{"title":"Modelling of metal nanoparticles’ structures and dynamics under reaction conditions","authors":"Xinyi Duan , Yu Han , Beien Zhu , Yi Gao","doi":"10.1016/j.mtcata.2023.100032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtcata.2023.100032","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Metal nanoparticles (NPs) are widely used in heterogeneous catalysis. Their performance in catalytic reactions is closely related to the shape, surface structure, and composition. In the past two decades, a number of in-situ experiments have observed that under real reaction conditions, the structures of metal NPs are not static, but undergo remarkable dynamic evolution due to the presence of gas molecules. Therefore, it is imminent to develop reliable theoretical models to provide accurate predictions and comprehensive understandings of the structure reconstructions and dynamic behaviors of catalysts in response to the different reactive environments. In this review, we summarize a series of progress and achievements made by first-principle-based theoretical models in analyzing the shape evolution of metal NPs and surface segregation of alloys under different gas conditions in recent years. We also discuss the understanding of the catalytic performance of NPs by considering the reaction-condition-dependent structures. In addition, the real-time dynamic simulation methods of catalysts under reaction conditions are introduced. The perspective of simulating the kinetic process of in situ structural change is provided at last.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100892,"journal":{"name":"Materials Today Catalysis","volume":"3 ","pages":"Article 100032"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949754X23000327/pdfft?md5=c76a4339fe0abd559e2f29f6f8c0f76c&pid=1-s2.0-S2949754X23000327-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"92046419","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kefeng Xie , Kai Xu , Mingqiang Liu , Xiaohong Song , Shengyuan Xu , Huayan Si
{"title":"Catalysts for selective hydrogenation of acetylene: A review","authors":"Kefeng Xie , Kai Xu , Mingqiang Liu , Xiaohong Song , Shengyuan Xu , Huayan Si","doi":"10.1016/j.mtcata.2023.100029","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtcata.2023.100029","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Ethylene is a crucial industrial feedstock in the petrochemical sector. However, the presence of a small amount of acetylene impurities in ethylene products will directly affect the next application of ethylene. Acetylene semi-hydrogenation is an effective strategy to remove trace acetylene impurities (0.5–2.0%) from the ethylene stream to avoid poisoning the Ziegler-Natta catalyst. The development of cost-effective, highly selective, active and stable catalysts for acetylene semi-hydrogenation poses a significant challenge in this field. In this review, the mechanism of acetylene semi-hydrogenation is first introduced. Second, the recent progress in the different types of catalysts on semi-hydrogenation acetylene including the conventional catalysts, single atom catalysts, electrocatalysts and photocatalysts is summarized. Finally, the future prospects of acetylene semi-hydrogenation catalysts are provided. It is expected that this review will afford the researchers to understand and develop highly efficient catalysts on semi-hydrogenation acetylene.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100892,"journal":{"name":"Materials Today Catalysis","volume":"3 ","pages":"Article 100029"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49750971","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"3D In2S3/C/Fe3C nanofibers for Z-scheme photocatalytic CO2 conversion to acetate","authors":"Chen Liao , Wenhao Jing , Feng Wang , Ya Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.mtcata.2023.100030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtcata.2023.100030","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Constructing a Z-scheme heterostructure is of great significance to achieve efficient photocatalytic CO<sub>2</sub> conversion without sacrificial reagents. However, the fabrication of a well-suited Z-scheme remains a challenge. In this work, we constructed a Z-scheme system with a suitable band structure by in-situ hydrothermal growth of In<sub>2</sub>S<sub>3</sub> nanosheets on electrospun Fe<sub>3</sub>C/Carbon fibers with 3D structure. The Z-scheme electron transport path is verified by the calculation of the energy band structure calculation and the method of photodeposition, indicating that In<sub>2</sub>S<sub>3</sub> and Fe<sub>3</sub>C are reduction reaction sites and oxidation reaction sites respectively. Carbon fibers serve as both the skeleton of the 3D structure and the electron mediator from Fe<sub>3</sub>C to In<sub>2</sub>S<sub>3</sub>. Moreover, the DFT calculation demonstrates that the introduction of Fe<sub>3</sub>C can reduce the energy barrier of *CO and *COH coupling on In<sub>2</sub>S<sub>3</sub>, and weaken the bonding of In-S, thereby enhancing the product selectivity towards acetate. Owing to the efficient charge transfer of the Z-scheme system, the photocorrosion in In<sub>2</sub>S<sub>3</sub> is also greatly reduced, showing a relatively stable chemical composition after several hours of reaction. Compared with In<sub>2</sub>S<sub>3</sub> and Fe<sub>3</sub>C/C, In<sub>2</sub>S<sub>3</sub>-C/Fe<sub>3</sub>C composites showed a significantly increased acetate evolution rate of 11.33 μmol/h/g without any sacrificial reagents. This work provides important insights into the design and research of the photocatalyst system that combines a monolithic 3D structure and a Z-scheme charge flow for efficient CO<sub>2</sub> conversion.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100892,"journal":{"name":"Materials Today Catalysis","volume":"3 ","pages":"Article 100030"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49751191","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cuong Duong-Viet , Lai Truong-Phuoc , Lam Nguyen-Dinh , Christophe Michon , Jean-Mario Nhut , Charlotte Pham , Housseinou Ba , Cuong Pham-Huu
