Electrochemical reduction of nitrate to hydroxylamine on gold electrode.

In this study, we explore the efficacy of gold (Au) as a selective electrocatalyst for the reduction of nitrate to hydroxylamine, a valuable nitrogen-based chemical, while also evaluating the by-product formation of ammonia. We systematically optimized various experimental parameters including nitrate concentration, pH, and applied potential. We found that at an applied potential of -0.7 V vs. RHE in 0.1 M HNO3, Au achieves a 230.1 ± 19 µmol NH2OH h-1 cm-2 yield, with a 34.2 ± 2.8% faradaic efficiency. This study underscores the potential of Au as an efficient and selective electrocatalyst for generating value-added nitrogen products through an electrochemical pathway.

Surface Oxygen Defect Engineering of A2B2O7 Pyrochlore Semiconductors Boosts the Electrocatalytic Reduction of CO2-to-HCOOH.

The electrocatalytic conversion of inert CO2 to value-added chemical fuels powered by renewable energy is one of the benchmark approaches to address excessive carbon emissions and achieve carbon-neutral energy restructuring. However, the adsorption/activation of supersymmetric CO2 is facing insurmountable challenges that constrain its industrial-scale applications. Here, this theory-guided study confronts these challenges by leveraging the synergies of bimetallic sites and defect engineering, where pyrochlore-type semiconductor A2B2O7 is employed as research platform and the conversion of CO2-to-HCOOH as the model reaction. Specifically, defect engineering intensified greatly the chemisorption-induced CO2 polarization via the bimetallic coordination, thermodynamically beneficial to the HCOOH production via the *HCO2 intermediate. The optimal V-BSO-430 electrocatalyst with abundant surface oxygen vacancies achieved a superior HCOOH yield of 116.7 mmol h-1 cm-2 at -1.2 VRHE, rivalling the incumbent similar reaction systems. Furthermore, the unique catalytic unit featured with a Bi1-Sn-Bi2 triangular structure, which is reconstructed by defect engineering, and altered the pathway of CO2 adsorption and activation to allow the preferential affinity of the suspended O atom in *HCO2 to H. As a result, V-BSO-430 gave an impressive FEHCOOH of 93% at -1.0 VRHE. This study held promises for inspiring the exploration of bimetallic materials from the massive semiconductor database.

Noble-Metal-Free High-Entropy Alloy Nanoparticles for Efficient Solar-Driven Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction.

Metal nanoparticle (NP) cocatalysts are widely investigated for their ability to enhance the performance of photocatalytic materials; however, their practical application is often limited by the inherent instability under light irradiation. This challenge has catalyzed interest in exploring high-entropy alloys (HEAs), which, with their increased entropy and lower Gibbs free energy, provide superior stability. In this study, 3.5 nm-sized noble-metal-free NPs composed of a FeCoNiCuMn HEA are successfully synthesized. With theoretic calculation and experiments, the electronic structure of HEA in augmenting the catalytic CO2 reduction has been uncovered, including the individual roles of each element and the collective synergistic effects. Then, their photocatalytic CO2 reduction capabilities are investigated when immobilized on TiO2. HEA NPs significantly enhance the CO2 photoreduction, achieving a 23-fold increase over pristine TiO2, with CO and CH4 production rates of 235.2 and 19.9 µmol g-1 h-1, respectively. Meanwhile, HEA NPs show excellent stability under simulated solar irradiation, as well high-energy X-ray irradiation. This research emphasizes the promising role of HEA NPs, composed of earth-abundant elements, in revolutionizing the field of photocatalysis.

Tunable Band Engineering Management on Perovskite MAPbBr3 /COFs Nano-Heterostructures for Efficient S-S Coupling Reactions.

Efficient artificial photosynthesis of disulfide bonds holds promises to facilitate reverse decoding of genetic codes and deciphering the secrets of protein multilevel folding, as well as the development of life science and advanced functional materials. However, the incumbent synthesis strategies encounter separation challenges arising from leaving groups in the ─S─S─ coupling reaction. In this study, according to the reaction mechanism of free-radical-triggered ─S─S─ coupling, light-driven heterojunction functional photocatalysts are tailored and constructed, enabling them to efficiently generate free radicals and trigger the coupling reaction. Specifically, perovskites and covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are screened out as target materials due to their superior light-harvesting and photoelectronic properties, as well as flexible and tunable band structure. The in situ assembled Z-scheme heterojunction MAPB-M-COF (MAPbBr3 = MAPB, MA+ = CH3 NH2 + ) demonstrates a perfect trade-off between quantum efficiency and redox chemical potential via band engineering management. The MAPB-M-COF achieves a 100% ─S─S─ coupling yield with a record photoquantum efficiency of 11.50% and outstanding cycling stability, rivaling all the incumbent similar reaction systems. It highlights the effectiveness and superiority of application-oriented band engineering management in designing efficient multifunctional photocatalysts. This study demonstrates a concept-to-proof research methodology for the development of various integrated heterojunction semiconductors for light-driven chemical reaction and energy conversion.

