)(PEG) paste at a 100 μm diameter Pt disk electrode. Using this technique, the catalytic ability of cobalt hexacyanoferrate(CoHCF) microcrystalline toward AA oxidation was also studied. It was found that the dispersed CoHCF powder in the PEG paste can generate well shaped thin layer cyclic voltammetric waves with the peak height proportional to the scan rate, corresponding to the Fe centered redox reactions. This oxidation step catalyzed the AA oxidation. Also, this pasted CoHCF powder generated well resolved in situ MFTIRs spectra, by which a chemical interaction between CC bond of AA ring and CoHCF lattice was revealed. A corresponding surface docking mechanism for the catalytic reaction has been proposed.

Synthesis, Fluorescence and Electrochemistry of Three New Ruthenium(Ⅱ) Complexes

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Electrochemistry of Hydroquinone Derivatives at Metal and Iodine-modified Metal Electrodes

The difference in the electrochemical behavior of hydroquinone and pyrocatechol at platinum and gold surfaces was analyzed using voltammetry and attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The results show that the hydroquinone derivatives are adsorbed on a gold surface with vertical orientation, which makes the electron transfer between the bulk species and the electrode surface easier than that in the case of flat adsorption of hydroquinone derivatives that occurs at a platinum electrode. The formation of the vertical conformation and the rapid process of electron transfer were also confirmed by quantum chemistry calculations. In addition, the pre-adsorbed iodine on the electrodes played a key role on the adsorbed configuration and electron transfer of redox species.

Facet Engineering of Advanced Electrocatalysts Toward Hydrogen/Oxygen Evolution Reactions

The electrocatalytic water splitting technology can generate highpurity hydrogen without emitting carbon dioxide,which is in favor of relieving environmental pollution and energy crisis and achieving carbon neutrality.Electrocatalysts can effectively reduce the reaction energy barrier and increase the reaction efficiency.Facet engineering is considered as a promising strategy in controlling the ratio of desired crystal planes on the surface.Owing to the anisotropy,crystal planes with different orientations usually feature facet-dependent physical and chemical properties,leading to differences in the adsorption energies of oxygen or hydrogen intermediates,and thus exhibit varied electrocatalytic activity toward hydrogen evolution reaction(HER)and oxygen evolution reaction(OER).In this review,a brief introduction of the basic concepts,fundamental understanding of the reaction mechanisms as well as key evaluating parameters for both HER and OER are provided.The formation mechanisms of the crystal facets are comprehensively overviewed aiming to give scientific theory guides to realize dominant crystal planes.Subsequently,three strategies of selective capping agent,selective etching agent,and coordination modulation to tune crystal planes are comprehensively summarized.Then,we present an overview of significant contributions of facet-engineered catalysts toward HER,OER,and overall water splitting.In particular,we highlight that density functional theory calculations play an indispensable role in unveiling the structure–activity correlation between the crystal plane and catalytic activity.Finally,the remaining challenges in facet-engineered catalysts for HER and OER are provided and future prospects for designing advanced facet-engineered electrocatalysts are discussed.

Building Fe atom–cluster composite sites using a site occupation strategy to boost electrochemical oxygen reduction

The high-temperature pyrolysis process for preparing M–N–C single-atom catalyst usually results in high heterogeneity in product structure concurrently contains multiscale metal phases from single atoms(SAs),atomic clusters to nanoparticles.Therefore,understanding the interactions among these components,especially the synergistic effects between single atomic sites and cluster sites,is crucial for improving the oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)activity of M–N–C catalysts.Accordingly,herein,we constructed a model catalyst composed of both atomically dispersed FeN4 SA sites and adjacent Fe clusters through a site occupation strategy.We found that the Fe clusters can optimize the adsorption strength of oxygen reduction intermediates on FeN4 SA sites by introducing electron-withdrawing–OH ligands and decreasing the d-band center of the Fe center.The as-developed catalyst exhibits encouraging ORR activity with halfwave potentials(E1/2)of 0.831 and 0.905 V in acidic and alkaline media,respectively.Moreover,the catalyst also represents excellent durability exceeding that of Fe–N–C SA catalyst.The practical application of Fe(Cd)–CNx catalyst is further validated by its superior activity and stability in a metalair battery device.Our work exhibits the great potential of synergistic effects between multiphase metal species for improvements of singleatom site catalysts.

