Cation Enrichment Promotes High-rate CO Electroreduction to C Liquid Products.

Electrochemical reduction of CO into valuable multicarbon (C) liquids is crucial for reducing CO emissions and advancing clean energy, yet mastering efficiency and selectivity in this process remains a tough challenge. Herein, we employ a surface-modification strategy using electrochemically active polymeric 1,4,5,8-naphthalenete-tracarboxylic dianhydride (PNTCDA)-modified copper nanosheets (PM-Cu) to rearrange reactive species in the electric double layer, where the PNTCDA triggers a distinctive enolization that anchor potassium ions (K) onto the cathode surface under reduction condition. Electrochemical analysis and computational simulations revealed that this approach fine-tunes K distribution in the double layer, making the dehydration of hydrated K more efficient and reducing active water molecules at the interface, thus inhibiting the hydrogen evolution reaction while concurrently promoting CO reduction via enhanced C-C coupling.

Selective Oxidation of Methane to Methanol via In Situ HO Synthesis.

The selective oxidation of methane to methanol, using HO generated in situ from the elements, has been investigated using a series of ZSM-5-supported AuPd catalysts of varying elemental composition, prepared via a deposition precipitation protocol. The alloying of Pd with Au was found to offer significantly improved efficacy, compared to that observed over monometallic analogues. Complementary studies into catalytic performance toward the direct synthesis and subsequent degradation of HO, under idealized conditions, indicate that methane oxidation efficacy is not directly related to HO production rates, and it is considered that the known ability of Au to promote the release of reactive oxygen species is the underlying cause for the improved performance of the bimetallic catalysts.

Regulating the Local Charge Distribution of Ni Active Sites for the Urea Oxidation Reaction.

In electrochemical energy storage and conversion systems, the anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) accounts for a large proportion of the energy consumption. The electrocatalytic urea oxidation reaction (UOR) is one of the promising alternatives to OER, owing to its low thermodynamic potential. However, owing to the sluggish UOR kinetics, its potential in practical use has not been unlocked.

Boosting Neutral Water Oxidation through Surface Oxygen Modulation.

Developing efficient electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in pH-neutral electrolyte is crucial for microbial electrolysis cells and electrochemical CO reduction. Unfortunately, the OER kinetics in neutral electrolyte is sluggish due to the low concentration of adsorbed reactants, with overpotentials of neutral OER at present much higher than that in acidic or alkaline electrolyte. Here, hydrated metal cations (Ca ) are sought to be incorporated into the state-of-the-art Ru-Ir binary oxide to tailor the surface oxygen environments (lattice-oxygen and adsorbed oxygen species) for efficient neutral OER.

The p-Orbital Delocalization of Main-Group Metals to Boost CO Electroreduction.

Enhancing the p-orbital delocalization of a Bi catalyst (termed as POD-Bi) via layer coupling of the short inter-layer Bi-Bi bond facilitates the adsorption of intermediate *OCHO of CO and thus boosts the CO reduction reaction (CO RR) rate to formate. X-ray absorption fine spectroscopy shows that the POD-Bi catalyst has a shortened inter-layer bond after the catalysts are electrochemically reduced in situ from original BiOCl nanosheets. The catalyst on a glassy carbon electrode exhibits a record current density of 57 mA cm (twice the state-of-the-art catalyst) at -1.