Theoretical Perspective on the Design of Surface Frustrated Lewis Pairs for Small-Molecule Activation.

The excellent reactivity of frustrated Lewis pairs (FLP) to activate small molecules has gained increasing attention in recent decades. Though the development of surface FLP (SFLP) is prompting the application of FLP in the chemical industry, the design of SFLP with superior activity, high density, and excellent stability for small-molecule activation is still challenging. Herein, we review the progress of designing SFLP by surface engineering, screening natural SFLP, and the dynamic formation of SFLP from theoretical perspectives. We highlight the breakthrough in fine-tuning the activity, density, and stability of the designed SFLP studied by using computational methods. We also discuss future challenges and directions in designing SFLP with outstanding capabilities for small-molecule activation.

Finding Natural, Dense, and Stable Frustrated Lewis Pairs on Wurtzite Crystal Surfaces for Small-Molecule Activation.

The surface frustrated Lewis pairs (SFLPs) open up new opportunities for substituting noble metals in the activation and conversion of stable molecules. However, the applications of SFLPs on a larger scale are impeded by the complex construction process, low surface density, and sensitivity to the reaction environment. Herein, wurtzite-structured crystals such as GaN, ZnO, and AlP are found for developing natural, dense, and stable SFLPs. It is revealed that the SFLPs can naturally exist on the (100) and (110) surfaces of wurtzite-structured crystals. All the surface cations and anions serve as the Lewis acid and Lewis base in SFLPs, respectively, contributing to the surface density of SFLPs as high as 7.26×1014 cm-2. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations indicate that the SFLPs can keep stable under high temperatures and the reaction atmospheres of CO and H2O. Moreover, outstanding performance for activating the given small molecules is achieved on these natural SFLPs, which originates from the optimal orbital overlap between SFLPs and small molecules. Overall, these findings not only provide a simple method to obtain dense and stable SFLPs but also unfold the nature of SFLPs toward the facile activation of small molecules.

Metal-Oxo Electronic Tuning via In Situ CO Decoration for Promoting Methane Conversion to Oxygenates over Single-Atom Catalysts.

Direct methane conversion (DMC) to oxygenates at low temperature is of great value but remains challenging due to the high energy barrier for C-H bond activation. Here, we report that in situ decoration of Pd1-ZSM-5 single atom catalyst (SAC) by CO molecules significantly promoted the DMC reaction, giving the highest turnover frequency of 207 h-1 ever reported at room temperature and ~100 % oxygenates selectivity with H2O2 as oxidant. Combined characterizations and DFT calculations illustrate that the C-atom of CO prefers to coordinate with Pd1, which donates electrons to the Pd1-O active center (L-Pd1-O, L=CO) generated by H2O2 oxidation. The correspondingly improved electron density over Pd-O pair renders a favorable heterolytic dissociation of C-H bond with low energy barrier of 0.48 eV. Applying CO decoration strategy to M1-ZSM-5 (M=Pd, Rh, Ru, Fe) enables improvement of oxygenates productivity by 3.2-11.3 times, highlighting the generalizability of this method in tuning metal-oxo electronic structure of SACs for efficient DMC process.

Screening silica-confined single-atom catalysts for nonoxidative conversion of methane.

The development of a single-atom iron catalyst (Fe©SiO2) for the direct conversion of methane to olefins, aromatics, and hydrogen is a breakthrough in the field of nonoxidative conversion of methane (NCM). However, the optimization of the catalyst remains desirable for industrial applications. Herein, 25 transition metals, including Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Y, Zr, Nb, Mo, Tc, Ru, Rh, Pd, Ag, Hf, Ta, W, Re, Os, Ir, Pt, and Au, are selected to replace the central Fe atom for screening out better single-atom catalysts for the NCM. Using the performance on the activation of methane, such as the adsorption energy of methane, the dissociation energy, and the barrier of methane as the screening descriptors, Mn©SiO2, Fe©SiO2, W©SiO2, and Re©SiO2 are first screened out. The remarkable performance of the four catalysts on methane activation is attributed to the unique geometric structure and the dz 2 orbitals of the central metal crossing over the Fermi level, which can benefit the interaction between methane and the catalysts. By considering the catalytic performance on the whole pathway of methane to ethylene, W©SiO2 is finally selected as the most active catalyst for the NCM, which has the lowest rate-determining barrier of 1.62 eV and the smallest free energy span (1.06 eV) of the overall catalytic cycle.

