Single Nickel sites - easy separation and high-performance catalyst for the production of β-Nitro alcohols

Surface-Immobilized ZnNx Sites as High-Performance Catalysts for Continuous Flow Knoevenagel Condensation in Water

By immobilizing the metal complex on the substrate surface, our previous results have demonstrated that heterogeneous catalysts with well-dispersed active MNC (metal-nitrogen-carbon) sites can be prepared in a rational and efficient manner. In this study, we employed agarose aerogel (AA) as the substrate to illustrate a straightforward strategy for immobilizing ZnNx sites on the surface. Under relatively low temperatures, the amine group of the ligand condenses with the surface carbonyl group generated in situ, resulting in the surface immobilized Zn sites. This can be supported by the IR, PXRD, and XPS data. Comprehensive characterization methods, including synchrotron powder XRD and spherical aberration-corrected TEM, confirmed the absence of ZnNx site aggregation in the surface immobilization process, even with a high Zn content (up to 8 wt %). The immobilized ZnNx sites exhibited high catalytic performance in Knoevenagel condensation, and α,β-unsaturated compounds were obtained with high yield in both batch and continuous flow reactions. AA-ZnNx-200 showed the best catalytic activity, which was processed under 200 °C with a Zn content of 4.62 wt %. The immobilized ZnNx sites activated both the aldehyde and nitrile substrates, which were quantitatively converted into the corresponding α,β-unsaturated compounds, with water as the solvent at room temperature. In continuous flow reaction conditions, a conversion rate up to 99% can be achieved with malononitrile. This heterogeneous catalyst can be facilely produced with quantitative yield in a large scale from cheap starting material under mild conditions. No catalyst deactivation was observed after seven batch reaction cycles or 80 h of continuous flow reaction, indicating its high robustness under catalytic reaction conditions. This catalyst enables a separation-free, energy-saving, and environment-friendly production process, offering a practical way for the industrial production.

Atomically Dispersed NiNx Site with High Oxygen Electrocatalysis Performance Facilely Produced via a Surface Immobilization Strategy

Nonprecious-metal heterogeneous catalysts with atomically dispersed active sites demonstrated high activity and selectivity in different reactions, and the rational design and large-scale preparation of such catalysts are of great interest but remain a huge challenge. Current approaches usually involve extremely high-temperature and tedious procedures. Here, we demonstrated a straightforward and scalable preparation strategy. In two simple steps, the atomically dispersed Ni electrocatalyst can be synthesized in a tens grams scale with quantitative yield under mild conditions, and the active Ni sites were produced by immobilizing preorganized NiN_x complex on the substrate surface via organic thermal reactions. This catalyst exhibits excellent catalysis performances in both oxygen evolution and reduction reactions. It also exhibited tunable catalysis activity, high catalysis reproducibility, and high stability. The atomically dispersed NiN_x sites are tolerant at high Ni concentration, as the random reactions and metal nanoparticle formation that generally occurred at high temperatures were avoided. This strategy illustrated a practical and green method for the industrial manufacture of nonprecious-metal single-site catalysts with a predictable structure.