Redox Properties of CeO2 at Low Temperature: The Direct Synthesis of Imines from Alcohol and Amine

We disclosed the redox properties of CeO₂ in organic reactions at low temperature of 303 K. CeO₂ works as the most effective heterogeneous catalyst for imine formation from benzyl alcohol and aniline at 303 K among various metal oxides and showed more than 38‐fold higher activity than other simple metal oxides. CeO₂ is applicable to the reaction of various alcohols and amines and gives high yields (80–98 %) and high selectivities (89–>99 %). Kinetic measurements, MS, and FTIR analyses demonstrated that the high activity of CeO₂ is a result of reactive oxygen species at the redox sites on CeO₂. This discovery can help to create a new field in metal oxide catalysis.     

“嵌入模型”在γ-Al2O3负载单组分和双组分金属氧化物催化剂中的应用

探讨负载型金属氧化物催化剂的表面组分与载体之间的相互作用, 有助于理解相关催化剂的催化作用本质. 近年来, 我们对单组分CuO以及双组分CuO-Mn₂O₃, CuO-CoO等金属氧化物在γ-Al₂O₃载体表面的分散行为和存在状态, 及其物理化学性质和催化性能(CO+O₂和NO+CO模型反应)进行了研究. 结果表明, 这些金属氧化物在γ-Al₂O₃载体表面的分散行为和所得负载型催化剂样品的一些物理化学性质及其催化性能均可参照“嵌入模型”来解释. 在此基础上, 我们讨论了这些样品的“组成-结构-性质”间的关系, 并针对表面负载双组分金属氧化物样品提出了表面协同氧空位参与的NO+CO反应机理.     

Living cationic polymerization of isobutyl vinyl ether using a variety of metal oxides as heterogeneous catalysts: Robust,reusable, and environmentally benign initiating systems

Cationic polymerization of isobutyl vinyl ether (IBVE) was examined using a variety of metal oxides in conjunction with IBVE–HCl adduct as a cationogen in toluene at 0 °C. Iron oxides (α‐Fe₂O₃, γ‐Fe₂O₃, and Fe₃O₄) induced living polymerization in the presence of an added base, ethyl acetate or 1,4‐dioxane, to give polymers with very narrow molecular weight distributions (MWDs). Conversely, with other metal oxides such as Ga₂O₃, In₂O₃, ZnO, Co₃O₄, and Bi₂O₃, polymers with bimodal MWDs, including long‐lived species along with uncontrolled higher molecular weight portions, were produced in the presence of an added base. A small amount of nBu₄NCl or 2,6‐di‐tert‐butylpyridine (DTBP) suppressed the uncontrolled portion to induce controlled reactions with Ga₂O₃, In₂O₃, and ZnO. The roles of these reagents are discussed in terms of the nature of the active sites of the catalyst surface and the polymerization mechanisms. In addition, the reusability of the catalyst, the effect of stirring before and during polymerization, and the estimation of the number of active sites are also described. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 916–926, 2010     

Promotion effect of metal oxides on C-O bond dissociation in CO hydrogenation over Rh/SiO2 Catalyst — possible role of partially reduced state cations

