Solar Driven Gas Phase Advanced Oxidation Processes for Methane Removal - Challenges and Perspectives

Methane (CH₄) is a potent greenhouse gas and the second highest contributor to global warming. CH₄ emissions are still growing at an alarmingly high pace. To limit global warming to 1.5 °C, one of the most effective strategies is to reduce rapidly the CH₄ emissions by developing large-scale methane removal methods. The purpose of this perspective paper is threefold. (1) To highlight the technology gap dealing with low concentration CH₄ (at many emission sources and in the atmosphere). (2) To analyze the challenges and prospects of solar-driven gas phase advanced oxidation processes for CH₄ removal. And (3) to propose some ideas, which may help to develop solar-driven gas phase advanced oxidation processes and make them deployable at a climate significant scale.     

Flexible strain sensor with ridge-like microstructures for wearable applications

The flexible stretchable sensors have great potential for implementation in various applications, such as intelligent soft robots, health monitoring, and motion detection. However, most of the flexible stretchable sensors with microstructures and high sensitivities are fabricated by expensive templates and complex processes. In consideration of large-scale fabrication, a low cost and efficient way is in great demand. Herein, electroless plating on Nafion films with decent swelling ratios are proposed to fabricate stretchable sensors with wrinkle-structured electrodes. By adding isopropanol (IPA) to the electroless plating process, the H₂O-IPA sensor with larger swelling ratio shows deeper surface wrinkles, higher surface roughness, and better sensitivity to strain. At the same time, the H₂O-IPA sensor exhibit good durability (500 cycles). By mounting the sensor on the joint of human finger, the motion of the finger bending and even the bending degree can be accurately detected, indicating the potential use in the field of wearable devices and soft electronic skins.     

Control of pore environment in highly porous carbon materials for C2H6/C2H4 separation with exceptional ethane uptake

Adsorptive separation of C₂H₆ from C₂H₄ by adsorbents is an energy-efficient and promising method to boost the polymer grades C₂H₄ production. However, that C₂H₆ and C₂H₄ display very similar physical properties, making their separation extremely challenging. In this work, by regulating the pore environment in a family of chitosan-based carbon materials (C-CTS-1, C-CTS-2, C-CTS-4, and C-CTS-6)- we target ultrahigh C₂H₆ uptake and C₂H₆/C₂H₄ separation, which exceeds most benchmark carbon materials. Explicitly, the C₂H₆ uptake of C-CTS-2 (166 cm³/g at 100 kPa and 298 K) has the second-highest adsorption capacity among all the porous materials. In addition, C-CTS-2 gives C₂H₆/C₂H₄ selectivity of 1.75 toward a 1:15 mixture of C₂H₆/C₂H₄. Notably, the adsorption enthalpies for C₂H₆ in C-CTS-2 are low (21.3 kJ/mol), which will facilitate regeneration in mild conditions. Furthermore, C₂H₆/C₂H₄ separation performance was confirmed by binary breakthrough experiments. Under different ethane/ethylene ratios, C-CTS-X extracts a low ethane concentration from an ethane/ethylene mixture and produces high-purity C₂H₄ in one step. Spectroscopic measurement and diffraction analysis provide critical insight into the adsorption/separation mechanism. The nitrogen functional groups on the surface play a vital role in improving C₂H₆/C₂H₄ selectivity, and the adsorption capacities depend on the pore size and micropore volume. Moreover, these robust porous materials exhibit outstanding stability (up to 800 °C) and can be easily prepared on a large scale (kg) at a low cost (～$26 per kg), which is very significant for potential industrial applications.     

