Chem CatalysisPub Date : 2026-03-15DOI: 10.1016/j.checat.2026.101700
Antonio Cosimo Pio Trimboli, Emilia Paone, Piero Torelli, Elena Groppo, Francesco Mauriello
{"title":"Reductive catalytic upcycling of polyolefins for sustainable fuel production","authors":"Antonio Cosimo Pio Trimboli, Emilia Paone, Piero Torelli, Elena Groppo, Francesco Mauriello","doi":"10.1016/j.checat.2026.101700","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.checat.2026.101700","url":null,"abstract":"(Chem Catalysis <em>6</em>, 101662; March 19, 2026)","PeriodicalId":53121,"journal":{"name":"Chem Catalysis","volume":"55 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147454660","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":"Hydrogen storage system based on formic acid production from CO2 electroreduction in acidic media","authors":"Xue Yang, Huan-Lei Zhang, Yi-Yang Bai, Hai-Gang Qin, Fu-Zhi Li, Meng Lin, Jun Gu","doi":"10.1016/j.checat.2026.101653","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.checat.2026.101653","url":null,"abstract":"Formic acid is a promising liquid hydrogen carrier that can be produced via CO<sub>2</sub> reduction reaction (CO<sub>2</sub>RR) with acidic electrolyte. Here, we demonstrate a closed-loop hydrogen storage system in which the CO<sub>2</sub>RR catholyte containing formic acid is directly used for thermocatalytic decomposition to release H<sub>2</sub>, eliminating the need for energy-intensive formic acid separation from the catholyte. However, the accumulation of formic acid in the catholyte suppresses local pH elevation and promotes the competing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Two strategies are employed to overcome this issue: restricting diffusion to enhance concentration polarization and introducing fixed positive charges in the catalyst layer to repel H<sup>+</sup>. These approaches suppress HER and enable the accumulation of 2.63 M formic acid with indium (In) catalyst. The catholyte was then directly decomposed with palladium (Pd) catalyst to release H<sub>2</sub> at 100% selectivity, and the recycled solution retained CO<sub>2</sub>RR performance comparable to fresh electrolyte.","PeriodicalId":53121,"journal":{"name":"Chem Catalysis","volume":"79 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147383973","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}
Chem CatalysisPub Date : 2026-03-05DOI: 10.1016/j.checat.2025.101635
Fangyuan Cheng, Suning Zhang, Cong Luo, Lingting Ye, Kui Xie
{"title":"Precisely engineered metal-oxide interfaces in porous single-crystal zirconia monoliths enable enhanced catalytic activity and durability","authors":"Fangyuan Cheng, Suning Zhang, Cong Luo, Lingting Ye, Kui Xie","doi":"10.1016/j.checat.2025.101635","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.checat.2025.101635","url":null,"abstract":"Zirconia is a typical oxide support due to its exceptional thermal and chemical stability along with beneficial surface alkalinity. As an oxide support, porous single-crystal zirconia monoliths would combine the advantages of activity similar to nanocrystals and stability similar to bulk crystals. In this work, we fabricated a porous single-crystal zirconia monolith and deposited single-crystal Ni<sub>x</sub>Fe<sub>1-x</sub> alloy nanoparticles to form well-defined metal-oxide interfaces for the control of metal-oxide interactions to enhance catalytic performance and durability. As a case study, we showed outstanding performance with conversion efficiencies of CH<sub>4</sub> and CO<sub>2</sub> reaching ∼88.9% and 91.7% for dry reforming of CH<sub>4</sub>/CO<sub>2</sub>, respectively, without visible performance degradation even during continuous operation for 240 h at a low temperature of ∼650°C. The current work opens a new avenue for developing high-efficiency catalysts for carbon reclamation at low temperatures, and the present techniques can create well-defined active interface structures for catalyst designs.","PeriodicalId":53121,"journal":{"name":"Chem Catalysis","volume":"65 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147360090","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}
Chem CatalysisPub Date : 2026-03-04DOI: 10.1016/j.checat.2026.101658
Xujian Wang, Junmei Wang, Wan-Lu Li
{"title":"Machine learning/molecular mechanics enzymology for the next generation of computational enzymatic catalysis","authors":"Xujian Wang, Junmei Wang, Wan-Lu Li","doi":"10.1016/j.checat.2026.101658","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.checat.2026.101658","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53121,"journal":{"name":"Chem Catalysis","volume":"55 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147360779","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}
Chem CatalysisPub Date : 2026-03-04DOI: 10.1016/j.checat.2026.101649
Shivangi Kharbanda, Pritha Das, Richard P. Johnson, Jimmie D. Weaver
{"title":"An efficient photo-driven retro-Diels-Alder reaction: Dienes on demand","authors":"Shivangi Kharbanda, Pritha Das, Richard P. Johnson, Jimmie D. Weaver","doi":"10.1016/j.checat.2026.101649","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.checat.2026.101649","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53121,"journal":{"name":"Chem Catalysis","volume":"46 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147360855","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}
Chem CatalysisPub Date : 2026-03-03DOI: 10.1016/j.checat.2025.101634
Hao Weng, Fanzhi Qin, Chen Zhang, Wenpeng Ni, Ming Yan, Hou Wang, Lin Tang, Shengbo Ge, Ben Bin Xu, Zhuo Chen
