Nature of Reactive Hydrogen for Ammonia Synthesis over a Ru/C12A7 Electride Catalyst.

Recently, there have been renewed interests in exploring new catalysts for ammonia synthesis under mild conditions. Electride-based catalysts are among the emerging ones. Ruthenium particles supported on an electride composed of a mixture of calcium and aluminum oxides (C12A7) have attracted great attention for ammonia synthesis due to their facile ability in activating N under ambient pressure.

High-throughput operando-ready X-ray absorption spectroscopy flow reactor cell for powder samples.

A high-throughput, operando-ready X-ray absorption spectroscopy catalytic reaction cell consisting of 4 parallel reactors was designed to collect X-ray absorption near edge structure and extended fine structure spectra under reaction conditions. The cell is capable of operating at temperatures from ambient conditions up to 773 K and pressures from ambient to 2 MPa in a variety of gas environments. The cell design is mechanically simple, and programmable operation at beamline 8-ID (NSLS-II, Brookhaven National Laboratory) makes it straightforward to use.

Mechanistic Studies of Single-Step Styrene Production Using a Rhodium(I) Catalyst.

The direct and single-step conversion of benzene, ethylene, and a Cu(II) oxidant to styrene using the Rh(I) catalyst (DAB)Rh(TFA)(η-CH) [DAB = N,N'-bis(pentafluorophenyl)-2,3-dimethyl-1,4-diaza-1,3-butadiene; TFA = trifluoroacetate] has been reported to give quantitative yields (with Cu(II) as the limiting reagent) and selectivity combined with turnover numbers >800. This report details mechanistic studies of this catalytic process using a combined experimental and computational approach. Examining catalysis with the complex (DAB)Rh(OAc)(η-CH) shows that the reaction rate has a dependence on catalyst concentration between first- and half-order that varies with both temperature and ethylene concentration, a first-order dependence on ethylene concentration with saturation at higher concentrations of ethylene, and a zero-order dependence on the concentration of Cu(II) oxidant.

Single atom alloy surface analogs in Pd0.18Cu15 nanoparticles for selective hydrogenation reactions.

We report a novel synthesis of nanoparticle Pd-Cu catalysts, containing only trace amounts of Pd, for selective hydrogenation reactions. Pd-Cu nanoparticles were designed based on model single atom alloy (SAA) surfaces, in which individual, isolated Pd atoms act as sites for hydrogen uptake, dissociation, and spillover onto the surrounding Cu surface. Pd-Cu nanoparticles were prepared by addition of trace amounts of Pd (0.