Stabilizing ruthenium dioxide with cation-anchored sulfate for durable oxygen evolution in proton-exchange membrane water electrolyzers.

Ruthenium dioxide is the most promising alternative to the prevailing but expensive iridium-based catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction in proton-exchange membrane water electrolyzers. However, the under-coordinated lattice oxygen of ruthenium dioxide is prone to over-oxidation, and oxygen vacancies are formed at high oxidation potentials under acidic corrosive conditions. Consequently, ruthenium atoms adjacent to oxygen vacancies are oxidized into soluble high-valence derivatives, causing the collapse of the ruthenium dioxide crystal structure and leading to its poor stability. Here, we report an oxyanion protection strategy to prevent the formation of oxygen vacancies on the ruthenium dioxide surface by forming coordination-saturated lattice oxygen. Combining density functional theory calculations, electrochemical measurements, and a suite of operando spectroscopies, we showcase that barium-anchored sulfate can greatly impede ruthenium loss and extend the lifetime of ruthenium-based catalysts during acidic oxygen evolution, while maintaining the activity. This work paves a new way for designing stable and active anode catalysts toward acidic water splitting.

Enhanced CO2 Electroreduction Selectivity toward Ethylene on Pyrazolate-Stabilized Asymmetric Ni-Cu Hybrid Sites.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) possess well-defined, designable structures, holding great potential in enhancing product selectivity for electrochemical CO2 reduction (CO2R) through active site engineering. Here, we report a novel MOF catalyst featuring pyrazolate-stabilized asymmetric Ni/Cu sites, which not only maintains structural stability under harsh electrochemical conditions but also exhibits extraordinarily high ethylene (C2H4) selectivity during CO2R. At a cathode potential of -1.3 V versus RHE, our MOF catalyst, denoted as Cu1Ni-BDP, manifests a C2H4 Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 52.7% with an overall current density of 0.53 A cm-2 in 1.0 M KOH electrolyte, surpassing that on prevailing Cu-based catalysts. More remarkably, the Cu1Ni-BDP MOF exhibits a stable performance with only 4.5% reduction in C2H4 FE during 25 h of CO2 electrolysis. A suite of characterization tools─such as high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, operando X-ray diffraction, and infrared spectroscopy─and density functional theory calculations collectively reveal that the cubic pyrazolate-metal coordination structure and the asymmetric Ni-Cu sites in the MOF catalyst synergistically facilitate the stable formation of C2H4 from CO2.

Effects of Oxygen Flow during Fabrication by Magnetron Sputtering on Structure and Performance of Zr-Doped HfO2 Thin Films.

Oxygen defects in Hafnium Oxide (HfO2)-based ferroelectric thin films not only are related to the cause of ferroelectricity but also affect the ferroelectric properties of the thin films. This paper, therefore, focuses on the fabrication of Zr:HfO2 thin films by RF (Radio Frequency) magnetron sputtering with Zr-doped HfO2 as the target and examines how oxygen flow impacts the oxygen vacancies and electrical properties thereof. Additionally, TiN thin-film electrodes were prepared by direct current (DC) magnetron reactive sputtering using nitrogen as the reaction gas, the influences of the substrate temperature on the film deposition rate and crystal phase structure were investigated, and the resultant thin-film electrodes with the lowest resistivity were obtained. Furthermore, the ferroelectric hysteresis loop and leakage current density of metal-insulator-metal (MIM) ferroelectric capacitors formed by annealing the 30 nm thick deposited Zr:HfO2 sandwiched between the top and bottom TiN electrodes were measured. The results demonstrate that varying oxygen flow has a considerable effect on oxygen vacancies and the Zr doping concentration of deposited Zr:HfO2 ferroelectric thin films. When the oxygen flow is set to 40 sccm (standard cubic centimeters per minute) and an external electric field strength of 2 mV/cm is applied, the remnant polarization reaches 18 µC/cm2, with a decrease in the leakage current density of 105-6 orders of magnitude.

Hierarchical Hollow-TiO2@CdS/ZnS Hybrid for Solar-Driven CO2-Selective Conversion.