{"title":"Magnetic induction assisted pyrolysis of plastic waste to liquid hydrocarbons on carbon catalyst","authors":"Cuong Duong-Viet , Lai Truong-Phuoc , Lam Nguyen-Dinh , Christophe Michon , Jean-Mario Nhut , Charlotte Pham , Housseinou Ba , Cuong Pham-Huu","doi":"10.1016/j.mtcata.2023.100028","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtcata.2023.100028","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Carbon-based catalyst can effectively crack model waste plastic based on polyolefins under contactless induction heating and yield gaseous and liquid hydrocarbons fractions at mild reaction temperatures. High catalytic performances are reached thanks to the stable catalyst bed temperature arising from the high heating rate of the induction setup. By comparison to indirect Joule heating which required much higher temperatures, contactless direct induction heating allows a compensation of the internal temperature loss during such highly endothermic process through direct heat targeting. The single carbon-based catalyst combined a high and stable activity with an extremely high stability as a function of cycling tests with pure or mixed polymers. By comparison to the acid or metal based catalysts used in plastic cracking, such low cost carbon catalyst avoids deactivation within cycling tests and therefore provides an efficient and cost-effective route for waste plastic recycling and also as chemical storage means for renewable energy.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100892,"journal":{"name":"Materials Today Catalysis","volume":"3 ","pages":"Article 100028"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49750689","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yu Zhang , Mengmeng Du , Yingxin Ma , Jian Shang , Bocheng Qiu
{"title":"Valence engineering via double exchange interaction in spinel oxides for enhanced oxygen evolution catalysis","authors":"Yu Zhang , Mengmeng Du , Yingxin Ma , Jian Shang , Bocheng Qiu","doi":"10.1016/j.mtcata.2023.100027","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtcata.2023.100027","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The design of spinel-oxide-based catalysts with high activity and long-term durability for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) confronts grand challenges that may be well tackled by maneuvering the electronic structure of surface catalytic sites within spinel oxides. Herein, we harness a double exchange interaction (DEI) triggered by the synergistic effects of Schottky junction and oxygen vacancies (V<sub>O</sub>) to generate high proportions of octahedrally coordinated Ni<sup>3+</sup> and Co<sup>2+</sup> (highly active sites) in the edge-sharing [Ni<sub>x</sub>Co<sub>1−X</sub>O<sub>6</sub>] octahedra. Specifically, Schottky junction is formed between metallic Cu nanowires and semiconducting NiCo<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> via a core-shell structure, and abundant V<sub>O</sub> sites are created in NiCo<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> via H<sub>2</sub> thermal treatment. As expected, the Cu@V<sub>O</sub>-NiCo<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> electrocatalyst allows a significantly boosted OER performance, with a low overpotential of 214 mV at 10 mA cm<sup>-2</sup> and a small Tafel slope of 64.9 mV dec<sup>-1</sup>, which outperforms the state-of-the-art RuO<sub>2</sub> catalyst and most of reported Ni-Co based OER catalysts. Our work provides some inspirations for designing high-performance spinel-oxide-based electrocatalysts towards OER via DEI engineering.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100892,"journal":{"name":"Materials Today Catalysis","volume":"3 ","pages":"Article 100027"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49750688","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Xiaoyun Qin , Meiyan Yang , Peijun Yin , Xiangdong Shi , Fenghua Chen , Yanghai Gui , Jianbo Zhao , Liying Jiang , Dan Luo
