Miniaturized electrochemical sensors and their point-of-care applications

Most of the current analytical methods depend largely on laboratory-based analytical techniques that require expensive and bullky equipment,potentially incur costly testing,and involve lengthy detection processes.With increasing requirements for point-of-care testing(POCT),more attention has been paid to miniaturized analytical devices.Miniaturized electrochemical(MEC)sensors,including different material-based MEC sensors(such as DNA-,paper-,and screen electrode-based),have been in strong demand in analytical science due to their easy operation,portability,high sensitivity,as well as their short analysis time.They have been applied for the detection of trace amounts of target through measuring changes in electrochemical signal,such as current,voltage,potential,or impedance,due to the oxidation/reduction of chemical/biological molecules with the help of electrodes and electrochemical units.MEC sensors present great potential for the detection of targets including small organic molecules,metal ions,and biomolecules.In recent years,MEC sensors have been broadly applied to POCT in various fields,including health care,food safety,and environmental monitoring,owing to the excellent advantages of electrochemical(EC)technologies.This review summarized the state-of-the-art advancements on various types of MEC sensors and their applications in POCT.Furthermore,the future perspectives,opportunities,and challenges in this field are also discussed.     

Machine Learning towards Screening Solid-state Lithium Ion Conductors

Machine learning is an emerging method to discover new materials with specific characteristics.An unsupervised machine learning research is highlighted to discover new potential lithium ionic conductors by screening and clustering lithium compounds,providing inspirations for the development of solid-state electrolytes and practical batteries.     

Surface defect-rich ceria quantum dots anchored on sulfur-doped carbon nitride nanotubes with enhanced charge separation for solar hydrogen production

Designing defect-engineered semiconductor heterojunctions can effectively promote the charge carrier separation.Herein,novel ceria(CeO2) quantum dots(QDs) decorated sulfur-doped carbon nitride nanotubes(SCN NTs) were synthesized via a thermal polycondensation coupled in situ depositionprecipitation method without use of template or surfactant.The structure and morphology studies indicate that ultrafine CeO2 QDs are well distributed inside and outside of SCN NTs offering highly dispersed active sites and a large contact interface between two components.This leads to the promoted formation of rich Ce³⁺ ion and oxygen vacancies as confirmed by XPS.The photocatalytic performance can be facilely modulated by the content of CeO2 QDs introduced in SCN matrix while bare CeO2 does not show activity of hydrogen production.The optimal catalyst with 10% of CeO2 loading yields a hydrogen evolution rate of 2923.8 μmol h-1 g-1 under visible light,remarkably higher than that of bare SCN and their physical mixtures.Further studies reveal that the abundant surface defects and the created 0 D/1 D junctions play a critical role in improving the separation and transfer of charge carriers,leading to superior solar hydrogen production and good stability.     

Superfast and solvent-free core-shell assembly of sulfur/carbon active particles by hail-inspired nanostorm technology for high-energy-density Li-S batteries

The demand on low-carbon emission fabrication technologies for energy storage materials is increasing dramatically with the global interest on carbon neutrality.As a promising active material for metal-sulfur batteries,sulfur is of great interest due to its high-energy-density and abundance.However,there is a lack of industry-friendly and low-carbon fabrication strategies for high-performance sulfur-based active particles,which,however,is in critical need by their practical success.Herein,based on a hail-inspired sulfur nano-storm(HSN)technology developed in our lab,we report an energy-saving,solvent-free strategy for producing core-shell sulfur/carbon electrode particles(CNT@AC-S)in minutes.The fabrication of the CNT@AC-S electrode particles only involves low-cost sulfur blocks,commercial carbon nanotubes(CNT)and activated carbon(AC)micro-particles with high specific surface area.Based on the above core-shell CNT@AC-S particles,sulfur cathode with a high sulfur-loading of 9.2 mg cm^-2 delivers a stable area capacity of 6.6 mAh cm^-2 over 100 cycles.Furthermore,even for sulfur cathode with a super-high sulfur content(72 wt%over the whole electrode),it still delivers a high area capacity of 9 mAh cm^-2 over50 cycles in a quasi-lean electrolyte condition.In a nutshell,this study brings a green and industryfriendly fabrication strategy for cost-effective production of rationally designed S-rich electrode particles.     

