Molecularly Imprinted Nanozymes with Substrate Specificity: Current Strategies and Future Direction.

Molecular imprinting technology (MIT) stands out for its exceptional simplicity and customization capabilities and has been widely employed in creating artificial antibodies that can precisely recognize and efficiently capture target molecules. Concurrently, nanozymes have emerged as promising enzyme mimics in the biomedical field, characterized by their remarkable stability, ease of production scalability, robust catalytic activity, and high tunability. Drawing inspiration from natural enzymes, molecularly imprinted nanozymes combine the unique benefits of both MIT and nanozymes, thereby conferring biomimetic catalysts with substrate specificity and catalytic selectivity.

Se-functionalized metal-free catalysts rich in sp-hybridized carbon enable efficient oxygen electroreduction.

Carbon-based metal-free materials are emerging as leading candidates to replace noble-metal catalysts in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Herein, we introduce a facile secondary carbonation technique for fabricating Se and N co-doped metal-free catalysts using a zeolite imidazole framework (ZIF-8) as the precursor. The optimal electrocatalyst, designated SeNC-900, exhibited good ORR performance under both alkaline and acidic conditions, with half-wave potentials of 0.

Controlled evolution of surface microstructure and phase boundary of ZnO nanoparticles for the multiple sensitization effects on triethylamine detection.

In ZnO gas sensors, donor defects (such as zinc interstitials and oxygen vacancies) are considered active sites for the chemical adsorption and ionization of oxygen on the surface of ZnO, which can significantly enhance the sensor's response. However, the influence of the surface microstructure and phase boundaries of ZnO nanoparticles on the chemical adsorption and ionization of surface oxygen has rarely been explored. In this study, we developed a mixed-phase ZnO nanoparticle gas sensor with a rich phase boundary showing 198-50 ppm improvement in response to triethylamine at 340 °C.

Galvanic replacement-induced preparation of bloom-like PtNi for methanol coupled efficient hydrogen production.

Galvanic replacement reaction (GRR) leverages the difference in metal reduction potentials to regulate the structure of nanomaterials. The crucial aspect of constructing highly active catalysts lies in the precise manipulation of both the oxidative dissolution of sacrificial template metals and reductive deposition of alternate metals. Herein, we investigated the morphological transformation of metal Ni as a sacrificial template in the presence of different amounts of HPtCl solution and the Pt substitution of Ni to achieve the redistribution of elements on the catalyst surface, which provides superior performance in both the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER).

Fe-induced crystalline-amorphous interface engineering of a NiMo-based heterostructure for enhanced water oxidation.

Engineering heterostructures with a unique surface/interface structure is one of the effective strategies to develop highly active noble-metal-free catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), because the surface/interface of catalysts is the main site for the OER. Herein, we design a coralloid NiMo(Fe)-20 catalyst with a crystalline-amorphous interface through combining a hydrothermal method and an Fe-induced surface reconfiguration strategy. That is, after Fe impregnation treatment, the Ni(OH)-NiMoO pre-catalyst with a complete crystalline surface is restructured into a trimetallic heterostructure with a crystalline-amorphous interface, which facilitates mass diffusion and charge transfer during the OER.

In-situ fabrication of bimetallic FeCoO-FeCoS heterostructure for high-efficient alkaline freshwater/seawater electrolysis.

Rational construction of bifunctional electrocatalysts with long-term stability and high electrocatalytic activity is of great importance, but it is challenging to obtain highly efficient non-precious metal-based catalysts for overall seawater electrolysis. Herein, a nickel foam (NF) self-supporting CoFe-layered double hydroxide (CoFe-LDH/NF) was directly converted into FeCoO-FeCoS heterostructure via hydrothermal method in 50 mM NaS solution, instead of FeCoO@FeCoS core-shell structure. The FeCoO-FeCoS heterojunction shows nanosheets structure with rough surface (the thickness of ∼ 198.

Carbonaceous Material Modified MoO Nanospheres with Oxygen Vacancies for Enhanced Visible-Light Photocatalytic Oxidative Coupling of Benzylamine.

Surface oxygen vacancy (OV) plays a pivotal role in the activation of molecular oxygen and separation of electrons and holes in photocatalysis. Herein, carbonaceous materials-modified MoO nanospheres with abundant surface OVs (MoO/C-OV) were successfully synthesized via glucose hydrothermal processes. In situ introduction of carbonaceous materials triggered a reconstruction of the MoO surface, which introduced abundant surface OVs on the MoO/C composites.

CO-Tolerant PEMFC Anodes Enabled by Synergistic Catalysis between Iridium Single-Atom Sites and Nanoparticles.

Proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are limited by their extreme sensitivity to trace-level CO impurities, thus setting a strict requirement for H purity and excluding the possibility to directly use cheap crude hydrogen as fuel. Herein, we report a proof-of-concept study, in which a novel catalyst comprising both Ir particles and Ir single-atom sites (Ir @Ir -N-C) addresses the CO poisoning issue. The Ir single-atom sites are found not only to be good CO oxidizing sites, but also excel in scavenging the CO molecules adsorbed on Ir particles in close proximity, thereby enabling the Ir particles to reserve partial active sites towards H oxidation.

Carbon monoxide powered fuel cell towards H-onboard purification.

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) suffer extreme CO poisoning even at PPM level (<10 ppm), owning to the preferential CO adsorption and the consequential blockage of the catalyst surface. Herein, however, we report that CO itself can become an easily convertible fuel in PEMFC using atomically dispersed Rh catalysts (Rh-N-C). With CO to CO conversion initiates at 0 V, pure CO powered fuel cell attains unprecedented power density at 236 mW cm, with maximum CO turnover frequency (64.

Bridge Bonded Oxygen Ligands between Approximated FeN Sites Confer Catalysts with High ORR Performance.

The applications of the most promising Fe-N-C catalysts are prohibited by their limited intrinsic activities. Manipulating the Fe energy level through anchoring electron-withdrawing ligands is found effective in boosting the catalytic performance. However, such regulation remains elusive as the ligands are only uncontrollably introduced oweing to their energetically unstable nature.

Single-Atom Cr-N Sites Designed for Durable Oxygen Reduction Catalysis in Acid Media.

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) are attracting widespread interest for the catalytic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), with Fe-N SACs exhibiting the most promising activity. However, Fe-based catalysts suffer serious stability issues as a result of oxidative corrosion through the Fenton reaction. Herein, using a metal-organic framework as an anchoring matrix, we for the first time obtained pyrolyzed Cr/N/C SACs for the ORR, where the atomically dispersed Cr is confirmed to have a Cr-N coordination structure.