Comparison of UV and Visible Raman Spectroscopy of Bulk Metal Molybdate and Metal Vanadate Catalysts

Enriched Surface Oxygen Vacancies of Fe2(MoO4)3 Catalysts for a PDS-Activated photoFenton System

The environmentally benign Fe2(MoO4)3 plays a crucial role in the transformation of organic contaminants, either through catalytically decomposing oxidants or through directly oxidizing the target pollutants. Because of their dual roles and the complex surface chemical reactions, the mechanism involved in Fe2(MoO4)3-catalyzed PDS activation processes remains obscure. In this study, Fe2(MoO4)3 was prepared via the hydrothermal and calcine method, and photoFenton degradation of methyl orange (MO) was used to evaluate the catalytic performance of Fe2(MoO4)3. Fe2(MoO4)3 catalysts with abundant surface oxygen vacancies were used to construct a synergistic system involving a photocatalyst and PDS activation. The oxygen vacancies and Fe2+/Fe3+ shuttle played key roles in the novel pathways for generation of •O2-, h+, and 1O2 in the UV-Vis + PDS + FMO-6 photoFenton system. This study advances the fundamental understanding of the underlying mechanism involved in the transition metal oxide-catalyzed PDS activation processes.

Open-Framework Metal Oxides for Fast and Reversible Hydrated Zinc-Ion Intercalation

The development of high capacity and stable cathodes is the key to the successful commercialization of aqueous zinc-ion batteries. However, significant solvation penalties limit the choice of available positive electrodes. Herein, hydrated intercalation is proposed to promote reversible (de)intercalation within host materials by rationally designing a matching electrode. In contrast to previously reported works, the as-prepared electrode (NHVO@CC) can achieve fast and reversible intercalation of hydrated zinc ions in the interlayer gap, leading to a high capacity of 517 mAh g^-1 at 0.1 A g^-1 and excellent electrode stability for long-term cycling. Besides, as a consequence of the flexibility of the NHVO@CC electrode, a quasi-solid-state battery was achieved with equally advantageous electrochemical behavior under various bending states. The proposed hydrated cation direct insertion/extraction sets up an efficient way of developing high-performance positive electrodes for aqueous batteries.

The precise modification of nanoscaled Keplerate-type polyoxometalate with NH2-groups: reactive sites, mechanisms and dye conjugation

The interaction of alkoxysilanes with nanoscaled giant polyoxoclusters is a challenging route for efficiently building blocks for supramolecular smart-tune design. 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (APTMS) treatment grafts amino groups onto the surface of...

Bifunctional iron molybdate as highly effective heterogeneous electro-Fenton catalyst and Li-ion battery anode

Three-dimensional materials have attracted considerable interest in energy and environmental remediation fields. Iron molybdate (FMO) materials have prepared via a facile hydrothermal technique with glycerol assistance, and their structural and chemical composition confirmed using various physico-chemical techniques. The prepared bi-functional material is a strong candidate for energy storage and electrocatalytic degradation of Methylene blue and Congo red. Experimental results confirmed the synthesized FMO-10 catalyst was extremely efficient for methylene blue and Congo red breakdown, achieving 91 % and 96 % degradation in 36 h, respectively. This high catalytic activity was attributed to FMO significant visible light absorption, and reactive OH formation from H₂O₂ synergistically triggered by both Fe³⁺ and MoO₄^2-. Prepared FMO samples demonstrated excellent potential as negative electrode material for lithium ion batteries. Electrode specific capacity initially dropped then rebounded to 1265 mAh g^-1 after 100 cycles at 100 mA g^-1 change rate between 0.01 and 3.0 V.

