Anchoring Single Nickel Atoms on Carbon-vacant Carbon Nitride Nanosheets for Efficient Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

Polymeric carbon nitride(PCN) has emerged as a promising candidate for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution, but its dependence on scarce and high-cost noble metal co-catalysts severely limits its extensive application. It will be of great promise to develop non-noble metal single-atom co-catalysts with low-cost and high atom utilization to improve the photocatalytic performance over PCN. Herein, single Ni atoms are successfully anchored onto carbon-vacant PCN nanosheets(CCN-SANi) via a two-step ammonia thermal treatment and photo-deposition process. Theoretical calculations and experimental results demonstrate that the optical absorption property and the charge transfer ability of CCN-SANi have been significantly improved with the introduction of single Ni atoms to form Ni-N₃ sites. In comparison to carbon-vacant PCN(CCN) loaded with Ni clusters, the obtained CCN-SANi exhibits 11.4 times increased photocatalytic performance, with the highest hydrogen evolution rate reaching 511 μmol/(g·h), which is even 1.7 times higher than that of CCN loaded with Pt clusters. This research proposes an inspiring and reliable strategy to design novel single-atom semiconducting polymers with electronic structures manipulated for efficient photocatalysis.     

Understanding the Origin of Highly Selective CO2 Electroreduction to CO on Ni,N‐doped Carbon Catalysts

Ni,N‐doped carbon catalysts have shown promising catalytic performance for CO₂ electroreduction (CO₂R) to CO; this activity has often been attributed to the presence of nitrogen‐coordinated, single Ni atom active sites. However, experimentally confirming Ni?N bonding and correlating CO₂ reduction (CO₂R) activity to these species has remained a fundamental challenge. We synthesized polyacrylonitrile‐derived Ni,N‐doped carbon electrocatalysts (Ni‐PACN) with a range of pyrolysis temperatures and Ni loadings and correlated their electrochemical activity with extensive physiochemical characterization to rigorously address the origin of activity in these materials. We found that the CO₂R to CO partial current density increased with increased Ni content before plateauing at 2 wt % which suggests a dispersed Ni active site. These dispersed active sites were investigated by hard and soft X‐ray spectroscopy, which revealed that pyrrolic nitrogen ligands selectively bind Ni atoms in a distorted square‐planar geometry that strongly resembles the active sites of molecular metal–porphyrin catalysts.     

Atomically Dispersed Nickel(I) on an Alloy‐Encapsulated Nitrogen‐Doped Carbon Nanotube Array for High‐Performance Electrochemical CO2 Reduction Reaction

Single‐atom catalysts (SACs) show great promise for electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction (CRR), but the low density of active sites and the poor electrical conduction and mass transport of the single‐atom electrode greatly limit their performance. Herein, we prepared a nickel single‐atom electrode consisting of isolated, high‐density and low‐valent nickel(I) sites anchored on a self‐standing N‐doped carbon nanotube array with nickel–copper alloy encapsulation on a carbon‐fiber paper. The combination of single‐atom nickel(I) sites and self‐standing array structure gives rise to an excellent electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction performance. The introduction of copper tunes the d‐band electron configuration and enhances the adsorption of hydrogen, which impedes the hydrogen evolution reaction. The single‐nickel‐atom electrode exhibits a specific current density of ?32.87 mA cm^?2 and turnover frequency of 1962 h^?1 at a mild overpotential of 620 mV for CO formation with 97 % Faradic efficiency.     

Zirconium–Porphyrin‐Based Metal–Organic Framework Hollow Nanotubes for Immobilization of Noble‐Metal Single Atoms

Single atoms immobilized on metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) with unique nanostructures have drawn tremendous attention in the application of catalysis but remain a great challenge. Various single noble‐metal atoms have now been successfully anchored on the well‐defined anchoring sites of the zirconium porphyrin MOF hollow nanotubes, which are probed by aberration‐corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy and synchrotron‐radiation‐based X‐ray absorption fine‐structure spectroscopy. Owing to the hollow structure and excellent photoelectrochemical performance, the HNTM‐Ir/Pt exhibits outstanding catalytic activity in the visible‐light photocatalytic H₂ evolution via water splitting. The single atom immobilized on MOFs with hollow structures are expected to pave the way to expand the potential applications of MOFs.     