Unraveling the stabilization mechanism of solid electrolyte interface on ZnSe by rGO in sodium ion battery

Transition metal selenides have been widely studied as anode materials of sodium ion batteries(SIBs),however,the investigation of solid-electrolyte-interface(SEI)on these materials,which is critical to the electrochemical performance of SIBs,remains at its infancy.Here in this paper,ZnSe@C nanoparticles were prepared from ZIF-8 and the SEI layers on these electrodes with and without reduced graphene oxide(rGO)layers were examined in details by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies at varied charged/discharged states.It is observed that fast and complicated electrolyte decomposition reactions on ZnSe@C leads to quite thick SEI film and intercalation of solvated sodium ions through such thick SEI film results in slow ion diffusion kinetics and unstable electrode structure.However,the presence of rGO could efficiently suppress the decomposition of electrolyte,thus thin and stable SEI film was formed.ZnSe@C electrodes wrapped by rGO demonstrates enhanced interfacial charge transfer kinetics and high electrochemical performance,a capacity retention of 96.4%,after 1000 cycles at 5 A/g.This study might offer a simple avenue for the designing high performance anode materials through manipulation of SEI film.     

常温常湿条件下Au/MeO~x催化剂上CO氧化性能

利用共沉淀法制备了Au/MeO~x催化剂(Me=Al,Co,Cr,Cu,Fe,Mn,Ni,Zn)。在常温常湿条件下,考察了不同氧化物负载的金基催化剂的CO氧化性能。结果表明,氧化物种类对催化剂的活性和稳定性均有较大的影响。Cu,Mn,Cr等氧化物负载的金基催化剂的活性较差,而Zn,Fe,Co,Ni,Al等金属氧化物负载的金基催化剂可将CO完全氧化,又具有一定的稳定性,在相同反应条件下,CO完全转化时的稳定性顺序为Au/ZnO>Au/α-Fe~2O~3>Au/Co~3O~4>Au/γ-Al~2O~3≈Au/NiO。还发现水对Au/MnO~x催化剂的活性和稳定性有负作用,而对180℃焙烧制备的Au/ZnO-180催化剂的活性和稳定性均有明显的湿度增强作用。     

CXN天然沸石的研究2: 吸附性质

采用N~2,NH~3,CO~2,乙烯,丙烯,水,甲醇,乙醇,丙醇等作为吸附剂,研究了由我国CXN天然沸石改性制得的H-STI和Na-STI沸石的吸附性质,H-STI和Na-STI沸石的BET表面积及微孔孔体积约为420m^2/g和0.20m^3/g。根据NH~3和CO~2在H-STI沸石上的吸附等温线计算得到它们的吸附热分别为44.8和26.5kJ/mol。乙烯,丙烯,甲醇,乙醇,丙醇等在Na-STI沸石上的吸附等温线表明该沸石对有机分子的吸附具有链长选择性。在低分压下水相对于甲醇的吸附量表明沸石具有一定的疏水性质。     

Regulation of carbon distribution to construct high-sulfur-content cathode in lithium-sulfur batteries

Lithium-sulfur(Li-S)battery is regarded as one of the most promising next-generation energy storage systems due to the ultra-high theoretical energy density of 2600 Wh kg^-1.To address the insulation nature of sulfur,nanocarbon composition is essential to afford acceptable cycling capacity but inevitably sacrifices the actual energy density under working conditions.Therefore,rational structural design of the carbon/sulfur composite cathode is of great significance to realize satisfactory electrochemical performances with limited carbon content.Herein,the cathode carbon distribution is rationally regulated to construct high-sulfur-content and high-performance Li-S batteries.Concretely,a double-layer carbon(DLC)cathode is prepared by fabricating a surface carbon layer on the carbon/sulfur composite.The surface carbon layer not only provides more electrochemically active surfaces,but also blocks the polysulfide shuttle.Consequently,the DLC configuration with an increased sulfur content by nearly 10 wt%renders an initial areal capacity of 3.40 mAh cm^-2 and capacity retention of 83.8%during 50 cycles,which is about two times than that of the low-sulfur-content cathode.The strategy of carbon distribution regulation affords an effective pathway to construct advanced high-sulfur-content cathodes for practical high-energy-density Li-S batteries.     

