Search

Fine‐tuning single‐atom catalysts (SACs) to surpass their activity limit remains challenging at their atomic scale. Herein, we exploit p‐type semiconducting character of SACs having a metal center coordinated to nitrogen donors (MeNx) and rectify their local charge density by an n‐type semiconductor support. With iron phthalocyanine (FePc) as a model SAC, introducing an n‐type gallium monosulfide that features a low work function generates a space‐charged region across the junction interface, and causes distortion of the FeN4 moiety and spin‐state transition in the FeII center. This catalyst shows an over two‐fold higher specific oxygen‐reduction activity than that of pristine FePc. We further employ three other n‐type metal chalcogenides of varying work function as supports, and discover a linear correlation between the activities of the supported FeN4 and the rectification degrees, which clearly indicates that SACs can be continuously tuned by this rectification strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strong metal‐support interactions characteristic of the encapsulation of metal particles by oxide overlayers have been widely observed on large metal nanoparticles, but scarcely occur on small nanoclusters (<2 nm) for which the metal‐support interactions remain elusive. Herein, we study the structural evolution of Pt nanoclusters (1.5 nm) supported on anatase TiO2 upon high‐temperature H2 reduction. The Pt nanoclusters start to partially evolve into a CsCl‐type PtTi intermetallic compound when the reduction temperature reaches 400 °C. Upon 700 °C reduction, the PtTi nanoparticles are exclusively formed and grow epitaxially along the TiO2 (101) crystal faces. The thermodynamics of the formation of PtTi via migration of reduced Ti atoms into Pt cluster is unraveled by theoretical calculations. The thermally stable PtTi intermetallic compound, with single‐atom Pt isolated by Ti, exhibits enhanced catalytic activity and promoted catalytic durability for CO oxidation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The active site of the industrial Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst used in CO2 hydrogenation to methanol has been debated for decades. Grand challenges remain in the characterization of structure, composition, and chemical state, both microscopically and spectroscopically, and complete theoretical calculations are limited when it comes to describing the intrinsic activity of the catalyst over the diverse range of structures that emerge under realistic conditions. Here a series of inverse model catalysts of ZnO on copper hydroxide were prepared where the size of ZnO was precisely tuned from atomically dispersed species to nanoparticles using atomic layer deposition. ZnO decoration boosted methanol formation to a rate of 877 gMeOH kgcat−1 h−1 with ≈80 % selectivity at 493 K. High pressure in situ X‐ray absorption spectroscopy demonstrated that the atomically dispersed ZnO species are prone to aggregate at oxygen‐deficient ZnO ensembles instead of forming CuZn metal alloys. By modeling various potential active structures, density functional theory calculations and microkinetic simulations revealed that ZnO/Cu interfaces with oxygen vacancies, rather than stoichiometric interfaces, Cu and CuZn alloys were essential to catalytic activation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single‐atom‐layer catalysts with fully activated basal‐atoms will provide a solution to the low loading‐density bottleneck of single‐atom catalysts. Herein, we activate the majority of the basal sites of monolayer MoS2, by doping Co ions to induce long‐range ferromagnetic order. This strategy, as revealed by in situ synchrotron radiation microscopic infrared spectroscopy and electrochemical measurements, could activate more than 50 % of the originally inert basal‐plane S atoms in the ferromagnetic monolayer for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Consequently, on a single monolayer of ferromagnetic MoS2 measured by on‐chip micro‐cell, a current density of 10 mA cm−2 could be achieved at the overpotential of 137 mV, corresponding to a mass activity of 28, 571 Ag−1, which is two orders of magnitude higher than the multilayer counterpart. Its exchange current density of 75 μA cm−2 also surpasses most other MoS2‐based catalysts. Experimental results and theoretical calculations show the activation of basal plane S atoms arises from an increase of electronic density around the Fermi level, promoting the H adsorption ability of basal‐plane S atoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The design of active, selective, and stable CO2 reduction electrocatalysts is still challenging. A series of atomically dispersed Co catalysts with different nitrogen coordination numbers were prepared and their CO2 electroreduction catalytic performance was explored. The best catalyst, atomically dispersed Co with two‐coordinate nitrogen atoms, achieves both high selectivity and superior activity with 94 % CO formation Faradaic efficiency and a current density of 18.1 mA cm−2 at an overpotential of 520 mV. The CO formation turnover frequency reaches a record value of 18 200 h−1, surpassing most reported metal‐based catalysts under comparable conditions. Our experimental and theoretical results demonstrate that lower a coordination number facilitates activation of CO2 to the CO2.