Atomic-level coupled RuO_(2)/BaRuO_(3) heterostructure for efficient alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction

The slow water dissociation is the rate-determining step that slows down the reaction rate in alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction(HER).Optimizing the surface electronic structure of the catalyst to lower the energy barrier of water dissociation and regulating the binding strength of adsorption intermediates are crucial strategy for boosting the catalytic performance of HER.In this study,RuO_(2)/BaRuO_(3)(RBRO)heterostructures with abundant oxygen vacancies and lattice distortion were in-situ constructed under a low temperature via the thermal decomposition of gel-precursor.The RBRO heterostructures obtained at 550℃ exhibited the highest HER activity in 1 M KOH,showing an ultra-low overpotential of 16 mV at 10 mA cm^(-2)and a Tafel slope of 33.37 m V dec^(-1).Additionally,the material demonstrated remarkable durability,with only 25 mV of degradation in overpotential after 200 h of stability testing at 10 mA cm^(-2).Density functional theory calculations revealed that the redistribution of charges at the heterojunction interface can optimize the binding energies of H*and OH*and effectively lower the energy barrier of water dissociation.This research offers novel perspectives on surpassing the water dissociation threshold of alkaline HER catalysts by means of a systematic design of heterogeneous interfaces.

Heterostructured Pt-Ni_(3)Mo_(3)N formed via ammonia-containing polyoxometalates for highly efficient electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution in acid medium

Constructing heterostructured nanohybrid is considered as a prominent route to fabricate alternative electrocatalysts to commercial Pt/C for hydrogen evolution reaction(HER).In this work,(NH_(4))_(4)[NiH_(6)Mo_(6)O_(4)]·5H_(2)O polyoxometalates(NiMo_(6))are adopted as the cluster precursors for simple fabrication of heterostructured Pt-Ni_(3)Mo_(3)N nanohybrids supported by carbon black(Pt-Ni_(3)Mo_(3)N/C)without using additional N sources.The improved porosity and enhanced electronic interaction of Pt-Ni_(3)Mo_(3)N/C should be attributed to the integration of Pt with NiMo_(6),which favors the mass transport,promotes the formation of exposed catalytic sites,and benefits the regulation of intrinsic activity.Thus,the as-obtained Pt-Ni_(3)Mo_(3)N/C exhibits impressive and durable HER performance as indicated by the low overpotential of 13.7 mV at the current density of 10 mA cm^(-2) and the stable overpotential during continuous working at 100 mA cm^(-2) for 100 h.This work provides significant insights for the synthesis of new highly active heterostructured electrocatalysts for renewable energy devices.

Molecule aging induced by electron attacking

Here we propose a new concept of"molecule aging":with some special treatment,a molecule could be"aged"by losing some unknown tiny particles or pieces from atoms in the molecule,Such"aging"or loss of unknown tiny particles does not change apparently its molecular structure or chemical composition,but some physicochemical properties could be changed irreversibly.We further confirm such"molecule aging"via a long-term electron attacking to age water(H_(2)O)molecules.The IR spectra show no structural difference between the fresh water and the aged one,while the NMR spectra show that the electron attacking can decrease the size of water clusters.Such facts indicate that the electron attacking indeed can"affect"the structure of water molecule slightly but without damaging to its basic molecule frame.Further exploration reveals that the hydrogen evolution reaction(HER)activity of the aged water molecule is lower than the fresh water on the same Pt/C electrocatalyst.The density functional theory calculations indicate that the shortened O-H bond in H_(2)O indeed can present lower HER activity,so the observed size decrease of water clusters from NMR probably could be attributed to the shortening of O-H bond in water molecules.Such results indicate significantly that the molecule aging can produce materials with new functions for new possible applications.