Boost oxygen reduction reaction performance by tuning the active sites in Fe-N-P-C catalysts

Cost-effective atomically dispersed Fe-N-P-C complex catalysts are promising to catalyze the oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)and replace Pt catalysts in fuel cells and metal-air batteries.However,it remains a challenge to increase the number of atomically dispersed active sites on these catalysts.Here we report a highly efficient impregnation-pyrolysis method to prepare effective ORR electrocatalysts with large amount of atomically dispersed Fe active sites from biomass.Two types of active catalyst centers were identified,namely atomically dispersed Fe sites and Fe_xP particles.The ORR rate of the atomically dispersed Fe sites is three orders of magnitude higher than it of Fe_xP particles.A linear correlation between the amount of the atomically dispersed Fe and the ORR activity was obtained,revealing the major contribution of the atomically dispersed Fe to the ORR activity.The number of atomically dispersed Fe increases as the Fe loading increased and reaching the maximum at 1.86 wt%Fe,resulting in the maximum ORR rate.Optimized Fe-N-P-C complex catalyst was used as the cathode catalyst in a homemade Zn-air battery and good performance of an energy density of 771 Wh kgZn^-1,a power density of 92.9 m W cm^-2 at 137 m A cm^-2 and an excellent durability were exhibited.     

Confined Ni-In intermetallic alloy nanocatalyst with excellent coking resistance for methane dry reforming

Carbon dioxide and methane are two main greenhouse gases which are contributed to serious global warming.Fortunately,dry reforming of methane(DRM),a very important reaction developed decades ago,can convert these two major greenhouse gases into value-added syngas or hydrogen.The main problem retarding its industrialization is the seriously coking formation upon the nickel-based catalysts.Herein,a series of confined indium-nickel(In-Ni)intermetallic alloy nanocatalysts(In_xNi@SiO₂)have been prepared and displayed superior coking resistance for DRM reaction.The sample containing 0.5 wt.%of In loading(In_0.5Ni@SiO₂)shows the best balance of carbon deposition resistance and DRM reactivity even after 430 h long term stability test.The boosted carbon resistance can be ascribed to the confinement of core–shell structure and to the transfer of electrons from Indium to Nickel in In-Ni intermetallic alloys due to the smaller electronegativity of In.Both the silica shell and the increase of electron cloud density on metallic Ni can weaken the ability of Ni to activate C–H bond and decrease the deep cracking process of methane.The reaction over the confined InNi intermetallic alloy nanocatalyst was conformed to the Langmuir-Hinshelwood(L-H)mechanism revealed by in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy(in-situ DRIFTS).This work provides a guidance to design high performance coking resistance catalysts for methane dry reforming to efficiently utilize these two main greenhouse gases.     

铑膦配合物的加压原位核磁氢谱研究

在近似工业反应条件下(H2/CO=1:1, 1.0MPa, 70℃), 应用加温加压原位核磁共振技术, 考察了铑膦配合物催化剂HRh(CO)(PPh3)3-PPh3体系的烯烃醛化反应。结果表明,在烯烃醛化反应条件下, 反应液中存在羰基氢化铑中间配合物, 并在^1H NMR获得了该配合物中Rh-H键的质子讯号。     

Room-temperature regioselective C-H/olefin coupling of aromatic ketones using an activated ruthenium catalyst with a carbonyl ligand and structural elucidation of key intermediates

Mechanistic studies of the ruthenium-catalyzed reaction of aromatic ketones with olefins are presented. Treatment of the original catalyst, RuH(2)(CO)(PPh(3))(3), with trimethylvinylsilane at 90 °C for 1-1.5 h afforded an activated ruthenium catalyst, Ru(o-C(6)H(4)PPh(2))(H)(CO)(PPh(3))(2), as a mixture of four geometric isomers. The activated complex showed high catalytic activity for C-H/olefin coupling, and the reaction of 2'-methylacetophenone with trimethylvinylsilane at room temperature for 48 h gave the corresponding ortho-alkylation product in 99% isolated yield. The activated catalyst was thermally robust and showed excellent catalytic activity under refluxing toluene conditions. (1)H and (31)P NMR studies of the C-H/olefin coupling at room temperature suggested that an ortho-ruthenated complex, P,P'-cis-C,H-cis-Ru(2'-(6'-MeC(6)H(4)C(O)Me))(H)(CO)(PPh(3))(2), participated in the reaction as a key intermediate. Isotope labeling studies using acetophenone-d(5) indicated that the rate-limiting step was the C-C bond formation, not the C-H bond cleavage, and that each step prior to the reductive elimination was reversible. The rate of C-H/olefin coupling was found to exhibit pseudo first-order kinetics and to show first-order dependence on the ruthenium complex concentration.     

