Insight into Room-Temperature Catalytic Oxidation of Nitric oxide by Cr2O3: A DFT Study

Anionic oxyl radical formed on CrVI-oxo anchored on the defect site of the UiO-66 node facilitates methane to methanol conversion

The direct conversion of methane to methanol has attracted increasing interest due to abundant and low-cost natural gas resources. Herein, by anchoring Cr-oxo/-oxyhydroxides on UiO-66 metal-organic frameworks, we demonstrate that reactive anionic oxyl radicals can be formed by controlling the coordination environment based on the results of density functional theory calculations. The anionic oxyl radicals produced at the completely oxidized CrVI site acted as the active species for facile methane activation. The thermodynamically stable CrVI-oxo/-oxyhydroxides with the anionic oxyl radicals catalyze the activation of the methane C-H bond through a homolytic mechanism. An analysis of the results showed that the catalytic performance of the active oxyl species correlates with the reaction energy of methane activation and H adsorption energies. Following methanol formation, N2O can regenerate the active sites on the most stable CrVI oxyhydroxides, i.e., the Cr(O)4Hf species. The present study demonstrated that the anionic oxyl radicals formed on the anchored CrVI oxyhydroxides by tuning the coordination environment enabled facile methane activation and facilitated methanol production.

Metal-Free Boron/Phosphorus Co-Doped Nanoporous Carbon for Highly Efficient Benzyl Alcohol Oxidation

An in-depth understanding of the electronic structures of catalytically active centers and their surrounding vicinity is key to clarifying the structure-activity relationship, and thus enabling the design and development of novel metal-free carbon-based materials with desired catalytic performance. In this study, boron atoms are introduced into phosphorus-doped nanoporous carbon via an efficient strategy, so that the resulting material delivers better catalytic performance. The doped B atoms alter the electronic structures of active sites and cause the adjacent C atoms to act as additional active sites that catalyze the reaction. The B/P co-doped nanoporous carbon shows remarkable catalytic performance for benzyl alcohol oxidation, achieving high yield (over 91% within 2 h) and selectivity (95%), as well as low activation energy (32.2 kJ mol^-1 ). Moreover, both the conversion and selectivity remain above 90% after five reaction cycles. Density functional theory calculations indicate that the introduction of B to P-doped nanoporous carbon significantly increases the electron density at the Fermi level and that the oxidation of benzyl alcohol occurs via a different reaction pathway with a very low energy barrier. These findings provide important insights into the relationship between catalytic performance and electronic structure for the design of dual-doped metal-free carbon catalysts.

Mechanistic insight into the selective catalytic reduction of NOx with propene on the Ce0.875Zr0.125O2 (110) surface

The important adsorbed species and reaction pathways of C3H6 selective catalytic reduction of NO on the Ce0.875Zr0.125O2 (110) surface were investigated, including NO oxidation reaction, C3H6 oxidation reaction, and the SCR process.

Ambient Air Purification by Nanotechnologies: From Theory to Application

Air pollution has been a recurring problem in northern Chinese cities, and high concentrations of PM2.5 in winter have been a particular cause for concern. Secondary aerosols converted from precursor gases (i.e., nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds) evidently account for a large fraction of the PM2.5. Conventional control methods, such as dust removal, desulfurization, and denitrification, help reduce emissions from stationary combustion sources, but these measures have not led to decreases in haze events. Recent advances in nanomaterials and nanotechnology provide new opportunities for removing fine particles and gaseous pollutants from ambient air and reducing the impacts on human health. This review begins with overviews of air pollution and traditional abatement technologies, and then advances in ambient air purification by nanotechnologies, including filtration, adsorption, photocatalysis, and ambient-temperature catalysis are presented—from fundamental principles to applications. Current state-of-the-art developments in the use of nanomaterials for particle removal, gas adsorption, and catalysis are summarized, and practical applications of catalysis-based techniques for air purification by nanomaterials in indoor, semi-enclosed, and open spaces are highlighted. Finally, we propose future directions for the development of novel disinfectant nanomaterials and the construction of advanced air purification devices.