Light-driven valorization conversion of CO2 is an encouraging carbon-negative pathway that shifts energy-reliance from fossil fuels to renewables. Herein, a hierarchical urchin-like hollow-TiO2@CdS/ZnS (HTO@CdS/ZnS) Z-scheme hybrid synthesized by an in situ self-assembly strategy presents superior photocatalytic CO2-to-CO activity with nearly 100% selectivity. Specifically, benefitting from the reasonable architectural and interface design, as well as surface modification, this benchmarked visible-light-driven photocatalyst achieves a CO output of 62.2 µmol·h-1 and a record apparent quantum yield of 6.54% with the Co(bpy)32+ (bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine) cocatalyst. It rivals all the incumbent selective photocatalytic conversion of CO2 to CO in the CH3CN/H2O/TEOA reaction systems. Specifically, the addition of HTO and stabilized ZnS enables the photocatalyst to effectively upgrade optical and electrical performances, contributing to efficient light-harvesting and photogenerated carrier separation, as well as interfacial charge transfer. The tremendous enhancement of photocatalytic performance reveals the superiority of the Z-scheme heterojunction assembled from HTO and CdS/ZnS, featuring the inner electric field derived from the band bending of HTO@CdS/ZnS make CdS resistant to photocorrosion. This study allows access to inspire studies on rationally modeling and constructing diverse heterostructures for the storage and conversion of renewables and chemicals.

Surface Ru-H Bipyridine Complexes-Grafted TiO2 Nanohybrids for Efficient Photocatalytic CO2 Methanation.

A series of novel surface Ru-H bipyridine complexes-grafted TiO2 nanohybrids were for the first time prepared by a combined procedure of surface organometallic chemistry with post-synthetic ligand exchange for photocatalytic conversion of CO2 to CH4 with H2 as electron and proton donors under visible light irradiation. The selectivity toward CH4 increased to 93.4% by the ligand exchange of 4,4'-dimethyl-2,2'-bipyridine (4,4'-bpy) with the surface cyclopentadienyl (Cp)-RuH complex and the CO2 methanation activity was enhanced by 4.4-fold. An impressive rate of 241.2 µL·g-1·h-1 for CH4 production was achieved over the optimal photocatalyst. The femtosecond transient IR absorption results demonstrated that the hot electrons were fast injected in 0.9 ps from the photoexcited surface 4,4'-bpy-RuH complex into the conduction band of TiO2 nanoparticles to form a charge-separated state with an average lifetime of ca. 50.0 ns responsible for the CO2 methanation. The spectral characterizations indicated clearly that the formation of CO2•- radicals by single electron reduction of CO2 molecules adsorbed on surface oxygen vacancies of TiO2 nanoparticles was the most critical step for the methanation. Such radical intermediates were inserted into the explored Ru-H bond to generate Ru-OOCH species and finally CH4 and H2O in the presence of H2.

Site-Sensitive Selective CO2 Photoreduction to CO over Gold Nanoparticles.

We demonstrate a new case of materials-gene engineering to precisely design photocatalysts with the prescribed properties. Based on theoretical calculations, a phase-doping strategy was proposed to regulate the pathways of CO2 conversion over Au nanoparticles (NPs) loaded TiO2 photocatalysts. As a result, the thermodynamic bottleneck of CO2 -to-CO conversion is successfully unlocked by the incorporation of stable twinning crystal planes into face-centered cubic (fcc) phase Au NPs. Compared to bare pristine TiO2 , the activity results showed that the loading of regular fcc-Au NPs raised the CO production by 18-fold but suppressed the selectivity from 84 % to 75 %, whereas Au NPs with twinning (110) and (100) facets boosted the activity by nearly 40-fold and established near unity CO selectivity. This enhancement is shown to originate from a beneficial shift in the surface reactive site energetics arising at the twinned stacking fault, whereby both the CO reaction energy and desorption energy were significantly reduced.

Molecular Dipole-Induced Photoredox Catalysis for Hydrogen Evolution over Self-Assembled Naphthalimide Nanoribbons.