{"title":"Design of hollow copper nanospheres/reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites for high performance catalytic reduction of p-nitrophenol","authors":"Xiaoyun Qin , Meiyan Yang , Peijun Yin , Xiangdong Shi , Fenghua Chen , Yanghai Gui , Jianbo Zhao , Liying Jiang , Dan Luo","doi":"10.1016/j.mtcata.2023.100026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtcata.2023.100026","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The development of functional materials for catalysis applications is a continuing issue, particularly in aqueous-phase catalysis. The creation of inexpensive catalysts with improved catalytic activity is still difficult. In this study, the hollow structured Cu nanospheres decorated on the reduced graphene oxide sheets (h-CuNS/rGO) nanocomposites were successfully prepared and applied in the catalytic reduction of <em>p</em>-nitrophenol (<em>p</em>-NP) in water using sodium borohydride as the reducing agent to obtain industrially useful <em>p</em>-aminophenol (<em>p</em>-AP) within a short time. The structure and morphology of h-CuNS/rGO were studied in order to get a full knowledge of the mechanism underlying the creation of its distinctive hollow structure. In the reduction of <em>p</em>-NP, the h-CuNS/rGO demonstrated significant catalytic activity and reusability. The catalytic hydrogenation mechanism on the surface of h-CuNS/rGO was shown to exhibit a synergistic effect between the catalytic h-CuNS and the supporting rGO. The hollow structure, abundant oxygen vacancies as well as the supported rGO worked together to enhance the catalytic activity during <em>p</em>-NP reduction. Therefore, this work proposes a strategy for the simple synthesis of nanocatalyst with high catalytic performance, which endows the potential applications including catalysis.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100892,"journal":{"name":"Materials Today Catalysis","volume":"3 ","pages":"Article 100026"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49751346","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"MXene-supported single-atom and nano catalysts for effective gas-phase hydrogenation reactions","authors":"Yilong Yan , Djibril Sall , Lola Loupias , Stéphane Célérier , Mimoun Aouine , Pascal Bargiela , Mathieu Prévot , Franck Morfin , Laurent Piccolo","doi":"10.1016/j.mtcata.2023.100010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtcata.2023.100010","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Transition metal carbides are known as efficient catalysts or catalyst supports and two-dimensional carbides (MXenes) offer renewed possibilities to anchor metal atoms and promote catalytic performances. This paper first presents an in-depth study of the elaboration of Pt or Pd-loaded Ti<sub>3</sub>C<sub>2</sub>T<sub>x</sub> MXenes and their unstacking for gas-phase catalysis investigations, along with step-by-step characterization by XRD, XPS, SEM and STEM. In particular, the influence of the MXene preparation method (HF <em>vs</em>. LiF-HCl etchants) on surface structure/composition and metal dispersion/oxidation state is disclosed. Second, the catalytic hydrogenation performances of these materials are reported, and reveal the interest of low-loaded Pt/MXene single-atom catalysts in terms of activity, selectivity and resistance to sintering. They present an unusually high selectivity to 2-butene – without butane formation – in butadiene hydrogenation, a model reaction of applied interest for the petrochemical industry. Moreover, in CO<sub>2</sub> reduction to CO (reverse water-gas shift reaction, relevant to greenhouse-gas valorization), these catalysts exhibit up to 99 % selectivity and a superior Pt-molar activity with respect to oxide-supported references. This work may stimulate the elaboration and investigation of other MXene-based systems for thermal heterogeneous catalysis, which remains rarely addressed on these materials.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100892,"journal":{"name":"Materials Today Catalysis","volume":"2 ","pages":"Article 100010"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49751443","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Zhishan Liang , Carmen Lee , Jiawei Liu , Yue Hu , Dongxue Han , Li Niu , Qingyu Yan
{"title":"Booming electrocatalysts for urea synthesis via nitrogen-integrated carbon dioxide reduction reaction","authors":"Zhishan Liang , Carmen Lee , Jiawei Liu , Yue Hu , Dongxue Han , Li Niu , Qingyu Yan","doi":"10.1016/j.mtcata.2023.100011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtcata.2023.100011","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The traditional method of urea production is a carbon-emitting, energy-intensive technology that contradicts the concept of carbon neutrality. Fortunately, the use of renewable energy in electrochemical synthesis has shown great potential for producing high-value nitrogen products, making electrocatalytic urea production a promising and sustainable approach. However, the low yield and Faraday efficiency, as well as the unclear mechanism of C-N bond formation, limit its large-scale industrial development. Researchers are seeking higher-performance electrocatalysts. This article discusses in detail the latest progress in the electrochemical synthesis of urea using carbon dioxide and various nitrogen sources, including catalyst design and preparation, as well as the mechanism of C-N coupling reactions. It also provides comprehensive analysis on the challenges and prospects facing urea electro-synthesis. The development of targeted and efficient new catalysts for urea synthesis is anticipated to bring about more sustainable and cost-effective production methods.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100892,"journal":{"name":"Materials Today Catalysis","volume":"2 ","pages":"Article 100011"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49727257","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}