Methane activation by ZSM-5-supported transition metal centers

This review focuses on recent fundamental insights about methane dehydroaromatization (MDA) to benzene over ZSM-5-supported transition metal oxide-based catalysts (MO_x/ZSM-5, where M = V, Cr, Mo, W, Re, Fe). Benzene is an important organic intermediate, used for the synthesis of chemicals like ethylbenzene, cumene, cyclohexane, nitrobenzene and alkylbenzene. Current production of benzene is primarily from crude oil processing, but due to the abundant availability of natural gas, there is much recent interest in developing direct processes to convert CH₄ to liquid chemicals. Among the various gas-to-liquid methods, the thermodynamically-limited Methane DehydroAromatization (MDA) to benzene under non-oxidative conditions appears very promising as it circumvents deep oxidation of CH₄ to CO₂ and does not require the use of a co-reactant. The findings from the MDA catalysis literature is critically analyzed with emphasis on in situ and operando spectroscopic characterization to understand the molecular level details regarding the catalytic sites before and during the MDA reaction. Specifically, this review discusses the anchoring sites of the supported MO_x species on the ZSM-5 support, molecular structures of the initial dispersed surface MO_x sites, nature of the active sites during MDA, reaction mechanisms, rate-determining step, kinetics and catalyst activity of the MDA reaction. Finally, suggestions are given regarding future experimental investigations to fill the information gaps currently found in the literature.

High Entropy and Low Symmetry: Triclinic High-Entropy Molybdates

Metal molybdates constitute a promising class of materials with a wide application range. Here, we report, to our knowledge for the first time, on the preparation and characterization of medium-entropy and high-entropy metal molybdates, synthesized by an oxalate-based coprecipitation approach. The high-entropy molybdate crystallizes in a triclinic structure, thus rendering it as high-entropy material with the lowest symmetry reported so far. This is noteworthy because high-entropy materials usually tend to crystallize into highly symmetrical structures. It is expected that application of the high-entropy concept to metal molybdates alters the material's characteristics and adds the features of high-entropy systems, that is, tailorable composition and properties. The phase purity and solid solution nature of the molybdates were confirmed by XRD, Raman spectroscopy, TEM, XPS, and ICP-OES.

New advances in using Raman spectroscopy for the characterization of catalysts and catalytic reactions

Gaining insight into the mode of operation of heterogeneous catalysts is of great scientific and economic interest. Raman spectroscopy has proven its potential as a powerful vibrational spectroscopic technique for a fundamental and molecular-level characterization of catalysts and catalytic reactions. Raman spectra provide important insight into reaction mechanisms by revealing specific information on the catalysts' (defect) structure in the bulk and at the surface, as well as the presence of adsorbates and reaction intermediates. Modern Raman instrumentation based on single-stage spectrometers allows high throughput and versatility in design of in situ/operando cells to study working catalysts. This review highlights major advances in the use of Raman spectroscopy for the characterization of heterogeneous catalysts made during the past decade, including the development of new methods and potential directions of research for applying Raman spectroscopy to working catalysts. The main focus will be on gas-solid catalytic reactions, but (photo)catalytic reactions in the liquid phase will be touched on if it appears appropriate. The discussion begins with the main instrumentation now available for applying vibrational Raman spectroscopy to catalysis research, including in situ/operando cells for studying gas-solid catalytic processes. The focus then moves to the different types of information available from Raman spectra in the bulk and on the surface of solid catalysts, including adsorbates and surface depositions, as well as the use of theoretical calculations to facilitate band assignments and to describe (resonance) Raman effects. This is followed by a presentation of major developments in enhancing the Raman signal of heterogeneous catalysts by use of UV resonance Raman spectroscopy, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), and shell-isolated nanoparticle surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SHINERS). The application of time-resolved Raman studies to structural and kinetic characterization is then discussed. Finally, recent developments in spatially resolved Raman analysis of catalysts and catalytic processes are presented, including the use of coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS) and tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS). The review concludes with an outlook on potential future developments and applications of Raman spectroscopy in heterogeneous catalysis.

High-pressure characterization of multifunctional CrVO4

The structural stability and physical properties of CrVO4under compression were studied by x-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, optical absorption, resistivity measurements, andab initiocalculations up to 10 GPa. High-pressure x-ray diffraction and Raman measurements show that CrVO4undergoes a phase transition from the ambient pressure orthorhombic CrVO4-type structure (Cmcm space group, phase III) to the high-pressure monoclinic CrVO4-V phase, which is proposed to be isomorphic to the wolframite structure. Such a phase transition (CrVO4-type → wolframite), driven by pressure, also was previously observed in indium vanadate. The crystal structure of both phases and the pressure dependence in unit-cell parameters, Raman-active modes, resistivity, and electronic band gap, are reported. Vanadium atoms are sixth-fold coordinated in the wolframite phase, which is related to the collapse in the volume at the phase transition. Besides, we also observed drastic changes in the phonon spectrum, a drop of the band-gap, and a sharp decrease of resistivity. All the observed phenomena are explained with the help of first-principles calculations.