Design of Single‐Site Photocatalysts by Using Metal–Organic Frameworks as a Matrix

Single‐site photocatalysts generally display excellent photocatalytic activity and considerably high stability compared with homogeneous catalytic systems. A rational structural design of single‐site photocatalysts with isolated, uniform, and spatially separated active sites in a given solid is of prime importance to achieve high photocatalytic activity. Intense attention has been focused on the design and fabrication of single‐site photocatalysts by using porous materials as a platform. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have great potential in the design and fabrication of single‐site photocatalysts due to their remarkable porosity, ultrahigh surface area, extraordinary tailorability, and significant diversity. MOFs can provide an abundant number of binding sites to anchor active sites, which results in a significant enhancement in photocatalytic performance. In this focus review, the development of single‐site MOF photocatalysts that perform important and challenging chemical redox reactions, such as photocatalytic H₂ production, photocatalytic CO₂ conversion, and organic transformations, is summarized thoroughly. Successful strategies for the construction of single‐site MOF photocatalysts are summarized and major challenges in their practical applications are noted.     

Adsorption Site Regulation to Guide Atomic Design of Ni–Ga Catalysts for Acetylene Semi‐Hydrogenation

Atomic regulation of metal catalysts has emerged as an intriguing yet challenging strategy to boost product selectivity. Here, we report a density functional theory‐guided atomic design strategy for the fabrication of a NiGa intermetallic catalyst with completely isolated Ni sites to optimize acetylene semi‐hydrogenation processes. Such Ni sites show not only preferential acetylene π‐adsorption, but also enhanced ethylene desorption. The characteristics of the Ni sites are confirmed by multiple characterization techniques, including aberration‐corrected high‐resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy and X‐ray absorption spectrometry measurements. The superior performance is also confirmed experimentally against a Ni₅Ga₃ intermetallic catalyst with partially isolated Ni sites and against a Ni catalyst with multi‐atomic ensemble Ni sites. Accordingly, the NiGa intermetallic catalyst with the completely isolated Ni sites shows significantly enhanced selectivity to ethylene and suppressed coke formation.     

Control of Redox Events by Dye Encapsulation Applied to Light‐Driven Splitting of Hydrogen Sulfide

Solar production of hydrogen by consuming low‐value waste products is an attractive pathway that has both economic and environmental benefits. Inspired by the reactive pocket of enzymes, a synthetic platform to combine photocatalytic hydrogen evolution with sulfide oxidation in a one‐pot process via control over the location of the electron‐transfer steps is developed. The redox‐active coordination vessel Ni‐ TFT , which has an octahedral pocket, encapsulates an organic dye to pre‐organize for photocatalytic proton reduction via an oxidative quenching pathway using the nickel corners as catalysts, generating molecular hydrogen and the oxidized dye. The oxidized dye is displaced by a neutral dye and oxidizes sulfide once outside the pocket to give element sulfur. The overall reaction constitutes hydrogen sulfide splitting, forming molecular hydrogen and elemental sulfur, which is analogous to the water‐splitting reaction.     

Single‐Atom Catalyst of Platinum Supported on Titanium Nitride for Selective Electrochemical Reactions

As a catalyst, single‐atom platinum may provide an ideal structure for platinum minimization. Herein, a single‐atom catalyst of platinum supported on titanium nitride nanoparticles were successfully prepared with the aid of chlorine ligands. Unlike platinum nanoparticles, the single‐atom active sites predominantly produced hydrogen peroxide in the electrochemical oxygen reduction with the highest mass activity reported so far. The electrocatalytic oxidation of small organic molecules, such as formic acid and methanol, also exhibited unique selectivity on the single‐atom platinum catalyst. A lack of platinum ensemble sites changed the reaction pathway for the oxygen‐reduction reaction toward a two‐electron pathway and formic acid oxidation toward direct dehydrogenation, and also induced no activity for the methanol oxidation. This work demonstrates that single‐atom platinum can be an efficient electrocatalyst with high mass activity and unique selectivity.     

Electronic Metal–Support Interactions in Single‐Atom Catalysts

The synthesis of single‐atom catalysts and the control of the electronic properties of catalytic sites to arrive at superior catalysts is a major challenge in heterogeneous catalysis. A stable supported single‐atom silver catalyst with a controllable electronic state was obtained by anti‐Ostwald ripening. An electronic perturbation of the catalytic sites that is induced by a subtle change in the structure of the support has a strong influence on the intrinsic reactivity. The higher depletion of the 4d electronic state of the silver atoms causes stronger electronic metal–support interactions, which leads to easier reducibility and higher catalytic activity. These results may improve our understanding of the nature of electronic metal–support interactions and lead to structure–activity correlations.     

