The Pivotal Role of s-, p-, and f-Block Metals in Water Electrolysis: Status Quo and Perspectives

Transition metals, in particular noble metals, are the most common species in metal-mediated water electrolysis because they serve as highly active catalytic sites. In many cases, the presence of nontransition metals, that is, s-, p-, and f-block metals with high natural abundance in the earth-crust in the catalytic material is indispensable to boost efficiency and durability in water electrolysis. This is why alkali metals, alkaline-earth metals, rare-earth metals, lean metals, and metalloids receive growing interest in this research area. In spite of the pivotal role of these nontransition metals in tuning efficiency of water electrolysis, there is far more room for developments toward a knowledge-based catalyst design. In this review, five classes of nontransition metals species which are successfully utilized in water electrolysis, with special emphasis on electronic structure-catalytic activity relationships and phase stability, are discussed. Moreover, specific fundamental aspects on electrocatalysts for water electrolysis as well as a perspective on this research field are also addressed in this account. It is anticipated that this review can trigger a broader interest in using s-, p-, and f-block metals species toward the discovery of advanced polymetal-containing electrocatalysts for practical water splitting.

Metallic S-CoTe with Surface Reconstruction Activated by Electrochemical Oxidation for Oxygen Evolution Catalysis

Developing highly active electrocatalysts toward oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is critical for the application of water splitting for hydrogen production and can further alleviate the energy crisis problem, but still remaining challenging. Especially, unlocking the catalytic site, in turn, helps design the available catalysts. Herein, the nanorod cobalt telluride with sulfur incorporation grown on a carbon cloth (S-CoTe/CC) as catalysts for OER, which displays extraordinary catalytic activity, is reported. Significantly, the in situ formed CoOOH species on the surface of S-CoTe merited from the structure evolution during the OER process serves as the active species. Furthermore, density functional theory calculations demonstrate that sulfur incorporation can tailor the electronic structure of active species and substantially optimize the free energy, accelerating the OER kinetics. This work provides an in-depth understanding of enhanced OER mechanism through foreign elements incorporating into precatalysts and is beneficial for the guiding design of more efficient catalysts.

Dialkylterphenyl Phosphine-Based Palladium Precatalysts for Efficient Aryl Amination of N-Nucleophiles

A series of 2-aminobiphenyl palladacycles supported by dialkylterphenyl phosphines, PR₂ Ar' (R=Me, Et, iPr, Cyp (cyclopentyl), Ar'=Ar^Dipp2 , Ar^Xyl2f , Dipp (2,6-C6H3-(2,6-C6H3-(CHMe2)2)2), Xyl=xylyl) have been prepared and structurally characterized. Neutral palladacycles were obtained with less bulky terphenyl phosphines (i.e., Me and Et substituents) whereas the largest phosphines provided cationic palladacycles in which the phosphines adopted a bidentate hemilabile k¹ -P,η¹ -C_arene coordination mode. The influence of the ligand structure on the catalytic performance of these Pd precatalysts was evaluated in aryl amination reactions. Cationic complexes bearing the phosphines PiPr₂ Ar^Xyl2 and PCyp₂ Ar^Xyl2 were the most active of the series. These precatalysts have demonstrated a high versatility and efficiency in the coupling of a variety of nitrogen nucleophiles, including secondary amines, alkyl amines, anilines, and indoles, with electronically deactivated and ortho-substituted aryl chlorides at low catalyst loadings (0.25-0.75 mol % Pd) and without excess ligand.

Two precatalysts for application in propargylic CH activation

The complexes {bis[(2-diphenylphosphanyl)phenyl] ether-κ²P,P'}(η⁴-norbornadiene)rhodium(I) tetrafluoridoborate, [Rh(C₇H₈)(C₃₆H₂₈OP₂)]BF₄, and {bis[(2-diphenylphosphanyl)phenyl] ether-κ²P,P'}[η⁴-(Z,Z)-cycloocta-1,5-diene]rhodium(I) tetrafluoridoborate dichloromethane monosolvate, [Rh(C₈H₁₂)(C₃₆H₂₈OP₂)]BF₄·CH₂Cl₂, are applied as precatalysts in redox-neutral atomic-economic propargylic CH activation [Lumbroso et al. (2013). Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 52, 1890-1932]. In addition, the catalytically inactive pentacoordinated 18-electron complex {bis[(2-diphenylphosphanyl)phenyl] ether-κ²P,P'}chlorido(η⁴-norbornadiene)rhodium(I), [RhCl(C₇H₈)(C₃₆H₂₈OP₂)], was synthesized, which can form in the presence of chloride in the reaction system.

Amorphous Cobalt Iron Borate Grown on Carbon Paper as a Precatalyst for Water Oxidation

The key to improving water oxidation is to develop efficient and earth-abundant catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Herein, a new amorphous cobalt iron borate supported on 3D carbon paper integrated electrode is reported as a precatalyst for the OER, which was synthesized by using a one-pot hydrothermal method. An optimum OER activity was obtained at 25 % Fe doping by screening the compositions of the Co and Fe. The best synthesized catalyst needs an overpotential of 227 mV to deliver a current density of 10 mA cm^-2 and also exhibits a long-term durability of 24 h. Impressively, we find that CoFe oxyhydroxide was formed in situ in the OER process, which serves as the real catalytic active species for OER. Moreover, the direct conversion from CoFe borate to CoFe oxyhydroxide is reported for the first time in metal borate OER catalysts. The discovery in this work, that is, that metal borate as a precursor can efficiently catalyze the OER in alkaline media, significantly widens the family of OER catalysts.

Two precatalysts for application in asymmetric homogeneous hydrogenation

The title compounds, [(1R,1'R,2R,2'R)-2,2'-bis(diphenylphosphanyl)-1,1'-dicyclopentane](η(4)-norbornadiene)rhodium(I) tetrafluoridoborate, [Rh(C34H36P2)(C7H8)]BF4, (I), and [(1R,1'R,2R,2'R)-2,2'-bis(diphenylphosphanyl)-1,1'-dicyclopentane][η(4)-(Z,Z)-cycloocta-1,5-diene]rhodium(I) tetrafluoridoborate dichloromethane monosolvate, [Rh(C34H36P2)(C8H12)]BF4·CH2Cl2, (II), are applied as precatalysts in asymmetric homogeneous hydrogenation, e.g. in the reduction of dehydroamino acids, affording excellent enantiomeric excesses [Zhu, Cao, Jiang & Zhang (1997). J. Am. Chem. Soc. 119, 1799-1800].