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Light-driven selective oxidation of saturated C-H bonds with molecular oxygen, as an alternative to conventional thermochemical catalysis, allows a sustainable and eco-friendly manner to convert solar energy into highly value-added oxygenates. However, the photocatalytic oxidation of hydrocarbons still remains a great challenge owing to the low efficiency in the separation and transfer of photogenerated charge of the currently available photocatalytic materials. Herein, we report a novel perovskite-based heterostructure photocatalyst, in which ligand- and lead-free all-inorganic perovskite Cs3Bi2Br9 nanocrystals (NCs) with uniform crystal size and high crystallinity were homogeneously distributed on the surface of ultrathin two-dimensional (2D) monolayer Ti3C2Tx MXene nanosheets in an in situ growth manner. The resultant heterostructure featured with intimate interface between Cs3Bi2Br9 NCs and Ti3C2Tx MXene and strong visible-light adsorption not only exhibits significant enhancement in the performance of photocatalytic oxidation of challenging aromatic and aliphatic alkanes under visible-light irradiation but also greatly improves the stability of Cs3Bi2Br9 NCs under a reaction environment. Comprehensive characterizations reveal that the formation of an intimate interface between Cs3Bi2Br9 NCs and highly conductive ultrathin 2D Ti3C2Tx MXene nanosheets via strong interaction markedly accelerates the separation and transfer efficiency of photogenerated electron-hole pairs and simultaneously suppresses their recombination, resulting in improved utilization of the excited charges, which account for the highly enhanced photocatalytic performance.

Light-driven selective oxidation of saturated C-H bonds with molecular oxygen, as an alternative to conventional thermochemical catalysis, allows a sustainable and eco-friendly manner to convert solar energy into highly value-added oxygenates. However, the photocatalytic oxidation of hydrocarbons still remains a great challenge owing to the low efficiency in the separation and transfer of photogenerated charge of the currently available photocatalytic materials. Herein, we report a novel perovskite-based heterostructure photocatalyst, in which ligand- and lead-free all-inorganic perovskite Cs

Electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) represents a promising alternative route for sustainable ammonia synthesis, which currently dominantly relies on the energy-intensive Haber-Bosch process, while it is significantly hampered by the sluggish reaction kinetics due to the short of glorious electrocatalysts. In this work, we report an efficient porous tin heterostructure with intimate dual interfaces for electrosynthesis of ammonia, which exhibits outstanding NRR efficiency with an NH3 yield rate and Faradaic efficiency as high as 30.3 μg h-1mg-1cat and 41.3%, respectively, and excellent stability as well at a low potential of -0.05 V (vs RHE) in 0.1 M Na2SO4 solution under ambient conditions. This matrix value is superior to the analogue Sn-based heterostructures with a single interface and outperforms the currently state-of-the-art Sn-based catalysts. Comprehensive characterizations and theoretical calculations uncovered the formation of the unique intimate dual interfaces in the tin heterostructure promoting the enhancement of the NRR process, which not only effectively exposes more active sites for stronger N2 chemisorption and activation but also accelerates the interfacial electron transfer and reduces the free energy barrier for the rate-determining *N2H formation step, highlighting the importance of the dual interface effect for the design of electrocatalysts in catalysis.

Herein, we report an oxygen vacancy (OVs)-rich Nb2O5 semiconductor (OVs-N-Nb2O5) as a bifunctional heterogeneous photocatalyst for unprecedent synthesis of α-sulfonyloxy ketones via oxidative alkene difunctionalization with sodium sulfinate under visible light irradiation and ambient conditions. A broad set of aromatic and aliphatic alkenes was efficiently difunctionalized into diverse α-sulfonyloxy ketones in high yields with a good functional group tolerance. The catalyst OVs-N-Nb2O5 is highly stable and could be easily recovered for at least 6 successive recycles with maintaining photoactivity and selectivity. Experimental and theoretical investigations reveal that the presence of OVs not only accelerates the separation and transfer of photogenerated electron-hole pairs, but also promotes O2 adsorption and activation to form long-lived superoxide anion radical (O2• −), which greatly boosts the reaction and modulates the reaction pathways together with the intrinsic Lewis acid sites, thereby resulting in an improved reaction activity and excellent selectivity to the desired product.

A well-defined heterogeneous palladium catalyst, graphene oxide grafted with PdCl 2 , was prepared and found to be an effective catalyst for the C–C, C–N coupling of hetero aryl sulfonates with aryl boronic acids, terminal alkynes, amines, respectively, leading to the desired coupling products in moderate to excellent yields. The catalyst was characterized by XRD, IR, SEM, TEM, XPS and ICP. It is worthy noting that this catalyst offers a number of advantages such as high stability and negligible metal leaching. It also retains good activity for at least five successive runs without any additional activation treatment, showing a better performance than the well-known commercial Pd/C catalysts. This approach would be very useful from a practical viewpoint.

A well-defined heterogeneous palladium catalyst, supported on biomacromolecule, natural wool fibre, was found to be an effective catalyst for the C–C/C–N coupling of pyrimidin-2-yl sulfonates with arylboronic acids, terminal alkynes or anilines, giving the desired coupling products in good to high yields. The catalyst was characterized by XPS, IR, SEM and ICP. More importantly, the easy experimental handling catalyst is stable, shows negligible metal leaching, and can be reused for at least 10 successive runs. Undoubtedly, a wide scope of reactant, insensitive to the electron effects and the excellent coupling yields make these catalyst systems potentially useful in organic synthesis.

A well-defined heterogeneous palladium catalyst, supported on biomacromolecule, natural wool fibre, was found to be an effective catalyst for the C–C/C–N coupling of pyrimidin-2-yl sulfonates with arylboronic acids, terminal alkynes or anilines, giving the desired coupling products in good to high yields. The catalyst was characterized by XPS, IR, SEM and ICP. More importantly, the easy experimental handling catalyst is stable, shows negligible metal leaching, and can be reused for at least 10 successive runs. Undoubtedly, a wide scope of reactant, insensitive to the electron effects and the excellent coupling yields make these catalyst systems potentially useful in organic synthesis.