Vibrational spectra and optical properties of Fe1-xCrxVO4 solid solutions: With a group theory analysis

The present manuscript reports vibrational spectra and optical studies of polycrystalline Fe_1-xCr_xVO₄ solid solutions through FT-IR spectroscopy augmented with a group theory (G.T.) analysis and UV-Visible DRS spectroscopy. Full set of IR and Raman modes are determined by G. T. for various crystal symmetries in FeVO₄-CrVO₄ solid solutions where Triclinic, Monoclinic and Orthorhombic structures evolve with increasing Cr concentration. Experimentally obtained vibrational modes support the structural phase transitions and confirm formation of continuous solid solutions in Fe_1-xCr_xVO₄. The Diffuse Reflectance Spectra (DRS) of Fe_1-xCr_xVO₄ depicts the electronic structure and different optical transitions due to absorption of photon energy. The d-d transitions are manifested for all compounds in terms of crystal field stabilization energy (CFSE) caused by distorted lattice sites. The band gap energy of Fe_1-xCr_xVO₄ is calculated using Tauc formula. It shows a red shift initially within triclinic structure then blue shift with the increase of Cr concentration. Urbach energy (E_u) tails in the spectra show the electronic structural disorder in Fe_1-xCr_xVO₄ due to impurity energy levels of Cr ions within band gap region. It is observed that E_u decreases with the doping concentration due to the increase in crystal symmetry corresponding to the structural phase transitions in Fe_1-xCr_xVO₄.

In Situ Hyperspectral Raman Imaging: A New Method to Investigate Sintering Processes of Ceramic Material at High-temperature

In the last decades, Raman spectroscopy has become an important tool to identify and investigate minerals, gases, glasses, and organic material at room temperature. In combination with high-temperature and high-pressure devices, however, the in situ investigation of mineral transformation reactions and their kinetics is nowadays also possible. Here, we present a novel approach to in situ studies for the sintering process of silicate ceramics by hyperspectral Raman imaging. This imaging technique allows studying high-temperature solid-solid and/or solid-melt reactions spatially and temporally resolved, and opens up new avenues to study and visualize high-temperature sintering processes in multi-component systems. After describing in detail the methodology, the results of three application examples are presented and discussed. These experiments demonstrate the power of hyperspectral Raman imaging for in situ studies of the mechanism(s) of solid-solid or solid-melt reactions at high-temperature with a micrometer-scale resolution as well as to gain kinetic information from the temperature- and time-dependent growth and breakdown of minerals during isothermal or isochronal sintering.

Role of NiMo Alloy and Ni Species in the Performance of NiMo/Alumina Catalysts for Hydrodeoxygenation of Stearic Acid: A Kinetic Study

The hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of vegetable oil and fatty acid is extremely important for the sustainable production of diesel-range hydrocarbons. The present work depicts the role of Ni/Mo (mole) in the performance of alumina-supported NiMo catalysts for the HDO of stearic acid. Both Ni and NiMo alloy coexist in the NiMo catalysts depending on the Ni and Mo content. With increasing Ni/Mo (mole), the NiMo alloy content in the catalyst increases with the simultaneous decrease in the Ni content. The activity of NiMo catalysts thus enhances with increasing Ni/Mo (mole). The reaction follows a decarbonylation route over Ni sites and a HDO route over NiMo alloy species. C₁₇ and C₁₈ alkanes are thus observed as the dominating hydrocarbon product over Ni and NiMo alloy-rich catalysts, respectively. The activity of the NiMo catalyst further enhances with increasing reaction temperature and metal (Ni + Mo) loading. The selectivity to alkanes was, however, not affected by metal loading. A suitable kinetic model was further established based on the reaction mechanism to relate the kinetic data.

