Recent advances in single atom catalysts for the electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction

The electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO₂RR) offers a promising solution to mitigate carbon emission and at the same time generate valuable carbonaceous chemicals/fuels. Single atom catalysts (SACs) are encouraging to catalyze the electrochemical CO₂RR due to the tunable electronic structure of the central metal atoms, which can regulate the adsorption energy of reactants and reaction intermediates. Moreover, SACs form a bridge between homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts, providing an ideal platform to explore the reaction mechanism of electrochemical reactions. In this review, we first discuss the strategies for promoting the CO₂RR performance, including suppression of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), generation of C₁ products and formation of C₂₊ products. Then, we summarize the recent developments in regulating the structure of SACs toward the CO₂RR based on the above aspects. Finally, several issues regarding the development of SACs for the CO₂RR are raised and possible solutions are provided.

The electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO₂RR) offers a promising solution to mitigate carbon emission and at the same time generate valuable carbonaceous chemicals/fuels.     

Theoretical prediction of noble gas containing anions FNgO- (Ng = He, Ar, and Kr)

The structures and energies of the noble gas containing anions FNgO- (Ng = He, Ar, and Kr) have been calculated by high-level ab initio calculations. The FNgO- anions were found to be deep-energy minima at the singlet electronic state, and their energies are significantly lower than those at the triplet state. High dissociation energy barriers to Ng + OF- were also predicted. The unexpected stability of the FNgO- was due to the dramatic ion-induced O=Ng bond formation. The calculated results suggested possible experimental identification of the anionic species and even some related "ionic compounds" under cryogenic conditions.     

SiH2Cl2: ab initio anharmonic force field, dipole moments, and infrared vibrational transitions

The vibrational spectra of SiH2Cl2 have been recorded in the 1000-13,000 cm(-1) region, utilizing the Fourier-transform spectroscopy and Fourier-transform intracavity laser absorption spectroscopy. Totally 61 band centers and intensities are derived from the infrared spectra. An ab initio quartic force field is obtained by applying the second-order Moller-Plesset perturbation theory and correlation-consistent polarized valence triplet-zeta basis sets [J. Chem. Phys. 90, 1007 (1989); 98, 1358 (1993)]. Most observed bands are assigned by the vibration analysis based on the second-order perturbation theory. Reduced-dimensional ab initio dipole moment functions (two dimensional and three dimensional) have also been calculated to investigate the absolute band intensities of the SiH2 chromophore. The calculated values agree reasonably with the observed ones.     

A New Chemo‐Enzymatic Route to Side‐Chain Liquid‐Crystalline Polymers: The Synthesis and Polymerization of 6‐(4‐Methoxybiphenyl‐4′‐oxy)hexyl Vinyl Hexanedioate

A novel synthetic method combining chemo and enzymatic synthesis strategies was employed to prepare a vinyl acetate type monomer, 6‐(4‐methoxybiphenyl‐4′‐oxy)hexyl vinyl hexanedioate (VA‐LC). Homo‐ and copolymers of VA‐LC with maleic anhydride (MAn) were prepared by conventional free radical polymerization using 2,2′‐azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) and 1,1′‐azobis (cyclohexane carbonitrile) (AHCN) as an initiator at 95 and 60 °C, respectively. The thermal properties of the generated polymeric material were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and the optical texture was inspected by polarizing optical microscopy (POM). While the monomer VA‐LC does not exhibit liquid‐crystalline properties, poly(VA‐LC), and the alternating copolymer of VA‐LC with maleic anhydride both displayed such properties.

     

Achiral Calcium‐Oxalate Crystals with Chiral Morphology from the Leaves of Some Solanacea Plants

The leaves of some plants, particularly among the Solanacea, contain crystals of calcium oxalate with a peculiar chiral pseudo‐tetrahedral morphology, even though the calcium oxalate crystal structure is centrosymmetric, hence achiral. We studied the morphology of these crystals extracted from the leaves of three Solanacea plants: the potato, the hot pepper, and a species of wild Solanum. The crystal morphology was the same in all three species. Based on the examination of more than 100 crystals from each plant, we showed that the crystal morphology is chiral with invariant chirality. We suggest that morphological chirality is induced by macromolecules during nucleation from a specific, genetically encoded crystal plane, and is further established during subsequent controlled crystal growth. This is one of few examples where it is possible to deduce a molecular mechanism for biologically induced breaking of morphological symmetry in organisms. A very high level of recognition is required by the macromolecules to allow them to distinguish between symmetry‐related crystal planes. It is also surprising that this finely controlled mechanism of crystal formation, including the chiral morphology, has been conserved during evolution.     

Simultaneous ion-exclusion/cation-exchange chromatography of anions and cations in acid rain waters on a weakly acidic cation-exchange resin by elution with sulfosalicylic acid

A simple, selective, and sensitive method for the simultaneous determination of anions (sulfate, nitrate, and chloride) and cations (sodium, ammonium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium) in acid rain waters was developed using ion-exclusion/ cation-exchange chromatography with conductimetric detection. A weakly acidic cation-exchange resin column (Tosho TSKgel OA-PAK-A) and a sulfosalicylic acid-methanol-water eluent was used. With a mobile phase comprising 1.25 mM sulfosalicylic acid in methanol-water (7.5:92.5) at 1.2 ml/min, simultaneous separation and detection of the above anions and cations was achieved in about 30 min. Linear calibration plots of peak area versus concentration were obtained over the concentration ranges 0-1.0 mM for anions (R=0.9991) and 0-0.5 mM for cations (R=0.9994). Detection limits calculated at S/N=3 ranged from 4.2 to 14.8 ppb for the anions and from 2.4 to 12.1 ppb for the cations. The reproducibility of retention times was 0.14-0.15% relative standard deviation (RSD) for anions and 0.18-0.31% for cations, and reproducibility of chromatographic peak areas was 1.22-1.75% RSD for anions and 1.81-2.10% for cations. The method was applied successfully to the simultaneous determination of anions and cations in aerosols transported from mainland China to central Japan, as determined by a meteorological satellite data analyzer.     

Thermodynamics and dynamics of metallic glass formers: their correlation for the investigation on potential energy landscape

Great progress has been made in basic features of the potential energy landscape (PEL) theoretically. The present work, however, attempts to cast new light on it from experimental aspects. By a survey of experimental data related to thermodynamics or dynamics of metallic glass-forming liquids, it is found that the increased rate of excitation of vibrational entropy at glass transition tends to increase the rate of generation of configurational part. Although for the type of metallic materials a generally positive relationship exists between the density of the energy minima at glass transition and the liquid fragility strength, just as expected, our main attention is paid to the phenomenon of the scattering of the slopes. Analysis shows that the phenomenon results from the different average height of energy barriers between minima near glass transition. Investigation on the PdNiP metallic system indicates that the mismatch entropy is a dominant factor in the barrier height: a large value of it results in low energy barriers. Our previous work on the AlNiCe system gives the support to this finding.