D-π-A type 4-((9-phenylcarbazol-3-yl)ethynyl)-N-dodecyl-1,8-naphthalimide (CZNI) with a large dipole moment of 8.49 D and A-π-A type bis[(4,4'-1,8-naphthalimide)-N-dodecyl]ethyne (NINI) with a negligible dipole moment of 0.28 D, were smartly designed and synthesized to demonstrate the evidence of a molecular dipole as the dominant mechanism for controlling charge separation of organic semiconductors. In aqueous solution, these two novel naphthalimides can self-assemble to form nanoribbons (NRs) that present significantly different traces of exciton dissociation dynamics. Upon photoexcitation of NINI-NRs, no charge-separated excitons (CSEs) are formed due to the large exciton binding energy, accordingly there is no hydrogen evolution. On the contrary, in the photoexcited CZNI-NRs, the initial bound Frenkel excitons are dissociated to long-lived CSEs after undergoing ultrafast charge transfer within ca. 1.25 ps and charge separation within less than 5.0 ps. Finally, these free electrons were injected into Pt co-catalysts for reducing protons to H2 at a rate of ca. 417 µmol h-1 g-1 , correspondingly an apparent quantum efficiency of ca. 1.3 % can be achieved at 400 nm.

The Hole-Tunneling Heterojunction of Hematite-Based Photoanodes Accelerates Photosynthetic Reaction.

Single-atom metal-insulator-semiconductor (SMIS) heterojunctions based on Sn-doped Fe2 O3 nanorods (SF NRs) were designed by combining atomic deposition of an Al2 O3 overlayer with chemical grafting of a RuOx hole-collector for efficient CO2 -to-syngas conversion. The RuOx -Al2 O3 -SF photoanode with a 3.0 nm thick Al2 O3 overlayer gave a >5-fold-enhanced IPCE value of 52.0 % under 370 nm light irradiation at 1.2 V vs. Ag/AgCl, compared to the bare SF NRs. The dielectric field mediated the charge dynamics at the Al2 O3 /SF NRs interface. Accumulation of long-lived holes on the surface of the SF NRs photoabsorber aids fast tunneling transfer of hot holes to single-atom RuOx species, accelerating the O2 -evolving reaction kinetics. The maximal CO-evolution rate of 265.3 mmol g-1 h-1 was achieved by integration of double SIMS-3 photoanodes with a single-atom Ni-doped graphene CO2 -reduction-catalyst cathode; an overall quantum efficiency of 5.7 % was recorded under 450 nm light irradiation.

Electric-Field-Mediated Electron Tunneling of Supramolecular Naphthalimide Nanostructures for Biomimetic H2 Production.

The design and synthesis of two semiconducting bis (4-ethynyl-bridging 1, 8-naphthalimide) bolaamphiphiles (BENI-COO- and BENI-NH3+ ) to fabricate supramolecular metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) nanostructures for biomimetic hydrogen evolution under visible light irradiation is presented. A H2 evolution rate of ca. 3.12 mmol g-1 ⋅h-1 and an apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) of ca. 1.63 % at 400 nm were achieved over the BENI-COO- -NH3+ -Ni MIS photosystem prepared by electrostatic self-assembly of BENI-COO- with the opposite-charged DuBois-Ni catalysts. The hot electrons of photoexcited BENI-COO- nanofibers were tunneled to the molecular Ni collectors across a salt bridge and an alkyl region of 2.2-2.5 nm length at a rate of 6.10×108  s-1 , which is five times larger than the BENI-NH3+ nanoribbons (1.17×108  s-1 ). The electric field benefited significantly the electron tunneling dynamics and compensated the charge-separated states insufficient in the BENI-COO- nanofibers.

Direct Z-Scheme Heterojunction of Semicoherent FAPbBr3/Bi2WO6 Interface for Photoredox Reaction with Large Driving Force.

Metal halide perovskites with direct band gap and strong light absorption are promising materials for harvesting solar energy; however, their relatively narrow band gap limits their redox ability when used as a photocatalyst. Adding a second semiconductor component with the appropriate band structure offsets can generate a Z-scheme photocatalytic system, taking full advantage of the perovskite's intrinsic properties. In this work, we develop a direct Z-scheme photocatalyst based on formamidinium lead bromide and bismuth tungstate (FAPbBr3/Bi2WO6) with strong redox ability for artificial solar-to-chemical energy conversion. With desirable band offsets and strong joint redox potential, the dual photocatalyst is shown to form a semicoherent heterointerface. Ultrafast transient infrared absorption studies employing selective excitation reveal synergetic photocarrier dynamics and demonstrate Z-scheme charge transfer mechanisms. Under simulated solar irradiation, a large driving force photoredox reaction (∼2.57 eV) of CO2 reduction coupled with benzyl alcohol oxidation to benzaldehyde is achieved on the Z-scheme FAPbBr3/Bi2WO6 photocatalyst, harnessing the full synergetic potential of the combined system.