Highly efficient ammonia synthesis at low temperature over a Ru-Co catalyst with dual atomically dispersed active centers.

The desire for a carbon-free society and the continuously increasing demand for clean energy make it valuable to exploit green ammonia (NH3) synthesis that proceeds via the electrolysis driven Haber-Bosch (eHB) process. The key for successful operation is to develop advanced catalysts that can operate under mild conditions with efficacy. The main bottleneck of NH3 synthesis under mild conditions is the known scaling relation in which the feasibility of N2 dissociative adsorption of a catalyst is inversely related to that of the desorption of surface N-containing intermediate species, which leads to the dilemma that NH3 synthesis could not be catalyzed effectively under mild conditions. The present work offers a new strategy via introducing atomically dispersed Ru onto a single Co atom coordinated with pyrrolic N, which forms RuCo dual single-atom active sites. In this system the d-band centers of Ru and Co were both regulated to decouple the scaling relation. Detailed experimental and theoretical investigations demonstrate that the d-bands of Ru and Co both become narrow, and there is a significant overlapping of t2g and eg orbitals as well as the formation of a nearly uniform Co 3d ligand field, making the electronic structure of the Co atom resemble that of a "free-atom". The "free-Co-atom" acts as a bridge to facilitate electron transfer from pyrrolic N to surface Ru single atoms, which enables the Ru atom to donate electrons to the antibonding π* orbitals of N2, thus resulting in promoted N2 adsorption and activation. Meanwhile, H2 adsorbs dissociatively on the Co center to form a hydride, which can transfer to the Ru site to cause the hydrogenation of the activated N2 to generate N2H x (x = 1-4) intermediates. The narrow d-band centers of this RuCo catalyst facilitate desorption of surface *NH3 intermediates even at 50 °C. The cooperativity of the RuCo system decouples the sites for the activation of N2 from those for the desorption of *NH3 and *N2H x intermediates, giving rise to a favorable pathway for efficient NH3 synthesis under mild conditions.

Gallium nitride catalyzed the direct hydrogenation of carbon dioxide to dimethyl ether as primary product.

The selective hydrogenation of CO2 to value-added chemicals is attractive but still challenged by the high-performance catalyst. In this work, we report that gallium nitride (GaN) catalyzes the direct hydrogenation of CO2 to dimethyl ether (DME) with a CO-free selectivity of about 80%. The activity of GaN for the hydrogenation of CO2 is much higher than that for the hydrogenation of CO although the product distribution is very similar. The steady-state and transient experimental results, spectroscopic studies, and density functional theory calculations rigorously reveal that DME is produced as the primary product via the methyl and formate intermediates, which are formed over different planes of GaN with similar activation energies. This essentially differs from the traditional DME synthesis via the methanol intermediate over a hybrid catalyst. The present work offers a different catalyst capable of the direct hydrogenation of CO2 to DME and thus enriches the chemistry for CO2 transformations.

Single-atom Rh/N-doped carbon electrocatalyst for formic acid oxidation.

To meet the requirements of potential applications, it is of great importance to explore new catalysts for formic acid oxidation that have both ultra-high mass activity and CO resistance. Here, we successfully synthesize atomically dispersed Rh on N-doped carbon (SA-Rh/CN) and discover that SA-Rh/CN exhibits promising electrocatalytic properties for formic acid oxidation. The mass activity shows 28- and 67-fold enhancements compared with state-of-the-art Pd/C and Pt/C, respectively, despite the low activity of Rh/C. Interestingly, SA-Rh/CN exhibits greatly enhanced tolerance to CO poisoning, and Rh atoms in SA-Rh/CN resist sintering after long-term testing, resulting in excellent catalytic stability. Density functional theory calculations suggest that the formate route is more favourable on SA-Rh/CN. According to calculations, the high barrier to produce CO, together with the relatively unfavourable binding with CO, contribute to its CO tolerance.