Aromaticity of ortho and meta 8-Cycloparaphenylene and Their Dications: Induced Magnetic Field Analysis with Localized and Delocalized Orbitals in Strained Nanohoops

Dications of cycloparaphenyles ([n]CPPs) are known to exhibit in-plane global aromaticity, contained in a nanobelt structure. Recently synthesized ortho and meta isomers of [n]CPPs break the radial symmetry of π structure incorporating perpendicular oriented π orbitals. Herein we set to explore the aromaticity of neutral and dicationic ortho and meta isomers of [8]CPP by dissecting the induced magnetic field to contributions of the twofold radial/perpendicular π system using delocalized canonical molecular orbitals (CMO), and introducing the natural localized molecular orbitals (NLMO) analysis with DFT methods. The dications sustain a reduced global aromatic character of the radial π system under a perpendicular orientation of the external field which declines from ortho to meta isomer and reinforces local aromaticity of ortho ring while it destroys aromaticity of meta ring. Aromaticity variations are determined by symmetry governed rotational excitations of frontier π orbitals. The parallel orientation reveals a substantial reduction of local aromaticity verified with NICS_π analysis and electron delocalization indices.     

Theoretical prediction of intrinsic self-trapping of electrons and holes in monoclinic HfO2

We predict, by means of ab initio calculations, stable electron and hole polaron states in perfect monoclinic HfO2. Hole polarons are localized on oxygen atoms in the two oxygen sublattices. An electron polaron is localized on hafnium atoms. Small barriers for polaron hopping suggest relatively high mobility of trapped charges. The one-electron energy levels in the gap, optical transition energies and ESR g-tensor components are calculated.     

Chemical Composition of Flowers of Gossypium hirsutum

Chemistry of Natural Compounds -     

可控表面磷原子修饰提升超细W2C纳米颗粒电解水析氢反应性能

研究高活性和稳定性的非贵金属基析氢催化剂对解决当前能源危机和环境污染问题具有重要意义.碳化钨具有与贵金属Pt类似的d带电子结构,因而成为一类新兴的非贵金属析氢催化剂,受到广泛关注.磷掺杂是提高催化剂析氢活性的有效方法之一,然而目前最常见的构筑磷掺杂方法是使用多金属氧酸盐(POMs,如H3PW12O40),其固定的W/P原子比导致W2C中的掺杂浓度难以调控,并且磷掺杂主要是进入碳载体而不是碳化物本身,从而导致无法明确杂原子对其电催化析氢活性的贡献.本文采用植酸(PA)为磷源设计合成了可控磷掺杂W2C纳米颗粒,并探讨了催化剂组分、杂原子掺杂位置与析氢性能之间的关系.深入研究了磷掺杂碳化钨(WCP)的化学结构和析氢活性.与原始的W2C催化剂相比,WCP具有更高的本征活性、更快的电子转移速率和更多的活性位数量,并且在酸性和碱性条件下均表现出较好的析氢性能.特别是过电位为-200 mV时,WCP催化剂的本征活性在酸性和碱性条件下分别为0.07和0.56 H2 s-1,高出纯W2C(0.01和0.05 H2 S-1)数倍.同时,在电流密度为-10 mA cm-2时,优化后的WCP催化剂在酸性和碱性条件下的析氢过电位分别降低了96和88 mV.XPS及EDS元素分析结果表明,随磷源添加量增加,磷掺杂从碳化钨表面逐渐向内部扩散,进一步说明磷取代位置与析氢活性之间的构效关系,高浓度的表面磷取代可以加速质子捕获过程,从而显著提高其析氢活性,而过量的内部磷取代会破坏W2C结构,降低电子转移速率,从而导致析氢性能下降.利用密度泛函理论计算深入研究了WCP具有较好析氢性能的原因,与内部磷取代相比,表面磷取代会使碳化钨表现出更合适的氢吸附自由能,并且更加有效地降低了氢释放势垒,从而优化了析氢反应动力学.综上,本文为元素掺杂工艺提供了新的思路,同时研究了表面异质原子对析氢活性的关键作用,为该类催化材料的构效关系研究提供了新思路.     

