Black Tungsten Nitride as a Metallic Photocatalyst for Overall Water Splitting Operable at up to 765 nm

Semiconductor photocatalysts are hardly employed for overall water splitting beyond 700 nm, which is due to both thermodynamic aspects and activation barriers. Metallic materials as photocatalysts are known to overcome this limitation through interband transitions for creating electron–hole pairs; however, the application of metallic photocatalysts for overall water splitting has never been fulfilled. Black tungsten nitride is now employed as a metallic photocatalyst for overall water splitting at wavelengths of up to 765 nm. Experimental and theoretical results together confirm that metallic properties play a substantial role in exhibiting photocatalytic activity under red-light irradiation for tungsten nitride. This work represents the first red-light responsive photocatalyst for overall water splitting, and may open a promising venue in searching of metallic materials as efficient photocatalysts for solar energy utilization.     

Highly Dispersed TiO(6) Units in a Layered Double Hydroxide for Water Splitting

A family of photocatalysts for water splitting into hydrogen was prepared by distributing TiO(6) units in an MTi-layered double hydroxide matrix (M=Ni, Zn, Mg) that displays largely enhanced photocatalytic activity with an H(2) -production rate of 31.4?μmol?h(-1) as well as excellent recyclable performance. High-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM) mapping and XPS measurement reveal that a high dispersion of TiO(6) octahedra in the layered doubled hydroxide (LDH) matrix was obtained by the formation of an M(2+) -O-Ti network, rather different from the aggregation state of TiO(6) in the inorganic layered material K(2) Ti(4) O(9) . Both transient absorption and photoluminescence spectra demonstrate that the electron-hole recombination process was significantly depressed in the Ti-containing LDH materials relative to bulk Ti oxide, which is attributed to the abundant surface defects that serve as trapping sites for photogenerated electrons verified by positron annihilation and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) techniques. In addition, a theoretical study on the basis of DFT calculations demonstrates that the electronic structure of the TiO(6) units was modified by the adjacent MO(6) octahedron by means of covalent interactions, with a much decreased bandgap of 2.1?eV, which accounts for its superior water-splitting behavior. Therefore, the dispersion strategy for TiO(6) units within a 2D inorganic matrix can be extended to fabricate other oxide or hydroxide catalysts with greatly enhanced performance in photocatalysis and energy conversion.     

Electron-Rich Bi Nanosheets Promote CO2⋅− Formation for High-Performance and pH-Universal Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction

Electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) to chemical fuels such as formate offers a promising pathway to carbon-neutral future, but its practical application is largely inhibited by the lack of effective activation of CO₂ molecules and pH-universal feasibility. Here, we report an electronic structure manipulation strategy to electron-rich Bi nanosheets, where electrons transfer from Cu donor to Bi acceptor in bimetallic Cu−Bi, enabling CO₂RR towards formate with concurrent high activity, selectivity and stability in pH-universal (acidic, neutral and alkaline) electrolytes. Combined in situ Raman spectra and computational calculations unravel that electron-rich Bi promotes CO₂⋅⁻ formation to activate CO₂ molecules, and enhance the adsorption strength of *OCHO intermediate with an up-shifted p-band center, thus leading to its superior activity and selectivity of formate. Further integration of the robust electron-rich Bi nanosheets into III–V-based photovoltaic solar cell results in an unassisted artificial leaf with a high solar-to-formate (STF) efficiency of 13.7 %.     