− intermediate and hence enhances CO2 electroreduction activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge of the photocatalytic H2 evolution mechanism is of great importance for designing active catalysts toward a sustainable energy supply. An atomic-level insight, design, and fabrication of single-site Co1-N4 composite as a prototypical photocatalyst for efficient H2 production is reported. Correlated atomic characterizations verify that atomically dispersed Co atoms are successfully grafted by covalently forming a Co1-N4 structure on g-C3N4 nanosheets by atomic layer deposition. Different from the conventional homolytic or heterolytic pathway, theoretical investigations reveal that the coordinated donor nitrogen increases the electron density and lowers the formation barrier of key Co hydride intermediate, thereby accelerating H-H coupling to facilitate H2 generation. As a result, the composite photocatalyst exhibits a robust H2 production activity up to 10.8 μmol h−1, 11 times higher than that of pristine counterpart. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Limited by the relatively sluggish charge-carrier separation in semiconductors, the photocatalytic performance is still far below what is expected. Herein, a model of ZnIn2S4 (ZIS) nanosheets with oxygen doping is put forward to obtain in-depth understanding of the role that doping atoms play in photocatalysis. It shows enhanced photocatalytic activity compared with pristine ZIS. The electron dynamics analyzed by ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy reveals that the average recovery lifetime of photoexcited electrons is increased by 1.53 times upon oxygen incorporation into the ZIS crystals, indicating enhanced separation of photoexcited carriers in oxygen-doped ZIS nanosheets. As expected, the oxygen-doped ZIS nanosheets show a remarkably improved photocatalytic activity with a hydrogen evolution rate of up to 2120 μmol h−1 g−1 under visible-light irradiation, which is 4.5 times higher than that of the pristine ZIS nanosheets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The active site of the industrial Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst used in CO2 hydrogenation to methanol has been debated for decades. Grand challenges remain in the characterization of structure, composition, and chemical state, both microscopically and spectroscopically, and complete theoretical calculations are limited when it comes to describing the intrinsic activity of the catalyst over the diverse range of structures that emerge under realistic conditions. Here a series of inverse model catalysts of ZnO on copper hydroxide were prepared where the size of ZnO was precisely tuned from atomically dispersed species to nanoparticles using atomic layer deposition. ZnO decoration boosted methanol formation to a rate of 877 gMeOH kgcat−1 h−1 with ≈80 % selectivity at 493 K. High pressure in situ X‐ray absorption spectroscopy demonstrated that the atomically dispersed ZnO species are prone to aggregate at oxygen‐deficient ZnO ensembles instead of forming CuZn metal alloys. By modeling various potential active structures, density functional theory calculations and microkinetic simulations revealed that ZnO/Cu interfaces with oxygen vacancies, rather than stoichiometric interfaces, Cu and CuZn alloys were essential to catalytic activation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The design of active, selective, and stable CO2 reduction electrocatalysts is still challenging. A series of atomically dispersed Co catalysts with different nitrogen coordination numbers were prepared and their CO2 electroreduction catalytic performance was explored. The best catalyst, atomically dispersed Co with two‐coordinate nitrogen atoms, achieves both high selectivity and superior activity with 94 % CO formation Faradaic efficiency and a current density of 18.1 mA cm−2 at an overpotential of 520 mV. The CO formation turnover frequency reaches a record value of 18 200 h−1, surpassing most reported metal‐based catalysts under comparable conditions. Our experimental and theoretical results demonstrate that lower a coordination number facilitates activation of CO2 to the CO2.− intermediate and hence enhances CO2 electroreduction activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]