基于氮杂Mn咔咯二维纳米材料的单原子Mn中心催化氧化烷烃制醇

咔咯是由四个吡咯共轭相连而形成的具有芳香性的新型卟啉类大环化合物,但咔咯分子中存在一个直接连结两个吡咯环的C?C键,与卟啉相比,仅仅是少了一个“meso”位置的C原子.因此,在结构上,咔咯含有三个“吡咯型”氮原子和一个“吡啶型”氮原子,当咔咯失去三个内氢原子后变成了三价阴离子,易与金属形成高价态的稳定配合物.氮杂咔咯是一种咔咯的meso位上的C被取代为N的咔咯衍生物.与正常的咔咯相比,它更易于与过渡金属形成稳定配合物.正是由于这些独特的结构特点,使其在金属催化、染料敏化太阳能电池、光敏剂、金属传感器、甚至在医学上都有很好的应用前景.金属有机大环均相催化剂的非均相化,是改进反应产物分离和实现催化剂循环使用的最简单有效方法之一.环境友好的Mn氮杂咔咯催化剂,在温和条件下可以利用氧气直接将有机底物氧化.本文选用Mn氮杂咔咯催化剂作为基本构建单元,通过理论计算,构建了一种新型的具有高催化活性的含Mn氮杂咔咯环结构单元的二维纳米催化材料.我们分别使用高斯软件(Gaussian 09)和维也纳从头算模拟软件包(VASP)对孤立分子和周期性体系进行结构优化以及性质的计算.在这种二维材料中,每一个Mn原子作为相对独立的金属单原子中心(SAC),保留了单环中Mn金属中心的高催化活性.在温和的光照条件下,Mn金属中心可以直接活化氧气生成类自由基[Mn]-O-O中心,随后[Mn]-O-O中心可以有效地通过夺取有机底物中的H和紧接着新生自由基的偶合反应,选择性氧化C?H键为C?OH键.另外,通过沿[Mn]-O-O反应轴施加不同强度的外电场,可对此二维纳米材料的催化反应活性进行精细调控.本文为实验上制备基于Mn氮杂咔咯的非均相催化剂以及单原子Mn基催化剂提供了理论依据.     

Dynamic Ring-chain Equilibrium of Nucleophilic Thiol-yne “Click” Polyaddition for Recyclable Poly(dithioacetal)s

We report a dynamic polymerization system based on the reversible nucleophilic Michael polyaddition of activated alkynes and dithiols. Four poly(dithioacetal)s(P1-P4) were prepared via the base-catalyzed thiol-yne "click" polyaddition of two dithiols(1,4-butanedithiol(4 S) and 1,5-pentanedithiol(5 S)) and two alkynones(3-butyn-2-one(Y1) and 1-phenyl-2-propyn-1-one(Y2)) at high concentrations. We systematically investigated the base-catalyzed polymerization of 4 S and Y1(for polymer P1) under different conditions, and found that this polymerization was a highly concentration-dependent dynamic system: polymer P1 was formed at high concentration, while seven-membered dithioacetal, 1-(1,3-dithiepan-2-yl) propan-2-one(C1), was obtained at low concentration. The polymerization of 4 S and Y2(for polymer P4)displayed similar polymerization behavior, generating 2-(1,3-dithiepan-2-yl)-1-phenylethanone(C4) at low concentration. On the contrary,polymer P2(from Y1 and 5 S) was exclusively obtained with no formation of eight-membered dithioacetal. The polymerizations of Y1 with 1,2-ethanedithiol(2 S) and 1,3-dimercaptopropane(3 S) only afforded corresponding five-and six-membered dithioacetals, 1-(1,3-dithiolan-2-yl)propan-2-one(C2) and 1-(1,3-dithian-2-yl) propan-2-one(C3). This dynamic behavior of P1 and P4 was attributed to the concentrationdependent retro-Michael addition reaction between a thiol and a β-sulfido-α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compound catalyzed by bases.Furthermore, polymers P1 and P4 could be depolymerized into C1 and C4 in yields of 58% and 95%, respectively. The ring-opening polymerization of C1 at high concentration could successfully regenerate polymer P1. Thus, a new type of closed-loop recyclable poly(dithioacetal)s was developed.