Molecular Engineering of Fully Conjugated sp2 Carbon-Linked Polymers for High-Efficiency Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution.

The diverse nature of organic precursors offers a versatile platform for precisely tailoring the electronic properties of semiconducting polymers. In this study, three fully conjugated sp2 carbon-linked polymers have been designed and synthesized for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution under visible-light illumination, by copolymerizing different C3 -symmetric aromatic aldehydes as knots with the 1,4-phenylene diacetonitrile (PDAN) linker through a C=C condensation reaction. The hydrogen evolution (HER) is achieved at a maximum rate of 30.2 mmol g-1 h-1 over a polymer based on 2,4,6-triphenyl-1,3,5-triazine units linked by cyano-substituted phenylene, with an apparent quantum yield (AQY) of 7.20 % at 420 nm. Increasing the degree of conjugation and planarity not only extends visible-light absorption, but also stabilizes the fully conjugated sp2 -carbon-linked donor-acceptor (D-A) polymer. Incorporating additional electron-withdrawing triazine units into the D-A polymer to form multiple electron donors and acceptors can greatly promote exciton separation and charge transfer, thus significantly enhancing the photocatalytic activity.

Hot π-Electron Tunneling of Metal-Insulator-COF Nanostructures for Efficient Hydrogen Production.

A metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) photosystem based on covalent organic framework (COF) semiconductors was designed for robust and efficient hydrogen evolution under visible-light irradiation. A maximal H2 evolution rate of 8.42 mmol h-1 g-1 and a turnover frequency of 789.5 h-1 were achieved by using a MIS photosystem prepared by electrostatic self-assembly of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) insulator-capped Pt nanoparticles (NPs) with the hydrophilic imine-linked TP-COFs having =C=O-H-N= hydrogen-bonding groups. The hot π-electrons in the photoexcited n-type TP-COF semiconductors can be efficiently extracted and tunneled to Pt NPs across an ultrathin PVP insulating layer to reduce protons to H2 . Compared to the Schottky-type counterparts, the COF-based MIS photosystems give a 32-fold-enhanced carrier efficiency, attributed to the combined enhancement of photoexcitation rate, charge separation, and oxidation rate of holes accumulated in the valence band of the TP-COF semiconductor.

High-Rate, Tunable Syngas Production with Artificial Photosynthetic Cells.

An artificial photosynthetic (APS) system consisting of a photoanodic semiconductor that harvests solar photons to split H2 O, a Ni-SNG cathodic catalyst for the dark reaction of CO2 reduction in a CO2 -saturated NaHCO3 solution, and a proton-conducting membrane enabled syngas production from CO2 and H2 O with solar-to-syngas energy-conversion efficiency of up to 13.6 %. The syngas CO/H2 ratio was tunable between 1:2 and 5:1. Integration of the APS system with photovoltaic cells led to an impressive overall quantum efficiency of 6.29 % for syngas production. The largest turnover frequency of 529.5 h-1 was recorded with a photoanodic N-TiO2 nanorod array for highly stable CO production. The CO-evolution rate reached a maximum of 154.9 mmol g-1 h-1 in the dark compartment of the APS cell. Scanning electrochemical-atomic force microscopy showed the localization of electrons on the single-nickel-atom sites of the Ni-SNG catalyst, thus confirming that the multielectron reduction of CO2 to CO was kinetically favored.

Alkaline-Earth Metals-Doped Pyrochlore Gd2Zr2O7 as Oxygen Conductors for Improved NO2 Sensing Performance.

This work proposed a novel strategy to fabricate highly-stable NO2 sensor based on a pyrochlore-phase Gd2Zr2O7 oxygen conductor. The incorporation of alkaline-earth metals distinctly enhances the sensing performance of the Gd2Zr2O7 based sensors. The excellent sensor based on Gd1.95Ca0.05Zr2O7+δ exhibits rapid response-recovery characteristics with the maximum response current value (ΔI = 6.4 µA), extremely short 90% responce (3 s) and 90% recovery (35 s) time towards 500 ppm NO2 at 500 °C, which is better than that of commercial YSZ under the same condition. The ΔI value towards NO2 is much higher than those towards other gases (CH4, C3H6, C3H8, CO, NO, SO2, C2H4, CO2 and C2H6), exhibiting excellent selectivity for detecting NO2. The response signal basically maintains a stable value of 6.4 µA after the sensors was stored for half a month and a month. The outstanding selectivity and highly stability of the NO 2 sensors based on Gd2-xMxZr2O7+δ are expected to a promising application in automotive vehicles.