Understanding the Origin of Highly Selective CO2 Electroreduction to CO on Ni,N-doped Carbon Catalysts

Ni,N-doped carbon catalysts have shown promising catalytic performance for CO₂ electroreduction (CO₂R) to CO; this activity has often been attributed to the presence of nitrogen-coordinated, single Ni atom active sites. However, experimentally confirming Ni−N bonding and correlating CO₂ reduction (CO₂R) activity to these species has remained a fundamental challenge. We synthesized polyacrylonitrile-derived Ni,N-doped carbon electrocatalysts (Ni-PACN) with a range of pyrolysis temperatures and Ni loadings and correlated their electrochemical activity with extensive physiochemical characterization to rigorously address the origin of activity in these materials. We found that the CO₂R to CO partial current density increased with increased Ni content before plateauing at 2 wt % which suggests a dispersed Ni active site. These dispersed active sites were investigated by hard and soft X-ray spectroscopy, which revealed that pyrrolic nitrogen ligands selectively bind Ni atoms in a distorted square-planar geometry that strongly resembles the active sites of molecular metal–porphyrin catalysts.     

Single‐Atom Iron Catalysts on Overhang‐Eave Carbon Cages for High‐Performance Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Single‐atom catalysts have drawn great attention, especially in electrocatalysis. However, most of previous works focus on the enhanced catalytic properties via improving metal loading. Engineering morphologies of catalysts to facilitate mass transport through catalyst layers, thus increasing the utilization of each active site, is regarded as an appealing way for enhanced performance. Herein, we design an overhang‐eave structure decorated with isolated single‐atom iron sites via a silica‐mediated MOF‐templated approach for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysis. This catalyst demonstrates superior ORR performance in both alkaline and acidic electrolytes, comparable to the state‐of‐the‐art Pt/C catalyst and superior to most precious‐metal‐free catalysts reported to date. This activity originates from its edge‐rich structure, having more three‐phase boundaries with enhanced mass transport of reactants to accessible single‐atom iron sites (increasing the utilization of active sites), which verifies the practicability of such a synthetic approach.     

General π‐Electron‐Assisted Strategy for Ir,Pt, Ru,Pd, Fe,Ni Single‐Atom Electrocatalysts with Bifunctional Active Sites for Highly Efficient Water Splitting

Both the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are crucial to water splitting, but require alternative active sites. Now, a general π‐electron‐assisted strategy to anchor single‐atom sites (M=Ir, Pt, Ru, Pd, Fe, Ni) on a heterogeneous support is reported. The M atoms can simultaneously anchor on two distinct domains of the hybrid support, four‐fold N/C atoms (M@NC), and centers of Co octahedra (M@Co), which are expected to serve as bifunctional electrocatalysts towards the HER and the OER. The Ir catalyst exhibits the best water‐splitting performance, showing a low applied potential of 1.603 V to achieve 10 mA cm^?2 in 1.0 m KOH solution with cycling over 5 h. DFT calculations indicate that the Ir@Co (Ir) sites can accelerate the OER, while the Ir@NC₃ sites are responsible for the enhanced HER, clarifying the unprecedented performance of this bifunctional catalyst towards full water splitting.     

Adsorption and Vibration of Carbon on Low Index and Defect Nickel Surface

The 5‐parameter Morse potential of interaction between carbon and the nickel surface was constructed. We studied the adsorption and vibration of carbon atom on Ni(100), Ni(110) and Ni(111) single crystal low index surfaces and obtained the data of adsorption sites, adsorption geometry, binding energy and eigenvibration etc., which were in good agreement with the experimental results. Meanwhile, the influence of step defect on Ni(100) surfaces for carbon adsorption was also investigated.     