Metal−Organic Precursors for Transition-Metal-Doped Ni2P via Pyrolysis for Efficient Overall Water Splitting and Supercapacitance

The synthesis of solvent-less bare-surface nickel phosphides is desired, considering their superior electrocatalytic properties and straightforward synthetic protocols compared to their analogues prepared from colloidal routes. Herein, we report the synthesis of [Ni{S₂P(OH)(4-CH₃OC₆H₄)}₂] (1), [Fe{S₂P(OH)(4-CH₃OC₆H₄)}₃] (2) and [Co{S₂P(OC₄H₉)(4-CH₃OC₆H₄)}₃] (3) and their utilization to form Ni₂P, Fe-Ni₂P and Co-Ni₂P in a solvent-less pyrolysis method. This solvent-free protocol involved the decomposition of complex ( 1 ) and the composites of complex ( 1 ) with ( 2 ) or ( 3 ) in the presence of triphenylphosphine (TPP) at 400 °C for one hour. The solvent-less decomposition of complex ( 1 ) without TPP formed nickel sulfide. A plausible explanation for this rare fabrication of pristine and doped Ni₂P in the absence of any solvent is suggested. All the transition metal doped phosphides improved the HER performance of pristine Ni₂P, with the 5 % Fe doped Ni₂P having the best performance, requiring 137 mV to reach a current density of 10 mA/cm². Similarly, the OER performance of un-doped Ni₂P was improved by all the doped Ni₂P catalysts, where 10 % Fe-doped Ni₂P showed the best performance requiring 326 mV to reach a current density of 10 mA/cm². Transition metal doping was also shown to improve the reaction kinetics, stability and durability of the solvent-free prepared Ni₂P.     

AuPt Bipyramid Nanoframes as Multifunctional Platforms for In Situ Monitoring of the Reduction of Nitrobenzene and Enhanced Electrocatalytic Methanol Oxidation

Multifunctional metal nanostructures with a hollow feature, especially for nanoframes, are highly attractive owing to their high surface-to-volume ratios. However, pre-grown metal nanocrystals are always involved during the preparation procedure, and a synthetic strategy without the use of a pre-grown template is still a challenge. In this article, a template-free strategy is reported for the preparation of novel AuPt alloy nanoframes through simply mixing HAuCl₄ and H₂PtCl₆ under mild conditions. The alloy nanostructures show a bipyramid-frame hollow architecture with the existence of only the ten ridges and absence of their side faces. This is the first report of bipyramid-like nanoframes and a template-free method under mild conditions. This configuration merges the plasmonic features of Au and highly active catalytic sites of Pt in a single nanostructure, making it an ideal multifunctional platform for catalyzing and monitoring the catalytic reaction in real time. The superior catalytic activity is demonstrated by using the reduction of nitrobenzene to the corresponding aminobenzene as a model reaction. More importantly, the AuPt nanoframes can track the reduction process on the basis of the SERS signals of the reactants, intermediates, and products, which helps to reveal the reaction mechanism. In addition, the AuPt nanoframes show much higher electrocatalytic properties toward the methanol oxidation reaction than commercial Pt/C electrocatalysts.     

Ru−FeNi Alloy Heterojunctions on Lignin-derived Carbon as Bifunctional Electrocatalysts for Efficient Overall Water Splitting

Rational design of efficient, stable, and inexpensive bifunctional electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reactions (OER) and hydrogen evolution reactions (HER) is a key challenge to realize green hydrogen production via electrolytic water splitting. Herein, Ru nanoparticles and FeNi alloy heterojunction catalyst (Ru−FeNi@NLC) encapsulated via lignin-derived carbon was prepared by self-assembly precipitation and in situ pyrolysis. The designed catalyst displays excellent performance at 10 mA cm⁻² with low overpotentials of 36 mV for HER and 198 mV for OER, and only needs 1.48 V for overall water splitting. Results and DFT calculations show the unique N-doped lignin-derived carbon layer and Ru−FeNi heterojunction contribute to optimized electronic structure for enhancing electron transfer, balanced free energy of reactants and intermediates in the sorption/desorption process, and significantly reduced reaction energy barrier for the HER and OER rate-determining steps, thus improved reaction kinetics. This work provides a new in situ pyrolysis doping strategy based on renewable biomass for the construction of highly active, stable and cost-effective catalysts.     