In CO hydrogenation over Rh/SiO₂ catalysts, the effect of additive metal oxides on C-O bond dissociation was studied by using pulse surface reaction rate analysis (PSRA). The addition of oxides of Al, Ti, Cr, V, and Mn resulted in an increase in the rate constant for the dissociation according to this sequence, while the oxides of Cu, Zn, and Ag added decreased the rate constant to almost the same extent. In contrast to these metal oxides, MoO₃ and WO₃ did not change the dissociation activity. CO adsorption measurement indicated that all of the added metal oxides covered a considerable portion of the Rh metal surface, although the efficiency of covering was different from one metal oxide to another. Covering the Rh metal surface with an added metal oxide should decrease the rate constant of C-O bond dissociation, because ensemble sites, consisting of a group of surface Rh atoms and considered necessary for the dissociation, were destroyed. The suppression effect resulted from the destruction of the ensemble sites by adding the oxides of Cu, Zn, and Ag. For other metal oxides, temperature-programmed reduction (TPR) or O₂ uptake measurement revealed that the added oxides, especially those existing on the Rh metal surface, were in a partially reduced state under reaction conditions. Owing to its high affinity for an oxygen atom, the cation in a partially reduced state participated in the reaction in such a way that the oxygen end of adsorbed CO species was bound to the cation so as to dissociate the C-O bond, which resulted in promotion of the dissociation. The observed promotion was explained in terms of the enhancement owing to the high affinity sufficient to overcome the suppression caused by destroying ensemble sites. Lack of the promotion effect of MoO₃ and WO₃ might result from a balance between promotion due to the high affinity of the partially reduced Mo or W and suppression caused by destroying ensemble sites. Excellent correlation was observed between the intrinsic activity increase, from which the suppression effect was excluded, and the heat of formation of metal oxide including MoO₃ and WO₃. Since the heat of formation of metal oxide is considered to be a measure of the affinity, this correlation supports the idea that the high affinity of additive cations for an oxygen atom is of primary importance in the promotion of C-O bond dissociation in CO hydrogenation.     

Fe3O4@SiO2/Schiff base complex of metal ions as an efficient and recyclable nanocatalyst for the green synthesis of quinoxaline derivatives

Fe₃O₄@SiO₂/Schiff base complex of metal ions catalyzed the reaction between phenylene-1,2-diamines and 1,2-diketones to produce quinoxalines in aqueous media at room temperature. This eco-friendly method provides several advantages such as mild reaction conditions, good to excellent yields, simple work-up, and nanocatalyst stability. Also, nanocatalyst can be simply recovered by a magnetic field and reused for at least five successive reactions.     

Photoredox Catalysis Using Heterogenized Iridium Complexes**

Heterogenized photoredox catalysts provide a path for sustainable chemical synthesis using highly tunable, reusable constructs. Here, heterogenized iridium complexes as photoredox catalysts were assembled via covalent attachment to metal oxide surfaces (ITO, ZrO₂, Al₂O₃) in thin film or nanopowder constructs. The goal was to understand which materials provided the most promising constructs for catalysis. To do this, reductive dehalogenation of bromoacetophenone to acetophenone was studied as a test reaction for system optimization. All catalyst constructs produced acetophenone with high conversions and yields with the fastest reactions complete in fifteen minutes using Al₂O₃ supports. The nanopowder catalysts resulted in faster and more efficient catalysis, while the thin film catalysts were more robust and easily reused. Importantly, the thin film constructs show promise for future photoelectrochemical and electrochemical photoredox setups. Finally, all catalysts were reusable 2–3 times, performing at least 1000 turnovers (Al₂O₃), demonstrating that heterogenized catalysts are a sustainable catalyst alternative.     

Water-Tolerant Superbase Polyoxometalate [H2(Nb6O19)]6− for Homogeneous Catalysis

Here, doubly protonated Lindqvist-type niobium oxide cluster [H₂(Nb₆O₁₉)]^6–, fabricated by microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis, exhibited superbase catalysis for Knoevenagel and crossed aldol condensation reactions accompanied by activating C−H bond with pK_a >26 and proton abstraction from a base indicator with pK_a=26.5. Surprisingly, [H₂(Nb₆O₁₉)]⁶⁻ exhibited water-tolerant superbase properties for Knoevenagel and crossed aldol condensation reactions in the presence of water, although it is well known that the strong basicity of metal oxides and organic superbase is typically lost by the adsorption of water. Density functional theory calculation revealed that the basic surface oxygens that share the corner of NbO₆ units in [H₂(Nb₆O₁₉)]⁸⁻ maintained the negative charges even after proton adsorption. This proton capacity and the presence of un-protonated basic sites led to the water tolerance of the superbase catalysis.     