Semi-solid and solid frustrated Lewis pair catalysts.

Recently discovered homogeneous frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs) have attracted much attention for metal-free catalysis due to their promising potential for the activation of small molecules (e.g., H2, CO, CO2, NOx and many others). Hence, a wide range of these homogeneous FLPs have been extensively explored for many advanced organic syntheses, radical chemistry and polymerizations. In particular, these FLPs are efficiently utilized for the hydrogenation of various unsaturated substrates (e.g., olefins, alkynes, esters and ketones). Inspired by the substantial progress in these homogeneous catalytic systems, heterogeneous FLP catalysts, including semi-solid and all-solid catalysts, have also emerged as an exciting and evolving field. In this review, we highlight the recent advances made in heterogeneous FLP-like catalysts and the strategies to construct tailorable interfacial FLP-like active sites on semi-solid and all-solid FLP catalysts. Challenges and outlook for the further development of these catalysts in synthetic chemistry will be discussed.

Solid frustrated-Lewis-pair catalysts constructed by regulations on surface defects of porous nanorods of CeO2.

Identification on catalytic sites of heterogeneous catalysts at atomic level is important to understand catalytic mechanism. Surface engineering on defects of metal oxides can construct new active sites and regulate catalytic activity and selectivity. Here we outline the strategy by controlling surface defects of nanoceria to create the solid frustrated Lewis pair (FLP) metal oxide for efficient hydrogenation of alkenes and alkynes. Porous nanorods of ceria (PN-CeO2) with a high concentration of surface defects construct new Lewis acidic sites by two adjacent surface Ce3+. The neighbouring surface lattice oxygen as Lewis base and constructed Lewis acid create solid FLP site due to the rigid lattice of ceria, which can easily dissociate H-H bond with low activation energy of 0.17 eV.

Trends in water-promoted oxygen dissociation on the transition metal surfaces from first principles.

Dissociation of O2 into atomic oxygen is a significant route for O2 activation in metal-catalyzed oxidation reactions. In this study, we systematically investigated the mechanisms of O2 dissociation and the promoting role of water on nine transition metal (Co, Rh, Ir, Ni, Pd, Pt, Cu, Ag, and Au) surfaces. It was found that on clean metal surfaces, the dissociation of O2 was most favorable on Co(0001) and most difficult on Au(111), according to the free energy barriers of Co (0.03 eV) < Rh (0.20 eV) < Ni (0.26 eV) < Cu (0.45 eV) < Ir (0.62 eV) < Pd (0.65 eV) < Pt (0.92 eV) < Ag (1.07 eV) < Au (2.50 eV). With the involvement of water, O2 and H2O formed an O2H2O complex via hydrogen bonding interactions, being accompanied by an increased co-adsorption free energy of 0.17-0.52 eV and a more activated O-O bond. More importantly, the introduction of water reduced the barriers of O2 dissociation on all the nine metal surfaces, with the reduction of the free energy barrier ranging from 0.03 eV on Co(0001) to 1.05 eV on Au(111). The intrinsic reasons for the promotional role of water are attributed to the hydrogen bonding effect between O2 and H2O and the electronic modification effect induced by the water-surface interaction. These results provide a fundamental understanding of the catalytic role of water in O2 dissociation on the transition metal surfaces and may be helpful in the rational design of new efficient catalysts for the oxidation reactions using molecular oxygen or air.

High Catalytic Activity and Chemoselectivity of Sub-nanometric Pd Clusters on Porous Nanorods of CeO2 for Hydrogenation of Nitroarenes.

Sub-nanometric Pd clusters on porous nanorods of CeO2 (PN-CeO2) with a high Pd dispersion of 73.6% exhibit the highest catalytic activity and best chemoselectivity for hydrogenation of nitroarenes to date. For hydrogenation of 4-nitrophenol, the catalysts yield a TOF of ∼44059 h(-1) and a chemoselectivity to 4-aminophenol of >99.9%. The superior catalytic performance can be attributed to a cooperative effect between the highly dispersed sub-nanometric Pd clusters for hydrogen activation and unique surface sites of PN-CeO2 with a high concentration of oxygen vacancy for an energetically and geometrically preferential adsorption of nitroarenes via nitro group. The high concentration of surface defects of PN-CeO2 and large Pd dispersion contribute to the enhanced catalytic activity for the hydrogenation reactions. The high chemoselectivity is mainly governed by the high Pd dispersion on the support. The catalysts also deliver high catalytic activity and selectivity for nitroaromatics with various reducible substituents into the corresponding aminoarenes.