Atomically dispersed Fe sites on hierarchically porous carbon nanoplates for oxygen reduction reaction

Developing cost-effective,robust and stable non-precious metal catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) is of paramount importance for electrochemical energy conversion devices such as fuel cells and metal-air batteries.Although Fe-N-C single atom catalysts(SACs) have been hailed as the most promising candidate due to the optimal binding strength of ORR intermediates on the Fe-N_(4) sites,they suffer from serious mass transport limitations as microporous templates/substrates,i.e.,zeolitic imidazolate frameworks(ZIFs),are usually employed to host the active sites.Motivated by this challenge,we herein develop a hydrogen-bonded organic framework(HOF)-assisted pyrolysis strategy to construct hierarchical micro/mesoporous carbon nanoplates for the deposition of atomically dispersed Fe-N_(4) sites.Such a design is accomplished by employing HOF nanoplates assembled from 2-aminoterephthalic acid(NH_(2)-BDC) and p-phenylenediamine(PDA) as both soft templates and C,N precursors.Benefitting from the structural merits inherited from HOF templates,the optimized catalyst(denoted as Fe-N-C SAC-950) displays outstanding ORR activity with a high half-wave potential of 0.895 V(vs.reversible hydrogen electrode(RHE)) and a small overpotential of 356 mV at 10 mA cm^(-2) for the oxygen evolution reaction(OER).More excitingly,its application potential is further verified by delivering superb rechargeability and cycling stability with a nearly unfading charge-discharge gap of 0.72 V after 160 h.Molecular dynamics(MD) simulations reveal that micro/mesoporous structure is conducive to the rapid mass transfer of O_(2),thus enhancing the ORR performance.In situ Raman results further indicate that the conversion of O_(2) to~*O_(2)-the rate-determining step(RDS) for Fe-N-C SAC-950.This work will provide a versatile strategy to construct single atom catalysts with desirable catalytic properties.

Coating of Al_2O_3 on layered Li(Mn_(1/3)Ni_(1/3)Co_(1/3))O_2 using CO_2 as green precipitant and their improved electrochemical performance for lithium ion batteries

Li（Mn1/3Ni1/3Co1/3）O2 cathode materials were fabricated by a hydroxide precursor method. A1203 was coated on the surface of the Li（Mn1/3Ni1/3Co1/3）O2 through a simple and effective one-step electrostatic self-assembly method. In the coating process, a NaHCO3- H2CO3 buffer was formed spontaneously when CO2 was introduced into the NaAlO2 solution. Compared with bare Li（Mn1/3Ni1/3Co1/3）O2, the surface-modified samples exhibited better cycling performance, rate capability and rate capability retention. The Al2O3-coated Li（Mn1/3Ni1/3Co1/3）O2 electrodes delivered a discharge capacity of about 115 mAh.g-1 at 2 A.g-1, but only 84 mAh.g-1 for the bare one. The capacity retention of the Al2O3-coated Li（Mn1/3Ni1/3Co1/3）O2 was 90.7% after 50 cycles, about 30% higher than that of the pristine one.

Recent development of methanol electrooxidation catalysts for directmethanol fuel cell

Direct methanol fuel cells （DMFCs） are very promising power source for stationary and portable miniatureelectric appliances due to its high efficiency and low emissions of pollutants. As the key material, cata-lysts for both cathode and anode face several problems which hinder the commercialization of DMFCs.In this review, we mainly focus on anode catalysts of DMFCs. The process and mechanism of methanolelectrooxidation on Pt and Pt-based catalysts in acidic medium have been introduced. The influences ofsize effect and morphology on electrocatalytic activity are discussed though whether there is a size effectin MOP, catalyst is under debate. Besides, the non Pt catalysts are also listed to emphasize though Pt isstill deemed as the indispensable element in anode catalyst of DMFCs in acidic medium. Different cata-lyst systems are compared to illustrate the level of research at present. ome debates need to be verifiedwith experimental evidences.