2020 Roadmap on two-dimensional nanomaterials for environmental catalysis

Environmental catalysis has drawn a great deal of attention due to its clean ways to produce useful chemicals or carry out some chemical processes. Photocatalysis and electrocatalysis play important roles in these fields. They can decompose and remove organic pollutants from the aqueous environment, and prepare some fine chemicals. Moreover, they also can carry out some important reactions, such as O₂ reduction reaction (ORR), O₂ evolution reaction (OER), H₂ evolution reaction (HER), CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR), and N₂ fixation (NRR). For catalytic reactions, it is the key to develop high-performance catalysts to meet the demand for targeted reactions. In recent years, two-dimensional (2D) materials have attracted great interest in environmental catalysis due to their unique layered structures, which offer us to make use of their electronic and structural characteristics. Great progress has been made so far, including graphene, black phosphorus, oxides, layered double hydroxides (LDHs), chalcogenides, bismuth-based layered compounds, MXenes, metal organic frameworks (MOFs), covalent organic frameworks (COFs), and others. This content drives us to invite many famous groups in these fields to write the roadmap on two-dimensional nanomaterials for environmental catalysis. We hope that this roadmap can give the useful guidance to researchers in future researches, and provide the research directions.     

Characterization of the active phase of NiMo/Al2O3 hydrodesulfurization catalysts

The active phase of the NiMo/Al₂O₃ catalyst for hydrodesulfurization reactions has been investigated in this work. Special attention has been focused on the effect of the order of metal impregnation on the formation of the active phase in the reaction. The Mo and Ni oxides and their sulfides on the alumina were investigated by XPS and DRS analyses. The Ni-Mo oxides or precursor of the active phase which are chemically bonded between Mo and Ni were also confirmed from the binding energy shifts of the XPS peaks. The amount of Ni-Mo oxides was determined after the formation of metal oxides during calcination. The Ni-Mo sulfide (active phase) was then induced through sulfidation. It was important that Mo should be located at the tetrahedral sites on the alumina with a high Mo dispersion. These results indicated that there are two important factors in preparing highly efficient Ni-Mo catalysts; one is that Mo should be located at the tetrahedral coordination on Al₂O₃ in high dispersion (Mo/Al₂O₃) and the other is that the Ni species should be supported on MoAl₂O₄ to form Ni-Mo oxides which change into the Ni-Mo sulfide active sites by sulfidation.     

Study on carbon dioxide reduction with water over metal oxide photocatalysts

Various metal oxides with 0.1 wt% Ag loaded as a cocatalyst were prepared by an impregnation method and examined their photocatalytic activity for CO₂ reduction with water. Among all the prepared Ag-loaded metal oxides, Ga₂O₃, ZrO₂, Y₂O₃, MgO, and La₂O₃ showed activities for CO and H₂ productions under ultraviolet light irradiation. Thus, metal oxides involving metal cations with closed shell electronic structures such as d⁰, d¹⁰, and s⁰ had the potential for CO₂ reduction with water. In situ Fourier transform infrared measurement revealed that the photocatalytic activity and selectivity for CO production are controlled by the amount and chemical states of CO₂ adsorbed on the catalyst surface and by the surface basicity, as summarized as follows: Ag/ZrO₂ enhanced H₂ production rather than CO production due to very little CO₂ adsorption. Ag/Ga₂O₃ exhibited the highest activity for CO production, because adsorbed monodentate bicarbonate was effectively converted to bidentate formate being the reaction intermediates for CO production owing to its weak surface basicity. Ag/La₂O₃, Ag/Y₂O₃, and Ag/MgO having both weak and strong basic sites adsorbed larger amount of carbonate species including their ions and suppressed H₂ production. However, the adsorbed carbonate species were hardly converted to the bidentate formate.     

Surface and Catalytic Properties of TiO2–ZrO2 Mixed Oxides

This paper reviews acid–base bifunctional catalysis and surface properties (morphology, composition, specific area, acidity/basicity, site density) on TiO₂–ZrO₂ (abbreviated as TZ) mixed oxides. The phase change from crystalline single oxides (TiO₂ and ZrO₂) to amorphous TZ mixed oxide results in decreasing grain size and site density, increasing surface area, acid/base amount and strength, and better activity/selectivity. Different acid–base bifunctional mechanisms (concerted, go-together, stepwise) were proposed to interpret the reaction behavior of various reactions (esterification, dehydration, dehydrogenation, isomerization, dehydrocyclization) over the acid–base bifunctional TZ catalysts.     

