Synthesis of ionic liquid intercalated layered double hydroxides of magnesium and aluminum: A greener catalyst of Knoevenagel condensation

Due to their structural merits that arise from their stability and high surface area, the layered double hydroxide (LDH) materials have caused strong attention. These characteristics provided intriguing possibilities with improved efficiency for catalytic applications. In this work, the preparation of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hydroxide ([BMIM]⁺OH⁻) intercalated by a facile approach in a layered double hydroxide (LDH) matrix is reported and its implementation as a greener catalyst is shown. Different physico-chemical techniques such as XRD, FTIR, TGA, and N₂-physisorption, HRTEM, and CO₂ adsorption are implemented to characterize the structure of the fabricated catalysts. The [BMIM]⁺OH⁻/LDH exhibit outstanding catalytic performance in Knoevenagel condensation, resulting from the high LDH surface area and synergistic effects between both the intercalated ionic liquid and LDHs matrix. Knoevenagel’s fabricated catalysts can be exploited to catalyze different condensations and can be reused well. This work therefore generates good opportunities in the field of catalysis for the preparing and implementation of LDH-based catalysts.     

镁铁和镁铝双羟基复合金属氧化物的结构和性能差异

Layered Double Hydroxides MgFe-LDH and MgAl-LDH have been prepared by the method involving separate nucleation and ageing steps. The structure analyses for these two materials show that the values of the parameters both a and c of MgAl-LDH are smaller than that of MgFe-LDH though their structures are similar, and MgAl-LDH with higher crystallinity is more easily formed than MgFe-LDH in the same preparing conditions. The IR analyses manifest that the structures of layer sheets and the orderings of the anions in the interlayer regions of MgAl-LDH are more regular than that of MgFe-LDH. The temperature programmed XRD analyses reveal that the diffraction peak of 003 reflections for MgAl-LDH could be seen after calcining at 300℃, while this peak for MgFe-LDH disappears after calcining at 200℃. Together with the TG-DTA analysis it can be concluded that the thermal stability of MgAl-LDH is obviously higher than that of MgFe-LDH.     

Tuning the Microenvironment in Monolayer MgAl Layered Double Hydroxide for CO2-to-Ethylene Electrocatalysis in Neutral Media

The electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide provides a feasibility to achieve a carbon-neutral energy cycle. However, there are a number of bottleneck issues to be resolved before industrial application, such as the low conversion efficiency, selectivity and reaction rate, etc. Engineering local environment is a critical way to address these challenges. Here, a monolayer MgAl-LDH was proposed to optimize the local environment of Cu for stimulating industrial-current-density CO₂-to-C₂H₄ electroreduction in neutral media. In situ spectroscopic results and theoretical study demonstrated that the Cu electrode modified by MgAl-LDH (MgAl-LDH/Cu) displayed a much higher surface pH value compared to the bare Cu, which could be attributed to the decreased energy barrier for hydrolysis on MgAl-LDH sites with more OH⁻ ions on the surface of the electrode. As a result, MgAl-LDH/Cu achieved a C₂H₄ Faradaic efficiency of 55.1 % at a current density up to 300 mA cm⁻² in 1.0 M KHCO₃ electrolyte.     

WS2/MgAl-LDH复合材料的制备及其光催化性能研究

采用两步水热法制备了WS₂/MgAl-LDH(水滑石)复合材料,通过X-射线衍射仪、傅立叶变换红外光谱仪、场发射扫描电子显微镜、透射电子显微镜和X-射线光电子能谱仪等测试分析,表明在MgAl-LDH层间原位合成了WS₂纳米粒子。将该复合材料作为催化剂来降解150 mg/L,pH值为3的甲基橙溶液,其结果是:在模拟可见光条件下辐照75 min,该甲基橙溶液的降解率超过80%,且循环性能优异。由此表明,WS₂/MgAl-LDH复合材料是一种极具应用潜力的光催化剂。