Progress and challenges in nitrous oxide decomposition and valorization

Nitrous oxide (N2O) decomposition is increasingly acknowledged as a viable strategy for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and addressing ozone depletion, aligning significantly with the UN's sustainable development goals (SDGs) and carbon neutrality objectives. To enhance efficiency in treatment and explore potential valorization, recent developments have introduced novel N2O reduction catalysts and pathways. Despite these advancements, a comprehensive and comparative review is absent. In this review, we undertake a thorough evaluation of N2O treatment technologies from a holistic perspective. First, we summarize and update the recent progress in thermal decomposition, direct catalytic decomposition (deN2O), and selective catalytic reduction of N2O. The scope extends to the catalytic activity of emerging catalysts, including nanostructured materials and single-atom catalysts. Furthermore, we present a detailed account of the mechanisms and applications of room-temperature techniques characterized by low energy consumption and sustainable merits, including photocatalytic and electrocatalytic N2O reduction. This article also underscores the extensive and effective utilization of N2O resources in chemical synthesis scenarios, providing potential avenues for future resource reuse. This review provides an accessible theoretical foundation and a panoramic vision for practical N2O emission controls.

Interplay of Hydrogen, Pnicogen, and Chalcogen Bonding in X(H2O)n=1-5 (X = NO, NO+, and NO-) Complexes: Energetics Insights via a Molecular Tailoring Approach

Nitric oxide (NO) and its redox congeners (NO+ and NO-), designated as X, play vital roles in various atmospheric and biological events. Understanding the interaction between X and water is inevitable to explain the different reactions that occur during these events. The present study is a unified attempt to explore the noncovalent interactions in microhydrated networks of X using the MP2/aug-cc-pVTZ//MP2/6-311++G(d,p) level of theory. The interactions between X and water have been probed by the molecular electrostatic potential (MESP) by exploiting the features of the most positive (Vmax) and most negative potential (Vmin) sites. The individual energy and cooperativity contributions of various types of noncovalent interactions present in X(H2O)n=1-5 complexes are estimated with the help of a molecular tailoring-based approach (MTA-based). The MTA-based analysis reveals that among various possible interactions in NO(H2O)n complexes, the water···water hydrogen bonds (HBs) are the strongest. Neutral NO can form hydrogen and pnicogen bonds (PBs) with water depending on the orientation; however, such HBs and PBs are the weakest. On the other hand, in the NO+(H2O)n complexes, the NO+···water interactions that occur through PBs are the strongest; the next one is the chalcogen bonding (CB), and the water···water HBs are the weakest. In the case of the NO-(H2O)n complexes, the HB interactions via both N and O atoms of NO- and water molecules are the strongest ones. The strength of water···water HB interactions is also seen to increase with the increase in the number of water molecules in NO-(H2O)n. The present study exemplifies the applicability of MTA-based calculations for quantifying various types of individual noncovalent interactions and their interplay in microhydrated networks of NO and its related ions.

Hydrogen-Bond-Assisted Adsorption of Nitric Oxide on Various Metal-Loaded ZSM-5 Zeolites

Understanding the characteristics of nitric oxide (NO) adsorption on metal-loaded zeolites is a prerequisite for developing efficient catalysts for NO abatement reactions. In this study, we probed the effect of the hydrogen bond that exists between adsorbed NO and Brønsted acid sites (BAS) in various metal-loaded ZSM-5 zeolites (M-ZSM-5, wherein M = Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Pd, Ag, and Au) by using density functional theory calculations. The presence of a hydrogen bond has altered the NO adsorption energies significantly; appreciable stabilization via hydrogen bonding is noted for NO complexes of Zn, Fe, and Co, and reasonable stabilization is obtained for Ni and Cu complexes, whereas an anomalous effect of a hydrogen bond is identified in Ag, Pd, and Au species. Moderate weakening of the N-O bond in all NO-adsorbed complexes primarily due to a hydrogen bond has been realized in terms of Mayer bond order and quantum theory of atoms in molecules topological analyses; N-O bond activation follows the order Ag < Pd < Au < Ni < Cu < Co < Fe < Zn. We obtained a good correlation between hydrogen bond distance and molecular electrostatic potential at the O atom (V_O) of NO adsorbed on BAS-free M-ZSM-5; which suggests that V_O can be considered as a key descriptor to infer the strength of a hydrogen bond between the adsorbed NO and M-ZSM-5 with BAS. Finally, the energy decomposition analysis in combination with natural orbitals for chemical valence has provided the qualitative aspects of electron back-donation from the metal to the antibonding molecular orbital of NO; this back-donation is quite impressive in hydrogen-bond-assisted NO adsorption. We expect that the findings of this study will open up the possibility of the design of BAS-containing metal-loaded zeolites for the catalytic mitigation of NO.