Modulation of antibiotic effect by Fe2(MoO4)3 microstrutures

In this study, we report the antibacterial activity and modulation of antibiotic activity by Fe₂(MoO₄)₃ microstructures obtained by the hydrothermal route without use of surfactants or organic additives. This material was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. The XRD pattern showed that the Fe₂(MoO₄)₃ crystallize in a monoclinic structure without secondary phases. Raman spectroscopy confirms the formation of Fe₂(MoO₄)₃. SEM images show that the Fe₂(MoO₄)₃ obtained have ball-of-yarn shaped morphology. In the antibacterial assays, strains of Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus were assayed by microdilution method to evaluate the antibacterial and modulatory-antibiotic activity with antibiotics as gentamicin, norfloxacin and imipenem. Against all bacteria, the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) was Fe₂(MoO₄)₃ ≥ 1024 μg/mL. This high MIC result must be associated with the fact of the iron be an essential microelement to the bacterial growth. However, when the Fe₂(MoO₄)₃ was assayed in association with the antibiotics was observed an antagonistic effect demonstrated by an enhance of the MIC. This fact is associated directly with the pro-oxidative properties of metallic oxides. These compounds enhance the production of free radicals, as H₂O₂ and superoxide ions that can affect the cell structures as cell membrane and cell wall. Other effect is associated with the possible coordination of the metal, performing bonds with the chemical structure of the antibiotics, reducing their activity. Our results indicated that nanocompounds as Fe₂(MoO₄)₃ can not be used as antimicrobial products for clinical usage, neither directly and neither in association with antibiotics.

Amorphous Mixed-Valence Vanadium Oxide/Exfoliated Carbon Cloth Structure Shows a Record High Cycling Stability

Previous studies show that vanadium oxides suffer from severe capacity loss during cycling in the liquid electrolyte, which has hindered their applications in electrochemical energy storage. The electrochemical instability is mainly due to chemical dissolution and structural pulverization of vanadium oxides during charge/discharge cyclings. In this study the authors demonstrate that amorphous mixed-valence vanadium oxide deposited on exfoliated carbon cloth (CC) can address these two limitations simultaneously. The results suggest that tuning the V⁴⁺ /V⁵⁺ ratio of vanadium oxide can efficiently suppress the dissolution of the active materials. The oxygen-functionalized carbon shell on exfoliated CC can bind strongly with VO _x via the formation of COV bonding, which retains the electrode integrity and suppresses the structural degradation of the oxide during charging/discharging. The uptake of structural water during charging and discharging processes also plays an important role in activating the electrode material. The amorphous mixed-valence vanadium oxide without any protective coating exhibits record-high cycling stability in the aqueous electrolyte with no capacitive decay in 100 000 cycles. This work provides new insights on stabilizing vanadium oxide, which is critical for the development of vanadium oxide based energy storage devices.

Fast interfacial charge transfer in α-Fe2O3-δCδ/FeVO4-x+δCx-δ@C bulk heterojunctions with controllable phase content

The novelties in this paper are embodied in the fast interfacial charge transfer in α-Fe₂O_3−δC_δ/FeVO_4−x+δC_x−δ@C bulk heterojunctions with controllable phase compositions. The carbon source-glucose plays an important role as the connecting bridge between the micelles in the solution, forming interfacial C-O, C-O-Fe and O-Fe-C bonds through dehydration and polymerization reactions. Then the extra VO₃⁻ around the FeVO₄ colloidal particles can react with unstable Fe(OH)₃, resulting the phase transformation from α-Fe₂O₃ (47.99–7.16%) into FeVO₄ (52.01–92.84%), promoting photocarriers’ generation capacities. After final carbonization, a part of C atoms enter into lattices of α-Fe₂O₃ and FeVO₄, forming impurity levels and oxygen vacancies to increase effective light absorptions. Another part of C sources turn into interfacial carbon layers to bring fast charge transfer by decreasing the charge transition resistance (from 53.15 kΩ into 8.29 kΩ) and the surface recombination rate (from 64.07% into 7.59%). The results show that the bulk heterojunction with 90.29% FeVO₄ and 9.71% α-Fe₂O₃ shows ideal light absorption, carriers’ transfer efficiency and available photocatalytic property. In general, the synergistic effect of optimized heterojunction structure, carbon replacing and the interface carbon layers are critical to develop great potential in stable and recoverable use.