A Simple Ni-based Metal–organic Framework as Catalyst for Dye-sensitized Photocatalytic H2 Evolution from Water Reduction

Metal–organic frameworks (MOF) are recently developed coordination porous materials, and their unique structures are very conducive to catalytic reactions. In this paper, p-benzenedicarboxylic acid (PBA)-Ni²⁺ MOF materials (denoted as PBA-Ni-x, where x represents the initial ratio of PBA to Ni²⁺) were synthesized by a hydrothermal method and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and N₂ gas adsorption. H₂ gas was produced using the synthesized MOF as a photocatalyst and Eosin Y as a photosensitizer. The dependence of the special surface area and thickness of the nanosheets of Ni-MOF on the initial ratio of PBA to Ni²⁺ (PBA/Ni²⁺) was investigated. The BET surface areas of PBA-Ni-1 PBA-Ni-2 and PBA-Ni-3 are 11.00, 24.61 and 13.04 m² g⁻¹, respectively. And the thicknesses of nanosheets are approximately 600–1000, 200–500 and 300–700 nm. Among the three materials, PBA-Ni-2 has the thinnest sheet-like structure and largest surface area. Thus, it displays the highest H₂ evolution rate of 20.0 μmol h⁻¹. The noble-metal-free hydrogen production system is valuable for the application of MOF materials in photocatalytic water splitting.     

Nickel and potassium co-modified β-Mo2C catalyst for CO conversion

Nickel and potassium co-modified -Mo2C catalysts were prepared and used for CO hydrogenation reaction. The major products over -Mo2C were C1–C4 hydrocarbons, only few alcohols were obtained. Addition of potassium resulted in remarkable selectivity shift from hydrocarbons to alcohols at the expense of CO conversion over -Mo2C. Moreover, it was found that potassium enhanced the ability of chain propagation with a higher C2+OH production. Modified by nickel, -Mo2C showed a relatively high CO conversion, however, the products were similar to those of pure -Mo2C. When co-modified by nickel and potassium, -Mo2C exhibited high activity and selectivity towards mixed alcohols synthesis, and also the whole chain propagation to produce alcohols especially for the stage of C1OH to C2OH was remarkably enhanced. It was concluded that the Ni and K had, to some extent, synergistic effect on CO conversion.     

Preparation and Electrochemical Properties of the Pd-modified Cu Electrode for Nitrate Reduction in Water

The reduction of nitrate has gained renewed attention due to environmental problems like overfertilization and the increasing costs of purification of drinking water. The usual techniques (e.g. ion-exchange and biofiltration) have some disadvantages1. So …     

A Hydrogen-Deficient Nickel–Cobalt Double Hydroxide for Photocatalytic Overall Water Splitting

Developing highly efficient and low-cost photocatalysts for overall water splitting has long been a pursuit for converting solar power into clean hydrogen energy. Herein, we demonstrate that a nonstoichiometric nickel–cobalt double hydroxide can achieve overall water splitting by itself upon solar light irradiation, avoiding the consumption of noble-metal co-catalysts. We employed an intensive laser to ablate a NiCo alloy target immersed in alkaline solution, and produced so-called L-NiCo nanosheets with a nonstoichiometric composition and O²⁻/Co³⁺ ions exposed on the surface. The nonstoichiometric composition broadens the band gap, while O²⁻ and Co³⁺ ions boost hydrogen and oxygen evolution, respectively. As such, the photocatalyst achieves a H₂ evolution rate of 1.7 μmol h⁻¹ under AM 1.5G sunlight irradiation and an apparent quantum yield (AQE) of 1.38 % at 380 nm.     