Mechanism of protonation of [Pt(3)(mu-PBu(t)(2))3(H)(CO)2], yielding the hydride-bridged [Pt(3)(mu-PBu(t)(2))2(mu-H)(PBu(t)(2)H)(CO)2]OTf (Tf=CF(3)SO(2)), and the spectroscopic and theoretical characterization of a kinetic intermediate

The reaction of the Pt(I)Pt(I)Pt(II) triangulo cluster Pt(3)(micro-PBu(t)()(2))(3)(H)(CO)(2) (1) with TfOH (Tf = CF(3)SO(2)) affords the hydride-bridged cationic derivative [Pt(3)(mu-PBu(t)()(2))(2)(mu-H)(PBu(t)()(2)H)(CO)(2)]OTf (2). With TfOD the reaction gives selectively [Pt(3)(mu-PBu(t)(2))(2)(mu-D)(PBu(t)(2)H)(CO)(2)]OTf (2-D(1)), implying that the proton is transferred to a metal center while a P-H bond is formed by the reductive coupling of one of the bridging phosphides and the terminal hydride ligand of the reagent. The reaction proceeds through the formation of a thermally unstable kinetic intermediate which was characterized at low temperatures, and was suggested to be the CO-hydrogen-bonded (or protonated) [Pt(3)(mu-PBu(t)(2))(3)(H)(CO)(2)].HOTf (3). An ab initio theoretical study predicts a hydrogen-bonded complex or a proton-transfer tight ion pair as a possible candidate for the structure of the kinetic intermediate.     

Synthesis, crystal structure and hydroformylation activity of triphenylphosphite modified cobalt catalysts

The dinuclear complex [Co(2)(CO)(6)[P(OPh)3]2] (2) has been synthesised and was fully characterised. The solid state structure revealed a trans diaxial geometry, no bridging carbonyls, and Co-Co and Co-P bond lengths of 2.6722(4) and 2.1224(4) Angstrom, respectively. Catalysed hydroformylation of 1-pentene with 2 was attempted at temperatures in the range 120 to 210 degrees C and pressures between 34 and 80 bar. High pressure spectroscopy (HP-IR and HP-NMR) was used to detect hydride intermediates. High pressure infrared (HP-IR) studies revealed the formation of [HCo(CO)(3)P(OPh)3] (4) at ca. 110 degrees C, but at higher temperatures absorption bands corresponding to [HCo(CO)(4)]() were observed. The hydride intermediate 4 has also been synthesised and characterised. Upon increased ligand concentration, HP-IR studies showed the formation of new carbonyl absorption bands due to a higher substituted cobalt carbonyl complex-[HCo(CO)(2)[P(OPh)3]2] (5), which is believed to be catalytically less active. Complex 5 has been synthesised independently and was fully characterised. A low temperature crystal structural study of 5 revealed a trigonal bipyramidal structure with a trans H-Co-CO arrangement and two equatorial phosphite ligands, the Co-P bond lengths being 2.1093(8) and 2.1076(8)[Angstrom], respectively.     

聚钛氨烷-铑络合物催化环己烯的醛化反应

用聚钛氨烷-铑络合物催化环己烯的醛化,以很高的收率得到了环己基甲醛。     

两相催化体系中辛烯的氢甲酰化反应研究

考察了反应温度、膦／铑化、表面活性剂种类及浓度、CO／H2压力比等因素对水溶性铑－膦配合物RhCI(CO)(TPPTS)2催化剂催化1－辛烯、2－辛烯氢甲酰化反应活性的影响,并选择出了优化的反应条件。研究结果表明,在该体系中表面活性剂的结果是影响RhCI(CO)(TPPTS)2催化2－辛烯转化率和选择性的重要原因,并对在两相体系2－辛烯氢甲酰化反应中表面活性剂十四烷基二甲基苄基氯化铵（BDAC）明显优于十六烷基三甲基溴化铵（CTAB）的原因进行了探讨。     

Kinetics and mechanisms of homogeneous catalytic reactions: Part 6. Hydroformylation of 1-hexene by use of Rh(acac)(CO)2/dppe [dppe = 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane] as the precatalyst