The structural conversion from α-AgVO3 to β-AgVO3: Ag nanoparticle decorated nanowires with application as cathode materials for Li-ion batteries

The majority of electrode materials in batteries and related electrochemical energy storage devices are fashioned into slurries via the addition of a conductive additive and a binder. However, aggregation of smaller diameter nanoparticles in current generation electrode compositions can result in non-homogeneous active materials. Inconsistent slurry formulation may lead to inconsistent electrical conductivity throughout the material, local variations in electrochemical response, and the overall cell performance. Here we demonstrate the hydrothermal preparation of Ag nanoparticle (NP) decorated α-AgVO₃ nanowires (NWs) and their conversion to tunnel structured β-AgVO₃ NWs by annealing to form a uniform blend of intercalation materials that are well connected electrically. The synthesis of nanostructures with chemically bound conductive nanoparticles is an elegant means to overcome the intrinsic issues associated with electrode slurry production, as wire-to-wire conductive pathways are formed within the overall electrode active mass of NWs. The conversion from α-AgVO₃ to β-AgVO₃ is explained in detail through a comprehensive structural characterization. Meticulous EELS analysis of β-AgVO₃ NWs offers insight into the true β-AgVO₃ structure and how the annealing process facilitates a higher surface coverage of Ag NPs directly from ionic Ag content within the α-AgVO₃ NWs. Variations in vanadium oxidation state across the surface of the nanowires indicate that the β-AgVO₃ NWs have a core-shell oxidation state structure, and that the vanadium oxidation state under the Ag NP confirms a chemically bound NP from reduction of diffused ionic silver from the α-AgVO₃ NWs core material. Electrochemical comparison of α-AgVO₃ and β-AgVO₃ NWs confirms that β-AgVO₃ offers improved electrochemical performance. An ex situ structural characterization of β-AgVO₃ NWs after the first galvanostatic discharge and charge offers new insight into the Li⁺ reaction mechanism for β-AgVO₃. Ag⁺ between the van der Waals layers of the vanadium oxide is reduced during discharge and deposited as metallic Ag, the vacant sites are then occupied by Li⁺.

Vanadoantimonates: from discrete clusters to high dimensional aggregates

Five new vanadoantimonates have been obtained under hydrothermal conditions and characterized.

New self-assembly hybrid compounds based on arsenic–vanadium clusters and transition metal mixed-organic-ligand complexes

Seven compounds exhibiting novel structures constructed from arsenic–vanadium polyoxoanions and metal mixed-organic-ligand complexes have been synthesized and characterized.

Synthesis of Fe2(MoO4)3/MoO3 heterostructured microrods and photocatalytic performances

Fe₂(MoO₄)₃/MoO₃ heterostructured microrods had been synthesized by a simple calcination method in which the crystallization event of Fe₂(MoO₄)₃ grew on the backbone of MoO₃ single crystalline microrods.

Synthesis of Fe2(MoO4)3 microspheres by self-assembly and photocatalytic performances

The difference in photocatalytic activities for Fe₂(MoO₄)₃ microspheres is mainly attributed to defects.

Ammoxidation of 2-methylpyrazine to 2-cyanopyrazine over Nb–V oxides: marked effect of the Nb/V ratio on the catalytic performance

Among various Nb–V–O catalysts, the catalyst with a Nb/V ratio of 1 has shown the best activity and selectivity as well as extremely high space–time yields (X-MP ~100%, S-CP ~70% and STY = 440 g_CP kg_cat⁻¹ h⁻¹).

Study of the local structure and oxidation state of iron in complex oxide catalysts for propylene ammoxidation

A combination of X-ray absorption, Raman and UV-visible spectroscopy reveals the competing redox reactions during the deactivation of Fe-based complex catalysts.