Phenothiazine-Based Donor–Acceptor Polymers as Multifunctional Materials for Charge Storage and Solar Energy Conversion

The increasing energy demand for diverse applications requires new types of devices and materials. Multifunctional materials that can fulfill different roles are of high interest as they can allow fabricating devices that can both convert and store energy. Herein, organic donor–acceptor redox polymers that can function as charge storage materials in batteries and as donor materials in bulk heterojunction (BHJ) photovoltaic devices are investigated. Based on its reversible redox chemistry, phenothiazine is used as the main building block in the conjugated copolymer design and combined with diketopyrrolopyrrol and benzothiadiazole as electron-poor comonomers to shift the optical absorption into the visible region. The resulting polymers show excellent cycling stability as positive electrode materials in lithium–organic batteries at discharge potentials of 3.6–3.7 V versus Li/Li⁺ as well as good performances in BHJ solar cells with up to 1.9% power conversion efficiency. This study shows that the design of such multifunctional materials is possible, however, that it also faces challenges, as essential properties for good device function can lead to diametrically opposite requirements in materials design.     

Solar-Powered Organic Semiconductor–Bacteria Biohybrids for CO2 Reduction into Acetic Acid

An organic semiconductor–bacteria biohybrid photosynthetic system is used to efficiently realize CO₂ reduction to produce acetic acid with the non-photosynthetic bacteria Moorella thermoacetica. Perylene diimide derivative (PDI) and poly(fluorene-co-phenylene) (PFP) were coated on the bacteria surface as photosensitizers to form a p-n heterojunction (PFP/PDI) layer, affording higher hole/electron separation efficiency. The π-conjugated semiconductors possess excellent light-harvesting ability and biocompatibility, and the cationic side chains of organic semiconductors could intercalate into cell membranes, ensuring efficient electron transfer to bacteria. Moorella thermoacetica can thus harvest photoexcited electrons from the PFP/PDI heterojunction, driving the Wood–Ljungdahl pathway to synthesize acetic acid from CO₂ under illumination. The efficiency of this organic biohybrid is about 1.6 %, which is comparable to those of reported inorganic biohybrid systems.     

Construction of Asymmetrical Dual Jahn–Teller Sites for Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction

Photocatalytic CO₂ reduction (PCR) expresses great attraction to convert useless greenhouse gas into valuable chemical feedstock. However, the weak interactions between catalytic sites and PCR intermediates constrains the PCR activity and selectivity. Herein, we proposed a new strategy to match the intermediates due to the maximum orbital overlap of catalytic sites and C₁ intermediates by establishing dual Jahn–Teller (J–T) sites, in which, the strongly asymmetric J–T sites can break the nonpolar CO₂ molecules and self-adapt the different structure of C₁ intermediates. Taking cobalt carbonate hydroxide as an example, the weakly symmetric dual cobalt (Co₂) dual J–T sites, weakly asymmetric Fe&Co sites and strongly asymmetric Cu&Co sites were assembled. After illumination, the interaction between dual J–T sites and the CO₂ molecules enhances J–T distortion, which further modulates the PCR activity and selectivity. As a result, the Cu&Co sites exhibited CO yield of 8137.9 μmol g⁻¹, about 2.3-fold and 4.2-fold higher than that of the Fe&Co and Co₂ sites within 5-hour photoreaction, respectively. In addition, the selectivity achieved as high as 92.62 % than Fe&Co (88.67 %) and Co₂ sites (55.33 %). This work provides a novel design concept for the construction of dual J–T sites to regulate the catalytic activity and selectivity.     

Highly Efficient and Easily Recoverable Ag3PO4–TiO2–Fe2O3 Magnetic Photocatalyst with Wide Spectral Range for Water Treatment

Russian Journal of Physical Chemistry A - A new magnetic Ag3PO4–TiO2–Fe2O3 photocatalyst (Ag–Ti–Fe) has been synthesized by a solid-state blending method. The sample was...     

Recent Advances in Metal–Organic Frameworks for Photo-/Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction

Considerable attention has been paid to the utilization of CO₂, an abundant carbon source in nature. In this regard, porous catalysts have been eagerly explored with excellent performance for photo-/electrocatalytic reduction of CO₂ to high valued products. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), featuring large surface area, high porosity, tunable composition and unique structural characteristics, have been widely exploited in catalytic CO₂ reduction. This Minireview first reports the current progress of MOFs in CO₂ reduction. Then, a specific interest is focused on MOFs in photo-/electrocatalytic reduction of CO₂ by modifying their metal centers, organic linkers, and pores. Finally, the future directions of study are also highlighted to satisfy the requirement of practical applications.     