Correlating Fe source with Fe-N-C active site construction： Guidancefor rational design of high-performance ORR catalyst

Pyrolyzed Fe-Nx/C materials derived from Fe-doped ZIF-8 are recently emerged as promising alternativesto noble metal platinum-based catalysts towards oxygen reduction reaction （ORR） and elucidating the de-pendacne of Fe source on the active site structure and final ORR performance is highly desirbale for fur-ther development of these materials. Here, we designed and synthesized a series of Fe-N-C catalysts usingZIF-8 and various iron salts （Fe（acac）3, FeCI3, Fe（NO3）3） as precusors. We found that the iron precursors,mainly the molecular size, hydrolysis extent, do play a major role in determining the final morphology ofFe, namely forming the Fe-Nx coordination or Fe3C nanoparticles, as well as the site density, therefore,significantly affecting the ORR activity. Among the three iron sources, Fe（acac）3 is most advantageous tothe preferential formation of single-atom Fe-Nx active sites and the derived catalyst demonstrated bestORR performance.

Low-temperature synthesis of nitrogen doped carbon nanotubes as promising catalyst support for methanol oxidation

The electrochemical methanol oxidation reaction(MOR) is of paramount importance for direct methanol fuel cell(DMFC) application, where efficient catalysts are required to facilitate the complicated multiple charge transfer process. The catalyst support not only determines the dispersion status of the catalysts particles, but also exerts great influence on the electronic structure of the catalysts, thereby altering its intrinsic activity. Herein, we demonstrated that nitrogen atoms, assisted by the pre-treatment of carbon matrix with oxidants, can be easily doped into carbon nanotubes at low temperature. The obtained nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes can effectively improve the dispersion of the supported platinum nanoparticles and facilitate the MOR by modifying the electronic structure of platinum atoms,through catalyst-support interaction.

Determination of Nicotine in Tobacco by Capillary Electrophoresis with Electrochemical Detection

A sensitive, simple and low-cost method based on capillary electrophoresis（CE） with electrochemical（EC） detection at a carbon fiber microdisk electrode（CFE） was developed for the determination of nicotine. Effects of de- tection potential, concentration and pH value of the phosphate buffer, and injection time as well as separation voltage were investigated. Under the optimized conditions： a detection potential of 1.20 V, 40 rnmol/L phosphate buffer（pH 2.0）, a sample injection time of 10 s at 10 kV and a separation voltage of 16 kV, the linear range obtained was from 5.0×10^-7 mol/L to 1.0×10^-4 mol/L with a correlation coefficient of 0.9989 and the limit of detection（LOD, S/N=3） obtained was 5.0×10^-8 mol/L. The method was also used to determine the nicotine in cigarettes. Nicotine amount ranged from 0.211 mg/g to 0.583 mg/g in the pipe tobacco of seven brands of cigarette and the amount in one ciga- rette varied from 0.136 mg/cigarette to 0.428 mg/cigarette.

SOLID STATE VOLTAMMETRY OF ELECTROACTIVE SOLUTES IN POLYMER SOLVENTS(PEO)AT MICROELECTRODE

The present paper describes experiments aimed at delineating significant chemical characteristics of electrochemical reactions in polymeric solutions, including how rigid solvent environments affect mass transport rates, and also discusses the possibility that the microelectrode coated with poly(ethylene oxide)(PEO) film can be used as gas sensor.

Hydrogen etching induced hierarchical meso/micro-pore structure with increased active density to boost ORR performance of Fe-N-C catalyst

Rational regulation on pore structure and active site density plays critical roles in enhancing the performance of Fe-N-C catalysts. As the microporous structure of the carbon substrate is generally regarded as the active site hosts, its hostility to electron/mass transfer could lead to the incomplete fulfillment of the catalytic activity. Besides, the formation of inactive metallic Fe particles during the conventional catalyst synthesis could also decrease the active site density and complicate the identification of real active site. Herein, we developed a facial hydrogen etching methodology to yield single site Fe-N-C catalysts featured with micro/mesoporous hierarchical structure. The hydrogen concentration in pyrolysis process was designated to effectively regulate the pore structure and active site density of the resulted catalysts.The optimized sample achieves excellent ORR catalytic performance with an ultralow H2O2 yield(1%)and superb stability over 10,000 cycles. Our finding provides new thoughts for the rational design of hierarchically porous carbon-based materials and highly promising non-precious metal ORR catalysts.

