Noble metal

Photocatalytic technology can efficiently convert solar energy to chemical energy and this process is considered as one of the green and sustainable technology for practical implementation. In recent years, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have attracted widespread attention due to their unique advantages and have been widely applied in the field of photocatalysis. Among them, noble metals have contributed significant advances to the field as effective catalysts in photocatalytic reactions. Importantly, noble metals can also form a synergistic catalytic effect with MOFs to further improve the efficiency of photocatalytic reactions...

Reppe carbonylation of acetylene is an atom-economic and non-petroleum approach to synthesize acrylic acid and acrylate esters, which are key intermediates in the textile, leather finishing, and polymer industries. In the present work, a noble metal-free Co@SiO2 catalyst was prepared and evaluated in the methoxycarbonylation reaction of acetylene. It was discovered that pretreatment of the catalyst by different reductants (i.e., C2 H2 , CO, H2 , and syngas) greatly improved the catalytic activity, of which Co/SiO2 -H2 demonstrated the best performance under conditions of 160 °C, 0...

Reasonable design of non-noble metal catalysts with hollow open structure for hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of lignin derivatives to value-added chemicals is of great significance but challenging. Herein, a novel MOF-derived multilayer hollow sphere coated nickel‑tungsten bimetallic catalyst (Ni2 -WOx @CN-700) was fabricated via by confined pyrolysis strategy using bimetallic MOFs as a self-sacrificial template, which exhibits robust activity for the typical model HDO of vanillin to 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (Yield of 100 % at 140 °C for no less than 10 cycles)...

High-efficiency and low-cost catalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are critical for electrochemical water splitting to generate hydrogen, which is a clean fuel for sustainable energy conversion and storage. Among the emerging OER catalysts, transition metal dichalcogenides have exhibited superior activity compared to commercial standards such as RuO2, but inferior stability due to uncontrolled restructuring with OER. In this study, we create bimetallic sulfide catalysts by adapting the atomic ratio of Ni and Co in CoxNi1-xSy electrocatalysts to investigate the intricate restructuring processes...

To mimic the carbon cycle at a kinetically rapid pace, the sustainable conversion of omnipresent CO2 to value-added chemical feedstock and hydrocarbon fuels implies a remarkable prototype for utilizing released CO2 . Porous organic polymers (POPs) have been recognized as remarkable catalytic systems for achieving large-scale applicability in energy-driven processes. POPs offer mesoporous characteristics, higher surface area, and superior optoelectronic properties that lead to their relatively advanced activity and selectivity for CO2 conversion...

With the rapid development of anion exchange membrane technology and the availability of high-performance non-noble metal cathode catalysts in alkaline media, the commercialization of anion exchange membrane fuel cells has become feasible. Currently, anode materials for alkaline anion-exchange membrane fuel cells still rely on platinum-based catalysts, posing a challenge to the development of efficient low-Pt or Pt-free catalysts. Low-cost ruthenium-based anodes are being considered as alternatives to platinum...

The development of efficient non-noble metal electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) under acidic conditions remains a critical challenge. Herein, we report a N-doped carbonaceous component-engineered Co3 O4 (NCEC) catalyst synthesized via the sol-gel method. Dopamine hydrochloride (DA)-derived nitrogen-doped carbonaceous components were found to boost the OER performance of Co3 O4 . The optimized catalyst can reach an overpotential as low as 330 mV in 1 M H2 SO4 at a current density of 10 mA cm-2 and maintains a good long-term stability of 60 hours...

The advancement of highly effective heterojunction photocatalysts with improved charge separation and transfer has become a crucial scientific perspective for utilizing solar energy. In this study, we developed the S-scheme heterostructure by depositing N-doped CeO2-δ (NC) nanoparticles onto two-dimensional ZnIn2 S4 (ZIS) nanosheets via hydrolysis strategy for significantly enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction. The optimal H2 generation rate of ∼ 798 μmol g-1 h-1 was achieved for NC-3@ZIS under solar light irradiation, which is about 18 and 2 times higher than those of pristine CeO2 (∼44 μmol g-1 h-1 ) and ZIS (∼358 μmol g-1 h-1 ), respectively...

Nanofluids hold significant promise in diverse applications, particularly in biomedicine, where noble trimetallic nanofluids outperformed their monometallic counterparts. The composition, morphology, and size of these nanofluids play pivotal roles in their functionality. Controlled synthesis methods have garnered attention, focusing on precise morphology, content, biocompatibility, and versatile chemistry. Understanding how reaction parameters such as time, reducing agents, stabilizers, precursor concentration, temperature, and pH affect size and shape during synthesis is crucial...

The development of cost-effective and high-performance non-noble metal catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) holds substantial promise for real-world applications. Introducing a secondary metal to design bimetallic sites enables effective modulation of a metal-nitrogen-carbon (M-N-C) catalyst's electronic structure, providing new opportunities for enhancing ORR activity and stability. Here, we successfully synthesized an innovative hierarchical porous carbon material with dual sites of Zn and Mg (Zn/Mg-N-C) using polymeric ionic liquids (PILs) as precursors and SBA-15 as a template through a bottom-up approach...