Bottom-up Design of Bimetallic Cobalt–Molybdenum Carbides/Oxides for Overall Water Splitting

Earth-abundant transition-metal-based catalysts for electrochemical water splitting are critical for sustainable energy schemes. In this work, we use a rational design method for the synthesis of ultrasmall and highly dispersed bimetallic CoMo carbide/oxide particles deposited on graphene oxide. Thermal conversion of the molecular precursors [H₃PMo₁₂O₄₀], Co(OAc)₂ ⋅ 4 H₂O and melamine in the presence of graphene oxide gives the mixed carbide/oxide (Co₆Mo₆C₂/Co₂Mo₃O₈) nanoparticle composite deposited on highly dispersed, N,P-doped carbon. The resulting composite shows outstanding electrocatalytic water-splitting activity for both the oxygen evolution and hydrogen evolution reaction, and superior performance to reference samples including commercial 20 % Pt/C & IrO₂. Electrochemical and other materials analyses indicate that Co₆Mo₆C₂ is the main active phase in the composite, and the N,P-doping of the carbon matrix increases the catalytic activity. The facile design could in principle be extended to multiple bimetallic catalyst classes by tuning of the molecular metal oxide precursor.     

pH-Independent Transfer Hydrogenation in Water: Catalytic, Enantioselective Reduction of β-Keto Esters

A pH-independent asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of β-keto esters in water with formic acid/sodium formate is described. The reaction is conducted open to air and gives access to β-hydroxy esters in excellent yields and selectivities.     

Cucurbituril and β-Cyclodextrin as Hosts for the Complexation of Organic Dyes

The complexation of neutral organic molecules by cucurbituril and-cyclodextrin in formic acid was studied by means ofspectrophotometric titrations. In the case of -cyclodextrin thecomposition of the solvent has almost no influence upon the stability of thecomplexes formed. This situation is completely different for cucurbituril.Due to its interactions with protons the measured stability constants of thecomplexes formed with organic molecules increase with decreasing acidconcentration. At low acid concentrations cucurbituril forms more stablecomplexes with organic molecules than -cyclodextrin.     

Multifunctional Heterometallic IrIII−AuI Probes as Promising Anticancer and Antiangiogenic Agents

A new class of emissive cyclometallated Ir^III−Au^I complexes with a bis(diphenylphosphino) methanide bridging ligand was successfully synthesised from the diphosphino complex [Ir(N^C)₂(dppm)]⁺ ( 1 ). The different gold ancillary ligand, a triphenylphosphine ( 2 ), a chloride ( 3 ) or a thiocytosine ( 4 ) did not reveal any significant effect on the photophysical properties, which are mainly due to metal-to-ligand charge-transfer (³MLCT) transitions based on Ir^III. However, the Au^I fragment, along with the ancillary ligand, seemed crucial for the bioactivity in A549 lung carcinoma cells versus endothelial cells. Both cell types display variable sensitivities to the complexes (IC₅₀=0.6–3.5 μM). The apoptotic pathway is activated in all cases, and paraptotic cell death seems to take place at initial stages in A549 cells. Species 2 – 4 showed at least dual lysosomal and mitochondrial biodistribution in A549 cells, with an initial lysosomal localisation and a possible trafficking process between both organelles with time. The bimetallic Ir^III−Au^I complexes disrupted the mitochondrial transmembrane potential in A549 cells and increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and thioredoxin reductase (TrxR) inhibition in comparison with that displayed by the monometallic complex 1 . Angiogenic activity assays performed in endothelial cells revealed the promising antimetastatic potential of 1 , 2 and 4 .