Recent advances in selective catalytic oxidation of nitric oxide (NO-SCO) in emissions with excess oxygen: a review on catalysts and mechanisms

Nitric oxides (NO_x, which mainly include more than 90% NO) are one of the major air pollutants leading to a series of environmental problems, such as acid rain, haze, photochemical smog, etc. The selective catalytic oxidation of NO to NO₂ (NO-SCO) is regarded as a key process for the development of selective catalytic reduction of NO_x by ammonia (via fast selective catalytic reduction reaction) and also the simultaneous removal of multipollutant (pre-oxidation and post-absorption). Until now, scholars have developed various types of NO-SCO catalysts, dividing the main groups into noble metals (Pt, Pd, Ru, etc.), metal oxides (Mn-, Co-, Cr-, Ce-based, etc.), perovskite-type oxides (LaMnO₃, LaCoO₃, LaCeCoO₃, etc.), carbon materials (activated carbon, carbon fiber, carbon nanotube, graphene, etc.), and zeolites (ion-exchanged ZSM-5, CHA, SAPO, MCM-41, etc.) in this review. This paper summarizes the recent progress of the above typical catalysts and mostly analyzes the catalytic performance for NO oxidation in terms of the H₂O and/or SO₂ resistances and also the influencing factors, and their reaction mechanisms are described in detail. Finally, this review points out the key problems and possible solutions of the current researches and presents the application prospects and future development directions of NO-SCO technology using the above typical catalysts.

Tuning oxygen reduction activity on chromia surface via alloying: a DFT study

Economical electro-catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) are highly desirable for a range of advance energy storage technologies. Chromium compounds have been suggested as one possible source of non-precious metal based catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), especially chromia (Cr₂ O₃ ) which is the most stable form of Cr oxide at room temperature. Using density functional theory+U calculations, we investigate the 4-electron ORR on the hydroxylated Cr₂ O₃ surfaces alloyed with 17 different transition metals. On the one hand, we find that the ORR overpotential is lower when the Cr₂ O₃ surface alloyed with elements towards the end of both the first and second rows of transition metals. Among these elements, Cd alloyed Cr₂ O₃ surface is found to promote the ORR the most, but due to its high toxicity and price it loses out to Zn as the recommended alloyant. On the other hand, we find that the ORR overpotential is generally higher and less varied on the Cr₂ O₃ surface alloyed with the early-to-mid row transition metal elements (e. g. Zr, Ti). As Cr₂ O₃ is also a major component in the passive film on stainless steels, where a low ORR rate is desirable to reduce the impact of localized corrosion. This implies that alloying with early-to-mid row transition elements could be beneficial to stainless steels. The difference in oxygen reduction activity is attributed to the tendency of forming stable ORR intermediates during the oxygen reduction process.

A quantum chemical study of substituent effects on CN bonds in aryl isocyanide molecules adsorbed on the Pt surface

A periodicity implemented scheme of natural bond orbital (NBO) theory and normal mode analysis has been employed to investigate the tendency of the chemical bond strength of aryl isocyanide molecules with different para-substituted groups adsorbed on the Pt(111) surface. The NC bond order shows a clear correspondence with the NC stretching frequency; both of them exhibit a "volcano-like" profile as a function of the Hammett constant of the para-substituted groups for isolated molecules. When a molecule is adsorbed on the Pt(111) surface, the NC stretching frequency variations are determined by the resultant effect of σ donation and π back-donation between the molecule and the surface. The present comprehensive and systematic computations clarify the electron donating and withdrawing effects of the substituted groups on the interaction between the aryl isocyanide molecule and the transition metal substrate.

Insight into the antiviral activity of synthesized schizonepetin derivatives: A theoretical investigation

The antiviral activity of schizonepetin derivatives 1A-1C were investigated via theoretical methods and results are compared with experimental results. The derivatives 1 A and 1 C have the highest and the lowest antiviral activity, respectively. The interactions of derivatives 1A-1C and BN-nanotube are examined. Results show that, derivatives 1A-1C can effectively interact with BN-nanotube (9, 9) and their adsorptions are favorable. The energy of derivative 1 A is higher than derivatives 1B and 1 C. The derivative 1 A has highest absolute µ, ω and ∆N values and it has lowest absolute ƞ value. Results show that, theoretical and experimental trends of antiviral activity of derivatives 1A-1C were similar, successfully.