The "terminal hydroxyl group anchoring mechanism" has been studied on metal oxides (Al2 O3 , CeO2 ) as well as a variety of noble and transition metals (Ag, Pt, Pd, Cu, Ni, Fe, Mn, and Co) in a number of generalized studies, but there is still a gap in how to regulate the content of terminal hydroxyl groups to influence the dispersion of the active species and thus to achieve optimal catalytic performance. Herein, we utilized AlOOH as a precursor for γ-Al2 O3 and induced the transformation of the exposed crystal face of γ-Al2 O3 from (110) to (100) by controlling the calcination temperature to generate more terminal hydroxyl groups to anchor Ag species...

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), which are composed of crystalline microporous materials with metal ions, have gained considerable interest as promising substrate materials for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) detection via charge transfer. Research on MOF-based SERS substrates has advanced rapidly because of the MOFs' excellent structural tunability, functionalizable pore interiors, and ultrahigh surface-to-volume ratios. Compared with traditional noble metal SERS plasmons, MOFs exhibit better biocompatibility, ease of operation, and tailorability...

Defects can introduce atomic structural modulation and tailor performance of materials. Herein, it demonstrates that semiconductor WO3 with inert electrocatalytic behavior can be activated through defect-induced tensile strains. Structural characterizations reveal that when simply treated in Ar/H2 atmosphere, oxygen vacancies will generate in WO3 and cause defective structures. Stacking faults are found in defects, thus modulating electronic structure and transforming electrocatalytic-inert WO3 into highly active electrocatalysts...

Iron (Fe)-doped β-nickel oxyhydroxide (β-NiOOH) is a highly active, noble-metal-free electrocatalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), with the latter being the bottleneck in electrochemical water splitting for sustainable hydrogen production. The mechanisms underlying how the Fe dopant modulates this host material's water electro-oxidation activity are still not entirely clear. Here, we combine hybrid density functional theory (DFT) and Hubbard-corrected DFT to investigate the OER activity of the most thermodynamically favorable (and therefore, expected to be the majority) crystallographic facets of β-NiOOH, namely (0001) and (101̄0)...

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a sensitive and fast technique for sensing applications such as chemical trace analysis. However, a successful, high-throughput practical implementation necessitates the availability of simple-to-use and economical SERS substrates. In this work, we present a robust, reproducible, flexible and yet cost-effective SERS substrate suited for the sensitive detection of analytes at near-infrared (NIR) excitation wavelengths. The fabrication is based on a simple dropcast deposition of silver or gold nanomaterials on an aluminium foil support, making the design suitable for mass production...

Using water as a renewable and safe energy source for hydrogen generation has reduced the need to use toxic fossil fuels. Photocatalytic approaches provide a worthy solution to avoid the high expenditure on complicated electrochemical pathways to promote Hydrogen Evolution Reactions. However, several types of photocatalysts including noble metal-based catalysts have already been in use for this purpose, which are generally considered high-cost as well. The present study aims to use the benefits of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with semiconductor-like characteristics, highly porous structures and high design flexibility...

A convenient self-assembly method is proposed for synthesis of 3D Au/MOF-808 (Zr) composite nanostructures with a cerium metal-organic framework loaded with gold nanoparticles. We combine adsorption properties of MOF materials with surface plasmon resonance of noble metals to construct hotspot-dense 3D Au/MOF-808 (Zr) SERS substrates, by using a two-step method of solvothermal and reduction reactions. The results show that optimal SERS substrates are obtained from a volume ratio of gold nanoparticles to MOF-808 (Zr) solution of 4:1 and a self-assembly time of 2 h...

We have developed an approach for predicting trends for efficient hot carrier generation among disordered metal alloys. We provide a simple argument for the importance of indirect transitions in the presence of disorder, thus justifying the use of Joint Density of States (JDOS)-like quantities for exploring these trends. We introduce a new JDOS-like quantity, JDOSK, which heuristically incorporates differences in particle lifetimes depending on their excitation energies. To demonstrate the efficacy of this new quantity, we apply it to the study of Cu50X50 where X = Ag, Au, Pd and Y50Pd50 where Y = Au, Ni...

Tin(II) sulfide (SnS2 ) has emerged as a promising candidate for visible light photocatalytic materials. As a member of the transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) family, SnS2 features a band gap of approximately 2.20 eV and a layered structure, rendering it suitable for visible light activation with a high specific surface area. However, the application of SnS2 as a visible light photocatalyst still requires improvement, particularly in addressing the high recombination of electrons and holes, as well as the poor selectivity inherent in its perfect crystal structure...

Herein, electroreductive umpolung benzylic deuteration of p -QMs using cheap and easily accessible D2 O as a deuterium source is reported. Various value-added benzylic deuterated diarylmethanes can be synthesized without the requirement of noble metal catalysts, redox reagents, and strong bases. The establishment of this protocol will provide an alternative strategy for acquiring benzylic deuterated diarylmethanes.