Morphology-dependent nanocatalysis on metal oxides

The design and fabrication of solid nanomaterials are the key issues in heterogeneous catalysis to achieve desired performance.Traditionally,the main theme is to reduce the size of the catalyst particles as small as possible for maximizing the number of active sites.In recent years,the rapid advancement in materials science has enabled us to fabricate catalyst particles with tunable morphology.Consequently,both size modulation and morphology control of the catalyst particles can be achieved independently or synergistically to optimize their catalytic properties.In particular,morphology control of solid catalyst particles at the nanometer level can selectively expose the reactive crystal facets,and thus drastically promote their catalytic performance.In this review,we summarize our recent work on the morphology impact of Co3O4,CeO2 and Fe2O3 nanomaterials in catalytic reactions,together with related literature on morphology-dependent nanocatalysis of metal oxides,to demonstrate the importance of tuning the shape of oxide-nanocatalysts for prompting their activity,selectivity and stability,which is a rapidly growing topic in heterogeneous catalysis.The fundamental understanding of the active sites in morphology-tunable oxides that are enclosed by reactive crystal facets is expected to direct the development of highly efficient nanocatalysts.     

Semihydrogenation of Acetylene on Indium Oxide: Proposed Single‐Ensemble Catalysis

Indium oxide catalyzes acetylene hydrogenation with high selectivity to ethylene (>85 %); even with a large excess of the alkene. In situ characterization reveals the formation of oxygen vacancies under reaction conditions, while an in depth theoretical analysis links the surface reduction with the creation of well‐defined vacancies and surrounding In₃O₅ ensembles, which are considered responsible for this outstanding catalytic function. This behavior, which differs from that of other common reducible oxides, originates from the presence of four crystallographically inequivalent oxygen sites in the indium oxide surface. These resulting ensembles are 1) stable against deactivation, 2) homogeneously and densely distributed, and 3) spatially isolated and confined against transport; thereby broadening the scope of oxides in hydrogenation catalysis.     

Surface structure and reaction performances of highly dispersed and supported bimetallic catalysts

Surface structures of Pt-Sn and Pt-Fe bimetallic catalysts have been investigated by means of Mssbauer spectroscopy, Pt-L_Ⅲ-edge EXAFS and H_2-adsorption. The results showed that the second component, such as Sn or Fe, remained in the oxidative state and dispersed on the γ-Al_2O_3 surface after reduction, while Pt was completely reduced to the metallic state and dispersed on either the metal oxide surface or the γ-Al_2O_3 surface. By correlating the distribution of Pt species on different surfaces with the reaction and adsorption performances, it is proposed that two kinds of active Pt species existed on the surfaces of both catalysts, named M_1 sites and M_2 sites. M_1 sites are the sites in which Pt directly anchored on the γ-Al_2O_3 surface, while M_2 sites are those in which Pt anchored on the metal oxide surface. M_1 sites are favorable for low temperature H_2 adsorption, and responsible for the hydrogenolysis reaction and carbon deposition, while M_2 sites which adsorb more H_2 at higher tem     

Metal Oxide Catalysts for Selective Reduction of NOx by Hydrocarbons: Toward Molecular Basis for Catalyst Design

Metal oxides are stable and highly durable catalysts for the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO by hydrocarbons and potential candidates for practical use. This review focuses on the development as well as the fundamental understanding of metal oxide based catalysts for selective reduction of NO by hydrocarbons. Our studies on the SCR-deNOx properties of Ga₂O₃/Al₂O₃, Cu-Al₂O₃, and Ag-Al₂O₃ catalysts are presented and it is attempted to demonstrate the advantages of this type of catalysts. On the basis of several spectroscopic characterizations, the effect of important factors, such as dispersion, coordination, and the electronic states of the metal cation, on the intrinsic catalytic activity are quite well clarified. From the in situ FTIR results, the reaction mechanism is understood in terms of formation and reaction of surface molecules. The structural and kinetic information obtained at the molecular level provides a useful strategy for designing better deNOx catalysts using metal oxides.     