A kinetic study of the homogeneous hydroformylation of 1-hexene to the corresponding aldehydes (heptanal and 2-methyl-hexanal) was carried out using a rhodium catalyst formed by addition of 1 equiv. of 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane (dppe) to Rh(acac)(CO)₂ under mild reaction conditions (80 °C, 1–7 atm H₂ and 1–7 atm CO) in toluene; in all cases linear to branched ratios were close to 2. The reaction rate is first-order in dissolved hydrogen concentration at pressures below 3 atm, but independent of this parameter at higher pressures. In both regimes (low and high H₂ pressure), the initial rate was first-order with respect to the concentration of Rh and fractional order with respect to 1-hexene concentration. Increasing CO pressure had a positive effect on the rate up to a threshold value above which inhibition of the reaction was observed; the range of positive order on CO concentration is smaller when the total pressure is increased. The kinetic data and related coordination chemistry are consistent with a mechanism involving RhH(CO)(dppe) as the active species initiating the cycle, hydrogenolysis of the acyl intermediate as the rate-determining step of the catalytic cycle at low hydrogen pressure, and migratory insertion of the olefin into the metal-hydride bond as rate limiting at high hydrogen pressure. This catalytic cycle is similar to the one commonly accepted for RhH(CO)(PPh₃)₃ but different from previous proposals for Rh-diphosphine catalysts.     

Detection of intermediates in cobalt-catalyzed hydroformylation using para-hydrogen-induced polarization

para-Hydrogen-induced polarization methods are shown to enable the in situ detection of linear and branched monophosphine-containing intermediates during hydroformylation when Co(eta3-C3H5)(CO)2(PCy3) is the catalyst precursor. The NMR signal characteristics of the alkyl arms of these species provide direct evidence for the rapid interconversion of linear and branched cobalt alkyls prior to the CO insertion step. The observation of additional para-hydrogen-enhanced signals for the corresponding linear and branched aldehydes enables the reactions selectivity to be rapidly monitored as a function of H2 and CO pressure or reaction temperature.     

1-丁烯氢甲酰化反应的宏观动力学研究

采用三苯基膦羰基氢化铑作为催化剂,进行1-丁烯氢甲酰化合成戊醛反应,主要考察温度、铑浓度、配体浓度、丁烯浓度、合成气中H2和CO分压等因素对反应速率的影响.动力学研究表明温度、Rh浓度、丁烯浓度和H2分压的增加均可提高反应速度,CO分压和配体量的增加使反应速度降低.给出了RhH(CO)(PPh3)3催化1-丁烯氢甲酰化的反应动力学方程,并采用非线性最小二乘法对模型进行参数估值,计算值与实验值具有较好的一致性.     

Insertion reactions of hydridonitrosyltetrakis(trimethylphosphine) tungsten(0)

[W(H)(NO)(PMe3)4] (1) was prepared by the reaction of [W(Cl)(NO)(PMe3)4] with NaBH4 in the presence of PMe3. The insertion of acetophenone, benzophenone and acetone into the W-H bond of 1 afforded the corresponding alkoxide complexes [W(NO)(PMe3)4(OCHR1R2)](R1 = R2 = Me (2); R1 = Me, R2 = Ph (3); R1 = R2 = Ph (4)), which were however thermally unstable. Insertion of CO2 into the W-H bond of yields the formato-O complex trans-W(NO)(OCHO)(PMe3)4 (5). Reaction of trans-W(NO)(H)(PMe3)4 with CO led to the formation of mer-W(CO)(NO)(H)(PMe3)3 (6) and not the formyl complex W(NO)(CHO)(PMe3)4. Insertion of Fe(CO)(5), Re2(CO)10 and Mn2(CO)10 into trans-W(NO)(H)(PMe3)4 resulted in the formation of trans-W(NO)(PMe3)4(mu-OCH)Fe(CO)4 (7), trans-W(NO)(PMe3)4(mu-OCH)Re2(CO)9 (8) and trans-W(NO)(PMe3)4(mu-OCH)Mn2(CO)9 (9). For Re2(CO)10, an equilibrium was established and the thermodynamic data of the equilibrium reaction have been determined by a variable-temperature NMR experiments (K(298K)= 104 L mol(-1), DeltaH=-37 kJ mol(-1), DeltaS =-86 J K(-1) mol(-1)). Both compounds 7 and 8 were separated in analytically pure form. Complex 9 decomposed slowly into some yet unidentified compounds at room temperature. Insertion of imines into the W-H bond of 1 was also additionally studied. For the reactions of the imines PhCH=NPh, Ph(Me)C=NPh, C6H5CH=NCH2C6H5, and (C6H5)2C=NH with only decomposition products were observed. However, the insertion of C10H7N=CHC6H5 into the W-H bond of led to loss of one PMe3 ligand and at the same time a strong agostic interaction (C17-H...W), which was followed by an oxidative addition of the C-H bond to the tungsten center giving the complex [W(NO)(H)(PMe3)3(C10H6NCH2Ph)] (10). The structures of compounds 1, 4, 7, 8 and 10 were studied by single-crystal X-ray diffraction.