Reversible phase transition of 2-carboxypyridinium perchlorate-pyridinium-2-carboxylate (1/1).

The title salt, C6H6NO2(+)·ClO4(-)·C6H5NO2, was crystallized from an aqueous solution of equimolar quantities of perchloric acid and pyridine-2-carboxylic acid. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements show that the compound undergoes a reversible phase transition at about 261.7 K, with a wide heat hysteresis of 21.9 K. The lower-temperature polymorph (denoted LT; T = 223 K) crystallizes in the space group C2/c, while the higher-temperature polymorph (denoted RT; T = 296 K) crystallizes in the space group P2/c. The relationship between these two phases can be described as: 2a(RT) = a(LT); 2b(RT) = b(LT); c(RT) = c(LT). The crystal structure contains an infinite zigzag hydrogen-bonded chain network of 2-carboxypyridinium cations. The most distinct difference between the higher (RT) and lower (LT) temperature phases is the change in dihedral angle between the planes of the carboxylic acid group and the pyridinium ring, which leads to the formation of different ten-membered hydrogen-bonded rings. In the RT phase, both the perchlorate anions and the hydrogen-bonded H atom within the carboxylic acid group are disordered. The disordered H atom is located on a twofold rotation axis. In the LT phase, the asymmetric unit is composed of two 2-carboxypyridinium cations, half an ordered perchlorate anion with ideal tetrahedral geometry and a disordered perchlorate anion. The phase transition is attributable to the order-disorder transition of half of the perchlorate anions.

Reversible high-temperature phase transition of a manganese(II) formate framework with imidazolium cations.

A new metal-formate framework, poly[1H-imidazol-3-ium [tri-µ2-formato-manganese(II)]], {(C3H5N2)[Mn(HCOO)3]}n, was synthesized and its structural phase transition was studied by thermal analysis and variable-temperature X-ray diffraction analysis. The transition temperature is around 435 K. The high-temperature phase is tetragonal and the low-temperature phase is monoclinic, with a ß angle close to 90°. The relationship of the unit cells between the two phases can be described as: a(HT) = 0.5a(LT) + 0.5b(LT); b(HT) = -0.5a(LT) + 0.5b(LT); c(HT) = 0.5c(LT). In the high-temperature phase, both the framework and the guest 1H-imidazol-3-ium (HIm) cations are disordered; the HIm cations are located about 2mm sites and were modelled as fourfold disordered. The Mn and a formate C atom are located on fourfold rotary inversion axes, while another formate C atom is on a mirror plane. The low-temperature structure is ordered and consists of two crystallographically independent HIm cations and two crystallographically independent Mn(2+) ions. The phase transition is attributable to the order-disorder transition of the HIm cations.

Magnetization influence on the performance of ferrosoferric oxide: polyacrylonitrile membranes in ultrafiltration of pig blood solution.

Three kinds of membranes were prepared from suspensions containing polyacrylonitrile, dimethyl sulfoxide, polyethylene glycol and different amount of Fe3O4 by the phase inversion process. The rejection rate and the flux of membrane were investigated in the filtration of pig blood solution. SEM also studied the morphologies of fouled membranes. The permeate flux and the rejection rate decline fast in the initial several minutes and then change slowly. The magnetized membrane has a higher flux and a relative flux than the corresponding non-magnetized membrane. And the magnetized membrane containing about 3 wt% Fe3O4 has a prominent anti-fouling performance with above 52% relative flux. The results indicate that the magnetized ferrosoferric oxide-polyacrylonitrile membranes are promising in the recovery of blood proteins in the slaughterhouse effluents. In addition, the hydraulic resistance model explained results and the fouling mechanism was also given.