Catalytic transfer hydrogenation of 2-butanone over oxide catalysts

Catalytic transfer hydrogenation of 2-butanone with 2-propanol was studied in gas phase over a series of oxides of different acid-base properties. Although the basic oxides (MgO, La₂O₃) gave high initial conversions, these oxides underwent deactivation during the reaction. This deactivation could be partially prevented by a previous treatment with chloroform of the oxide. The amphoteric oxides (TiO₂, ZrO₂, Al₂O₃) were also active in this reaction. Increasing the acidic character of the catalyst (Nb₂O₅, WO₃) led to a pronounced dehydration of 2-propanol. The results obtained over a series of rare earth oxides (La₂O₃, Sm₂O₃, Gd₂O₃, Dy₂O₃, Er₂O₃) revealed that beside the role of basic and acid sites a correlation seems to exist between the number of unpaired electrons of the metal ion and the catalytic activity, indicating the role of one electron donor sites.     

Metal Oxide Catalysts for Selective Reduction of NOx by Hydrocarbons: Toward Molecular Basis for Catalyst Design

Metal oxides are stable and highly durable catalysts for the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO by hydrocarbons and potential candidates for practical use. This review focuses on the development as well as the fundamental understanding of metal oxide based catalysts for selective reduction of NO by hydrocarbons. Our studies on the SCR-deNOx properties of Ga₂O₃/Al₂O₃, Cu-Al₂O₃, and Ag-Al₂O₃ catalysts are presented and it is attempted to demonstrate the advantages of this type of catalysts. On the basis of several spectroscopic characterizations, the effect of important factors, such as dispersion, coordination, and the electronic states of the metal cation, on the intrinsic catalytic activity are quite well clarified. From the in situ FTIR results, the reaction mechanism is understood in terms of formation and reaction of surface molecules. The structural and kinetic information obtained at the molecular level provides a useful strategy for designing better deNOx catalysts using metal oxides.     

Y-Ba-Cu-O mixed oxides for production of diphenols in liquid-solid phase

Superconductor mixed oxides were often used as catalysts at higher temperature in gas phase oxidations, and considered not suitable for lower temperature reactions in the liquid-solid phase; here the catalysis of YBa2Cu3O7+x and Y2BaCuO5+x in the phenol hydroxylation at lower temperature with H2O2 as oxygen donor was studied, and found that the superconductor YBaCu3O7±x has no catalytic activity for phenol hydroxylation, but Y2BaCuO5±x does, even has better catalytic activity and stability than most previously reported ones. With the studies of catalysis of other simple metal oxides and perovskite-like mixed oxides, a radical substitution mechanism is proposed and the experimental facts are explained clearly, and draw a conclusion that the perovskite-like mixed oxides with (AO)(ABO3) and (AO)2(ABO3) structure have better catalytic activity than the simple per-ovskite oxides with (ABO3)3 structure alone, and (AO) structure unit is the key for the mixed oxides to have the phenol hydroxylation activity.     

On the Influence of Oxygen on the Degradation of Fe‐N‐C Catalysts

Fe‐N‐C catalysts containing atomic FeN_x sites are promising candidates as precious‐metal‐free catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in proton exchange membrane fuel cells. The durability of Fe‐N‐C catalysts in fuel cells has been extensively studied using accelerated stress tests (AST). Herein we reveal stronger degradation of the Fe‐N‐C structure and four‐times higher ORR activity loss when performing load cycling AST in O₂‐ vs. Ar‐saturated pH 1 electrolyte. Raman spectroscopy results show carbon corrosion after AST in O₂, even when cycling at low potentials, while no corrosion occurred after any load cycling AST in Ar. The load‐cycling AST in O₂ leads to loss of a significant fraction of FeN_x sites, as shown by energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy analyses, and to the formation of Fe oxides. The results support that the unexpected carbon corrosion occurring at such low potential in the presence of O₂ is due to reactive oxygen species produced between H₂O₂ and Fe sites via Fenton reactions.     

Site- and surface species-dependent propylene oxidation with molecular oxygen on gold surface

A complete fundamental understanding of propylene oxidation with molecular O₂ on Au surface is achieved, in which site-and surface species-dependent reaction behaviors are revealed.