Trimetallic Oxide Foam as an Efficient Catalyst for Fixation of CO2 into Oxazolidinone: An Experimental and Theoretical Approach

The excess anthropogenic CO₂ depletion via the catalytic approach to produce valuable chemicals is an industrially challenging, demanding, and encouraging strategy for CO₂ fixation. Herein, we demonstrate a selective one-pot strategy for CO₂ fixation into "oxazolidinone" by employing stable porous trimetallic oxide foam (PTOF) as a new catalyst. The PTOF catalyst was synthesized by a solution combustion method using transition metals Cu, Co, and Ni and systematically characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), N₂ sorption, temperature-programmed desorption (TPD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. Due to the distinctive synthesis method and unique combination of metal oxides and their percentage, the PTOF catalyst displayed highly interconnected porous channels along with uniformly distributed active sites on its surface. Well ahead, the PTOF catalyst was screened for the fixation of CO₂ into oxazolidinone. The screened and optimized reaction parameters revealed that the PTOF catalyst showed highly efficient and selective activity with 100% conversion of aniline along with 96% selectivity and yield toward the oxazolidinone product at mild and solvent-free reaction conditions. The superiority of the catalytic performance could be due to the presence of surface active sites and acid-base cooperative synergistic properties of the mixed metal oxides. A doubly synergistic plausible reaction mechanism was proposed for the oxazolidinone synthesis experimentally with the support of DFT calculations along with bond lengths, bond angles, and binding energies. In addition, stepwise intermediate formations with the free energy profile were also proposed. Also, the PTOF catalyst displayed good tolerance toward substituted aromatic amines and terminal epoxides for the fixation of CO₂ into oxazolidinones. Very interestingly, the PTOF catalyst could be significantly reused for up to 15 consecutive cycles with stable activity and retention in physicochemical properties.

Rare earth doped metal oxide nanoparticles for photocatalysis: a perspective

Metal oxides are well-known materials that have been considered as the prominent photocatalysts. Photocatalysis is a promising way to address the environmental issues which are caused by fossil fuel the combustion and industrial pollutants. Lot of efforts such as doping of metal oxides with metals, non-metals have been made to enhance their photocatalytic activity. More specifically, in this review we have discussed detailed synthesis procedures of rare earth doped metal oxides performed in the past decades. The advantage of doping metal oxides with rare earth metals is that they readily combine with functional groups due to the 4f vacant orbitals. Moreover, doping rare earth metals causes absorbance shift to the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum which results to show prominent photocatalysis in this region. The effect of rare earth doping on different parameters of metal oxides such as band gap and charge carrier recombination rate has been made in great details. In perspective section, we have given a brief description about how researchers can improve the photocatalytic efficiencies of different metal oxides in coming future. The strategies and outcomes outlined in this review are expected to stimulate the search for a whole new set of rare earth doped metal oxides for efficient photocatalytic applications.