Limiting Molecular Twisting: Upgrading a Donor-Acceptor Dye to Drive H Evolution.

The donor-acceptor (D-A) dye 4-(bis-4-(5-(2,2-dicyano-vinyl)-thiophene-2-yl)-phenyl-amino)-benzoic acid (P1) has been frequently used to functionalize NiO photocathodes and induce photoelectrochemical reduction of protons when coupled to a suitable catalyst. Photoinduced twisting of the P1 dye is steered on NiO by co-adsorption of tetradecanoic acid (C, myristic acid (MA)). Density Functional Theory and time-resolved photoluminescence studies confirm that twisting lowers the energy levels of the photoexcited D-A dye.

Electrochemical decarboxylation of acetic acid on boron-doped diamond and platinum-functionalised electrodes for pyrolysis-oil treatment.

Electrochemical decarboxylation of acetic acid on boron-doped-diamond (BDD) electrodes was studied as a possible means to decrease the acidity of pyrolysis oil. It is shown that decarboxylation occurs without the competitive oxygen evolution reaction (OER) on BDD electrodes to form methanol and methyl acetate by consecutive reaction of hydroxyl radicals with acetic acid. The performance is little affected by the applied current density (and associated potential), concentration, and the pH of the solution.