Operando X-ray diffraction analysis of the degradation mechanisms of a spinel LiMn2O4 cathode in different voltage windows

The understanding of reaction mechanisms of electrode materials is of significant importance for the development of advanced batteries.The LiMn2O4 cathode has a voltage plateau around 2.8 V(vs.Li^+/Li),which can provide an additional capacity for Li storage,but it suffers from a severe capacity degradation.In this study,operando X-ray diffraction is carried out to investigate the structural evolutions and degradation mechanisms of LiMn2O4 in different voltage ranges.In the range of 3.0-4.3 V(vs.Li^+/Li),the LiMn2O4 cathode exhibits a low capacity but good cycling stability with cycles up to 100 cycles and the charge/discharge processes are associated with the reversible extraction/insertion of Li^+from/into LixMn2O4(0≤x≤1).In the range of 1.4-4.4 V(vs.Li^+/Li),a capacity higher than 200 mAh/g is achieved,but it rapidly decays during the cycling.The voltage plateau around 2.8 V(vs.Li^+/Li)is related to the transformation of the cubic LiMn2O4 phase to the tetragonal Li2Mn2O4 phase,which leads to the formation of cracks as well as the performance degradation.

Operando HERFD-XANES and surface sensitive Δμ analyses identify the structural evolution of copper(Ⅱ) phthalocyanine for electroreduction of CO_(2)

The quantitative understanding of how atomic-level catalyst structural changes affect the reactivity of the electrochemical CO_(2)reduction reaction is challenging.Due to the complexity of catalytic systems,conventional in situ X-ray spectroscopy plays a limited role in tracing the underlying dynamic structural changes in catalysts active sites.Herein,operando high-energy resolution fluorescence-detected X-ray absorption spectroscopy was used to precisely identify the dynamic structural transformation of well-defined active sites of a representative model copper(Ⅱ)phthalocyanine catalyst which is of guiding significance in studying single-atom catalysis system.Comprehensive X-ray spectroscopy analyses,including surface sensitive△μspectra which isolates the surface changes by subtracting the disturb of bulk base and X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectroscopy simulation,were used to discover that Cu species aggregated with increasing applied potential,which is responsible for the observed evolution of C_(2)H_(4).The approach developed in this work,characterizing the active-site geometry and dynamic structural change,is a novel and powerful technique to elucidate complex catalytic mechanisms and is expected to con tribute to the rational design of highly effective catalysts.

Intercalation of multiply solvated hexafluorophospate anion into graphite electrode from mixtures of methyl acetate,ethyl methyl and ethylene carbonates

Graphite is a universal host material for ion intercalation. Li+-graphite intercalation compounds (GICs) have been successfully utilized as the anode material in commercial lithium-ion batteries.Similarly, anion-graphite intercalation compounds (AGICs) have been coming into their own in dual-ion batteries [1]. It is imperative to deepen an understanding of anion storage mechanisms in graphite electrode.

Electro-oxidation of Ascorbic Acid on PVP-stabilized Graphene Electrode

Polyvinylpyrrolidone-stabilized graphene（PVP-graphene） was synthesized and investigated as a modifier for the determination of ascorbic acid（AA）. With PVP acting as stabilizer and dispersant, the resulting PVP-graphene material could disperse well into water. And the PVP-graphene modified glassy carbon electrode（PVP-graphene-GCE） showed an obvious electrocatalytical activity toward the oxidation of AA in a phosphate buffer solution（PBS, pH=7.0） with an oxidation potential of AA at 0.052 V vs. AglAgCl（sat. KCl）. The calibration curve for APt was linear in a concentration range from 1.0×10^-5 to 5.0×10^-4 mol/L with a correlation coefficient of 0.9998. And the detection limit was found to be 1 μtmol/L. During the oxidation of AA, the π-π interaction of graphene plane with conjugated hexenoic aeid-lactone in AA molecules might play a key role. As a result, an obvious decrease of overpotential was achieved at such a PVP-graphene electrode through a possible adsorption/enrichment process, which will probably trigger potential applications for the electroanalysis of some aromatic and heterocyclic compounds.