Regulating the Coordination Environment of MOF‐Templated Single‐Atom Nickel Electrocatalysts for Boosting CO2 Reduction

The general synthesis and control of the coordination environment of single‐atom catalysts (SACs) remains a great challenge. Herein, a general host–guest cooperative protection strategy has been developed to construct SACs by introducing polypyrrole (PPy) into a bimetallic metal–organic framework. As an example, the introduction of Mg²⁺ in MgNi‐MOF‐74 extends the distance between adjacent Ni atoms; the PPy guests serve as N source to stabilize the isolated Ni atoms during pyrolysis. As a result, a series of single‐atom Ni catalysts (named Ni_SA‐N_x‐C) with different N coordination numbers have been fabricated by controlling the pyrolysis temperature. Significantly, the Ni_SA‐N₂‐C catalyst, with the lowest N coordination number, achieves high CO Faradaic efficiency (98 %) and turnover frequency (1622 h^?1), far superior to those of Ni_SA‐N₃‐C and Ni_SA‐N₄‐C, in electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction. Theoretical calculations reveal that the low N coordination number of single‐atom Ni sites in Ni_SA‐N₂‐C is favorable to the formation of COOH* intermediate and thus accounts for its superior activity.     

第一性原理研究镍改性ZSM-12分子筛的酸性(英文)

分子筛被用作工业催化剂时常需要过渡金属改性,镍是制备加氢/脱氢催化剂常用的过渡金属,本研究采用密度泛函理论研究镍改性的ZSM-12分子筛的结构和酸性。结果表明,分子筛的B酸质子可以被镍原子还原成氢分子,而Ni₂的团簇不能将B酸质子还原生成氢气分子。镍原子在分子筛内会被氧化,并形成Lewis酸性位,这会导致分子筛骨架铝的Lewis酸性变弱,镍改性后,分子筛吸附氢气的能力变强,被吸附的氢分子解离为氢原子,并带负电荷,不再具有B酸的功能。从计算的氨分子的吸附能来判断,由于吸附的氢会从镍原子得到电子,吸附的氢分子会增强镍原子的Lewis酸性。     

General π‐Electron‐Assisted Strategy for Ir,Pt, Ru,Pd, Fe,Ni Single‐Atom Electrocatalysts with Bifunctional Active Sites for Highly Efficient Water Splitting

Both the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are crucial to water splitting, but require alternative active sites. Now, a general π‐electron‐assisted strategy to anchor single‐atom sites (M=Ir, Pt, Ru, Pd, Fe, Ni) on a heterogeneous support is reported. The M atoms can simultaneously anchor on two distinct domains of the hybrid support, four‐fold N/C atoms (M@NC), and centers of Co octahedra (M@Co), which are expected to serve as bifunctional electrocatalysts towards the HER and the OER. The Ir catalyst exhibits the best water‐splitting performance, showing a low applied potential of 1.603 V to achieve 10 mA cm^?2 in 1.0 m KOH solution with cycling over 5 h. DFT calculations indicate that the Ir@Co (Ir) sites can accelerate the OER, while the Ir@NC₃ sites are responsible for the enhanced HER, clarifying the unprecedented performance of this bifunctional catalyst towards full water splitting.     

Do Ni/Cu and Cu/Ni Alloys have Different Catalytic Performances towards Water‐Gas Shift? A Density Functional Theory Investigation

Density functional calculations were preformed to investigate whether adding Ni into a Cu surface (denoted as Cu/Ni) or adding Cu into a Ni surface (Ni/Cu) is more efficient for catalyzing the water‐gas shift (WGS)? The reactions of water dissociation and monoxide dissociation were selected to assess the activity and selectivity towards WGS, respectively. Our results show that Ni‐atom modification of surfaces is thermodynamically favorable for both reactions. Kinetically, compared with pure Cu, water dissociation is greatly facilitated on Ni‐modified surfaces, and the activity is insensitive to the Ni concentration; however, monoxide dissociation is not well‐promoted on one Ni‐atom‐modified surfaces, but two Ni‐atom modification can notably decrease the dissociation barriers. Overall, on the basis of these results, we conclude that 1) the catalytic performance of bimetallic metals is superior to monometallic ones; 2) at the same Ni concentration on the surface, Cu/Ni and Ni/Cu alloys have almost the same performance towards WGS; and 3) to acquire high WGS performance, the surface Ni atoms should either be low in concentration or highly dispersed.     