{"title":"Asymmetric donor engineering in diazine-based polymers for high-efficiency solar-driven H2O2 photosynthesis","authors":"Hao Weng, Fanzhi Qin, Chen Zhang, Wenpeng Ni, Ming Yan, Hou Wang, Lin Tang, Shengbo Ge, Ben Bin Xu, Zhuo Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.checat.2025.101634","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.checat.2025.101634","url":null,"abstract":"Artificial photosynthesis of H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> offers a sustainable route for energy and environmental remediation but suffers from inefficient charge separation and slow kinetics. We introduce an asymmetric donor strategy coupling diazine donors with an <em>o</em>-phthalaldehyde acceptor to strengthen push-pull interactions for enhanced π-conjugated charge transfer. The optimized polymers, PaTapm and PaDamp, achieve H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> yields of 829.67 and 1,649.12 μmol·g<sup>−1</sup>·h<sup>−1</sup>, with solar-to-chemical efficiencies of 0.238% and 0.395%, respectively. Computations show that disulfide-functionalized diazine frameworks facilitate electron excitation/transport, O<sub>2</sub> adsorption, and ∗OOH/∗H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> formation. Mechanism studies support 2<em>e</em><sup>−</sup> oxygen reduction reaction and 4<em>e</em><sup>−</sup> water oxidation reaction pathways of polymers for continuous H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> production. However, partial polymer self-oxidation by holes is also observed, slightly affecting long-term photostability without sacrificial agents. Prototype reactors enable large-scale H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> production under natural sunlight, and PaDamp-mediated photocatalytic-Fenton treatments highlight potential for water remediation. This work offers atomic-level insights into the role of asymmetric donor engineering in catalytic optimization.","PeriodicalId":53121,"journal":{"name":"Chem Catalysis","volume":"411 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147329955","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}
Chem CatalysisPub Date : 2026-02-27DOI: 10.1016/j.checat.2025.101629
Qi Zhang, Shanghui Wu, Zhong-Ming Ye, Xuesong Wu
{"title":"Photocatalytic dehydrogenative fluoroalkylation and oxo-fluoroalkylation of alkenes with β-fluorinated alcohols","authors":"Qi Zhang, Shanghui Wu, Zhong-Ming Ye, Xuesong Wu","doi":"10.1016/j.checat.2025.101629","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.checat.2025.101629","url":null,"abstract":"The radical fluoroalkylation of organic molecules has emerged as a powerful and versatile platform for constructing fluorine-containing compounds highly valuable in the fields of medicine and pesticides. Despite the significant advances, the established β-fluorinated alkyl radical precursors generally suffer from limitations in their molecular complexity and diversity. In this study, 1,3-benzodithiolylium tetrafluoroborate is identified as an efficient hydroxyl-activating reagent to enable the direct utilization of readily available and structurally diverse β-fluorinated alcohols as versatile synthetic building blocks for fluoroalkylation. The unique radical deoxygenation process is mediated by site-selective hydrogen atom transfer with a photoexcited triplet ketone/nitroarene, providing efficient access to high-energy β-fluorinated primary alkyl radicals. The efficiency and universality of this deoxygenative fluoroalkylation strategy have been demonstrated by the achievement of a series of unprecedented photocatalytic fluoroalkylation reactions with β-fluorinated alcohols, including anthraquinone/cobaloxime dual-catalyzed dehydrogenative fluoroalkylation of alkenes/alkanes with hydrogen evolution and triplet nitroarene-mediated oxo-fluoroalkylation of alkenes under metal-free conditions.","PeriodicalId":53121,"journal":{"name":"Chem Catalysis","volume":"291 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2026-02-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147319897","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}
Chem CatalysisPub Date : 2026-02-24DOI: 10.1016/j.checat.2025.101628
Vannessa Caballero, Wenda Hu, Hao Xu, Houqian Li, Huamin Wang, Jinshu Tian, Mingwu Tan, Konstantin Khivantsev, Yong Wang
{"title":"Confinement of atomically dispersed Ce in dealuminated beta zeolite for selective C–C coupling and deoxygenation","authors":"Vannessa Caballero, Wenda Hu, Hao Xu, Houqian Li, Huamin Wang, Jinshu Tian, Mingwu Tan, Konstantin Khivantsev, Yong Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.checat.2025.101628","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.checat.2025.101628","url":null,"abstract":"The acetone-to-isobutene reaction is a key step in the ethanol cascade process toward high-value chemicals. However, the effects of spatial confinement and the role of cerium (Ce) species remain poorly understood. Here, we reveal that Ce-incorporated dealuminated beta zeolite (CedeAlBEA) exhibits exceptional isobutene selectivity when Ce species are atomically dispersed within the BEA framework. Spectroscopy analyses show that isolated Ce atoms provide optimal Lewis acidity for facilitating selective isobutene formation. In contrast, increasing Ce loading leads to the formation of CeO<sub>2</sub> nanoparticles, promoting mesityl oxide (MSO) as a byproduct. The Ce species in CedeAlBEA enhance C–C coupling and deoxygenation selectivity, whereas mesoporous and non-porous supports favor MSO formation because of the weaker confinement effects. Kinetic experiments reveal that oxygen elimination is the rate-limiting step. This study highlights the critical role of confined, atomically dispersed Ce cations in the BEA framework in directing acetone throughout diacetone alcohol decomposition to isobutene.","PeriodicalId":53121,"journal":{"name":"Chem Catalysis","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2026-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147279749","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}