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The commercialization of magnesia–air batteries (Mg–air) necessitates the development of highly efficient, cost-effective, and durable electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), replacing expensive and unstable precious metal electrocatalysts. A hard template-assisted synthesis of FeCo nanoparticles immobilized on N-doped porous carbon (Fe–Co–C–N) for the ORR is reported. The half-wave potential of Fe–Co–C–N for ORR (E1/2 = 0.88 V vs. RHE) is elevated by 40 mV compared to that of 20 wt% Pt/C (E1/2 = 0.84 vs. RHE). The catalyst exhibits exceptional catalytic performance and remarkable stability. The discharge voltage of the Mg–air battery, utilizing Fe–Co–C–N as the cathode catalyst (1.29 V), surpasses that of the battery employing 20 wt% Pt/C as the cathode catalyst (1.28 V). The Mg–air battery with Fe–Co–C–N as the cathode catalyst exhibited excellent discharge stability and maintained a stable discharge for over 200 hours. The present study offers valuable insights into the structural design and regulatory mechanisms governing the performance of M–N–C catalysts in Mg–air batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biomass provides a promising source of carbon for obtaining environment-friendly carbon materials, but obtaining heteroatom-doped carbon materials (HDCMs) from biomass directly by a green method still remains challenging. This study successfully synthesized nitrogen and phosphorus co-doped porous carbon materials (Y-NPC) by the simple in situ pyrolysis of renewable yeast mixed with water from 800 to 950 °C. Various characterization methods show that nitrogen and phosphorus are doped into the carbon skeleton and mainly exist in the forms of graphite-N, pyridine-N, C–P, P–N, and P–O states. The catalyst Y-NPC-900 °C with a 3D hierarchical porous structure and high P–N content exhibited superior nitro hydrogenation performance and reaction stability using molecular hydrogen and hydrazine hydrate as hydrogen sources under mild conditions. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations and experiments attributed the exceptional catalytic performance to hydrogen activation and the good adsorption ability of substrates over N, P co-doped carbon (NPC). Therefore, this research proposes an eco-friendly and simple synthesis strategy for in situ N, P co-doping metal-free carbon catalysts derived from biomass, showing the significance of N, P co-doping and single N- or P-monodoping in the charge distribution of carbon materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of carbon-based catalysts to substitute Pt-based catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction is highly important for promoting their practical application in energy conversion. Herein, we prepare Zn, Fe and N-codoped porous carbon (Zn/Fe-NC-x) as a cathode catalyst via a facile one-step pyrolysis predesigned bimetallic zeolitic imidazole framework. Systematic electrochemical studies demonstrated that the synthesized Zn/Fe-NC-0.5 exhibits higher electrocatalytic activity towards the oxygen reduction reaction. In particular, Zn/Fe-NC-0.5 has a smaller charge transfer resistance, larger exchange current density, and much higher open circuit potential and mainly proceeds via an efficient four-electron pathway. A microbial fuel cell equipped with the synthesized catalyst exhibited the highest maximum power density of 1954 ± 20 mW m−2. In addition, the effects of the iron doping content on the oxygen reduction reaction performance and maximum power density were evaluated: a moderate Fe doping content plays a crucial role in improving the catalytic activity, and the synergistic effect of Zn, Fe and N codoping promotes cathodic performance. In brief, Zn/Fe-NC, which has the advantages of facile synthesis, environmental friendliness and excellent electrochemical activity, is a promising Pt-alternative catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction in air-cathode microbial fuel cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The availability of catalytic sites for contact with reactants is a key issue to improve the performance of a catalyst, where constructing hollow structured nanomaterials has been considered as an effective strategy. Here, an N-doped carbon supported Ru catalyst with an interior cavity was synthesized by etching a MOF-derived core–shell precursor, in which metal Ru can be highly dispersed in the porous shell. This catalyst shows 98.7% conversion and >99% selectivity towards p-chloroaniline in the hydrogenation of p-chloronitrobenzene, which is better than the corresponding supported catalyst. Moreover, it also displays excellent stability with 5 cycle runs and good substrate universality for the hydrogenation of extensive substituted nitroarenes. Various characterization techniques and control experiments reveal the advantage of the unique structure to promote the mass transport and adsorption of reactant molecules on Ru sites. This work provides a novel strategy to design an efficient Ru-based catalyst for chemoselective hydrogenation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon dots with good photoelectric properties are usually used as photocatalysts and electrocatalysts, but the good catalytic performance of carbon dots as nanomaterials for thermal catalysis is ignored. Herein, the application of novel efficient catalysts based on carbon dots for the transformation of carbon dioxide (CO2) to carbonates under solvent-free conditions is described. Carbon dots containing carboxyl, hydroxyl, and amine groups were prepared by a microwave technique and employed together with KI, which showed exceptional catalytic activity in the cycloaddition of carbon dioxide with different epoxides. In addition, the catalyst was easily reusable and had stable recyclability. And the catalyst displayed outstanding catalytic performance due to the synergistic effect of carboxyl (–COOH), hydroxyl (–OH), and amine (–NH) groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CuO/TiO2 catalysts with varying Sb doping ratios were synthesized and applied in the NH3-SCR process. The results of activity tests revealed that the addition of Sb effectively enhanced the performance of low-temperature SCR. Particularly, the CuSbTiOx-0.2 catalyst exhibited the highest activity, achieving over 91% conversion at 250 °C, along with the highest N2 selectivity and exceptional resistance to SO2. Comprehensive characterization analyses demonstrated that CuSbTiOx-0.2 possessed a significantly large specific surface area, the strongest surface acidity, and superior redox performance among the catalysts studied. In situ DRIFTS experiments provided further insights, indicating that Sb modification generated more active species, thereby enhancing the reactivity of ad-NH3 and ad-NOx species. The SCR reaction mechanism for CuSbTiOx-0.2 predominantly followed the Langmuir–Hinshelwood (L–H) and Eley–Rideal (E–R) mechanisms. These findings have the potential to advance the development of novel and effective non-vanadium SCR catalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ZnO quantum dots (QDs) supported on porous nitrogen-doped carbon (ZnOQDs/P-NC) exhibited excellent electrochemical performance for the electroreduction of CO2 to CO with a faradaic efficiency of 95.3% and a current density of 21.6 mA cm−2 at −2.2 V vs. Ag/Ag+. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]