A Cocatalyst that Stabilizes a Hydride Intermediate during Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution over a Rhodium‐Doped TiO2 Nanosheet

The hydrogen evolution reaction using semiconductor photocatalysts has been significantly improved by cocatalyst loading. However, there are still many speculations regarding the actual role of the cocatalyst. Now a photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction pathway is reported on a cocatalyst site using TiO₂ nanosheets doped with Rh at Ti sites as one‐atom cocatalysts. A hydride species adsorbed on the one‐atom Rh dopant cocatalyst site was confirmed experimentally as the intermediate state for hydrogen evolution, which was consistent with the results of density functional theory (DFT) calculations. In this system, the role of the cocatalyst in photocatalytic hydrogen evolution is related to the withdrawal of photo‐excited electrons and stabilization of the hydride intermediate species; the presence of oxygen vacancies induced by Rh facilitate the withdrawal of electrons and stabilization of the hydride.     

Structural,electronic, and magnetic properties of 3d transition metal doped GaN nanosheet: A first‐principles study

We have performed the first‐principles calculations on the structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of 3d transition‐metal? (Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, and Ni) atoms doped 2D GaN nanosheet. The results show that 3d TM atom substituting one Ga leads to a structural reconstruction around the 3d TM impurity compared to the pristine GaN nanosheet. The doping of TM atom can induce magnetic moments, which are mainly located on the 3d TM atom and its nearest‐neighbor N atoms. It is found that Mn‐ and Ni‐doped GaN nanosheet with 100% spin polarization characters seem to be good candidates for spintronic applications. When two Ga atoms are substituted by two TM dopants, the ferromagnetic (FM) ordering becomes energetically more favorable for Cr‐, Mn‐, and Ni‐doped GaN nanosheet with different distances of two TM atoms. On the contrary, the antiferromagnetic (AFM) ordering is energetically more favorable for Fe‐doped GaN nanosheet. In addition, our GGA + U calculations show the similar results with GGA calculations. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Pd/ZnO在乙炔选择加氢反应中的不同催化机制研究(英文)

化学选择性是评价催化剂性能最重要的参数之一,它直接决定了产物的经济价值及后续的分离成本.传统的负载型金属催化剂由于其金属粒径分布不均,且不同原子数组成的粒子通常具有特征产物选择性,从而限制化学选择性的提高;另一方面,对于金属多原子活性中心,反应物在催化剂表面可以存在多种吸附构型进而衍化为不同产物,产物可控性差.因此,获得金属尺寸均一,且具有原子分散的活性中心,即单原子催化剂,成为官能团多相催化转化高选择性的迫切需求.本课题组通过400 oC还原1%-Pd/ZnO得到PdZn金属间化合物,依据其规律排布的Pd-Zn-Pd单元获得Pd基单原子催化剂.该催化剂在乙烯化工中少量乙炔的加氢转化反应中获得令人欣喜的催化性能——兼具有乙炔的高转化率和乙烯的高选择性.结合微量吸附量热、理论计算等表征,Pd活性中心在PdZn金属间化合物中的特殊空间排布是其优异催化性能的根源,即乙炔以较强的σ键吸附在两个相邻的单Pd金属中心,易吸附活化加氢生成乙烯,而乙烯则吸附于单Pd金属中心,较弱的π键形式吸附有利于其脱附避免过渡加氢.基于前期研究,构筑具有均一单金属中心的负载型单原子催化剂是获得高选择性的另一有效方法,且较之于PdZn金属间化合物催化剂,该类单原子催化剂兼具有原子利用率最大化的优点.本文采用等体积浸渍法制备Pd/ZnO催化剂,通过降低Pd金属含量(1 wt%→0.1 wt%→0.01 wt%)并在较低的温度下(100 oC)还原(H2-TPR表明高温还原形成PdZn金属间化合物型合金)得到负载型单原子催化剂(Pd1/ZnO SAC).高分辨电镜结果表明,当Pd负载量由1%降至0.1%,金属纳米颗粒的粒径尺寸显著降低,而在0.01%-Pd/ZnO催化剂表面,Pd活性中心则以单原子状态分散于载体ZnO表面.X-射线吸收光谱及电子能谱表明,随着负载量的降低,Pd活性物种具有更高的正电性.该催化剂在乙炔选择性加氢反应中表现出更加优越的催化性能,具有与PdZn催化剂相当的高选择性,而更优的比活性.这归结于Pd1/ZnO单原子催化剂的Pdδ+单原子活性中心有助于其与乙炔的静电相互作用并吸附活化加氢生成乙烯,并促使乙烯以较弱的π键吸附,从而易于从催化剂表面脱附获得高选择性.