Atomic scale deposition of Pt around Au nanoparticles to achieve much enhanced electrocatalysis of Pt

Electrogenerated chemiluminescence imaging of plasmon-induced electrochemical reactions at single nanocatalysts

This study explores plasmon-induced electrochemical reactions on single nanoparticles using electrogenerated chemiluminescence microscopy (ECLM). Under laser irradiation, real-time screening showed lower plasmon-induced reaction efficiency for bimetallic Au@Pt nanoparticles compared to monometallic Au nanoparticles. ECLM offers a high-throughput imaging and precise quantitative approach for analyzing photo-electrochemical conversion at single nanoparticle level, valuable for both theoretical exploration and optimization of plasmonic nanocatalysts.

Recent progress in single-atom alloys: Synthesis, properties, and applications in environmental catalysis

Heterogeneous catalysts have made outstanding advancements in pollutants elimination as well as energy and materials production over the past decades. Single-atom alloys (SAAs) are novel environmental catalysts prepared by dispersing single metal atoms on other metals. Integrating the advantages of single atom and alloys, SAAs can maximize atom utilization, reduce the use of noble metals and enhance catalytic performances. The synergistic, electronic and geometric effects of SAAs are effective to modulate the activation energy and adsorption strength, consequently breaking linear scaling relationship as well as offering an excellent catalytic activity and selectivity. Moreover, SAAs possess clear atomic structure, active sites and reaction mechanisms, providing an opportunity to tailor catalytic properties and develop effective environmental catalysts. In this review, we provide the recent progress on synthetic strategies, catalytic properties and catalyst design of SAAs. Furthermore, the applications of SAAs in environmental catalysis are introduced towards catalytic conversion and elimination of different air pollutants in many important reactions including (electrochemical) oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), dehydrogenation of VOCs, CO₂ conversion, NO_x reduction, CO oxidation, SO₃ decomposition, etc. Finally, challenges and opportunities of SAAs in a broad environmental field are proposed.

Strategy to boost catalytic activity of polymeric carbon nitride: synergistic effect of controllable in situ surface engineering and morphology

Polymeric carbon nitride (CN) is a promising metal-free catalyst plagued by a low intrinsic activity. Herein, a novel strategy based on controllable in situ surface engineering and morphology was developed to synergistically boost the catalytic activity of CN by tuning the hydroxyl groups on its surface and constructing a unique nanostructure. The controllable introduction of hydroxyl groups on CN nanoshells, prepared by the thermal condensation of oxygen-containing supramolecular precursors formed in water, led to spatial separation of the HOMO and LUMO, and effective exciton dissociation, as verified by experiments and ab initio calculations. Furthermore, the hollow hemispherical nanoshell endowed more exposed active sites, optimal mass transport, and dynamic modulations. The optimized hollow hemispherical CN nanoshells exhibited remarkable catalytic activity, with a photoelectrocatalytic OER overpotential of about 330 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm^-2, outperforming state-of-the-art precious-metal catalyst IrO₂. High activity for the visible-light photocatalytic HER and pollutant degradation were also observed. This study proposes that, through rational surface group modification, a polymer material with high catalytic activity can be practically realized, which is promising for the design of efficient metal-free catalysts.

Platinum single-atom catalysts: a comparative review towards effective characterization

This review summaries the characterization techniques for Pt single-atom catalysts and focuses on FT-EXAFS spectroscopy to study the coordination environment of Pt–M for atomically dispersed Pt catalysts on diverse supports.

Rational inert-basal-plane activating design of ultrathin 1T' phase MoS2 with a MoO3 heterostructure for enhancing hydrogen evolution performances

Activating both the inert basal plane and edge sites of molybdenum-disulphide (MoS2) is a significant yet challenging step in boosting their performance for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). In this study, the density functional theory calculation results show that the incorporation of MoO3 fragments leads to a slight out-of-plane distortion of the 1T-MoS2 phase of the resultant O-Mo-S framework, giving rise to a 1T'-MoS2/MoO3 heterostructure, where gap states around the Fermi level allow hydrogen evolution over both its basal plane (Mo-site) and edges (S-sites). Under the guidance of density functional theory, conducted via an efficient one-step solvothermal route, ultrathin metallic-phase 1T'-MoS2/MoO3 heterojunction nanosheets with 3D hollow structures and a very small size (d = ∼120 nm) were precisely designed and constructed. The electrochemical measurements show that such a material possesses a low overpotential at 10 mA cm-2 (η10, 109 mV) and a Tafel slope (42 mV dec-1). In addition, the HMHSs also led to excellent H2 production up to 22.108 mmol g-1 h-1 and good durability under the photocatalytic process. To the best of our knowledge, the performance of this catalyst is better than that of most previously reported Mo-based non-noble catalysts for the HER. The excellent HER activity of this catalyst is highlighted by its unique synergistic effect between 1T'-MoS2 and MoO3 with an activated inert basal plane and fantastic hollow structure with a large surface area and high content of edge sites.