Anodic Activation of Prussian Blue Analog Leads to Highly Active Cobalt-doped Nickel (Oxy)hydroxide for Organic Oxidation Reactions.

Water-assisted electrocatalytic oxidation of alcohols into valuable chemicals is a promising strategy to circumvent the sluggish kinetics of water oxidation, while also reducing cell voltage and improving energy efficiency. Recently, transition metal (TM)-based catalysts have been investigated for anodic alcohol oxidation, but success has been limited due to competition from the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) within the working regime. In this study, NiCo-based Prussian blue analog (PBA) was electrochemically activated at the anodic potential to produce a Co-Ni(O)OH active catalyst with a nanosheet-like architecture.

A Facile Molecular Approach to Amorphous Nickel Pnictides and Their Reconstruction to Crystalline Potassium-Intercalated γ-NiOOH Enabling High-Performance Electrocatalytic Water Oxidation and Selective Oxidation of 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural.

The low-temperature molecular precursor approach can be beneficial to conventional solid-state methods, which require high temperatures and lead to relatively large crystalline particles. Herein, a novel, single-step, room-temperature preparation of amorphous nickel pnictide (NiE; EP, As) nanomaterials is reported, starting from NaOCE(dioxane) and NiBr (thf) . During application for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), the pnictide anions leach, and both materials fully reconstruct into nickel(III/IV) oxide phases (similar to γ-NiOOH) comprising edge-sharing (NiO ) layers with intercalated potassium ions and a d-spacing of 7.

Combination of Highly Efficient Electrocatalytic Water Oxidation with Selective Oxygenation of Organic Substrates using Manganese Borophosphates.

One of the key catalytic reactions for life on earth, the oxidation of water to molecular oxygen, occurs in the oxygen-evolving complex of the photosystem II (PSII) mediated by a manganese-containing cluster. Considerable efforts in this research area embrace the development of efficient artificial manganese-based catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Using artificial OER catalysts for selective oxygenation of organic substrates to produce value-added chemicals is a worthwhile objective.

Boosting Water Oxidation through In Situ Electroconversion of Manganese Gallide: An Intermetallic Precursor Approach.

For the first time, the manganese gallide (MnGa ) served as an intermetallic precursor, which upon in situ electroconversion in alkaline media produced high-performance and long-term-stable MnO -based electrocatalysts for water oxidation. Unexpectedly, its electrocorrosion (with the concomitant loss of Ga) leads simultaneously to three crystalline types of MnO minerals with distinct structures and induced defects: birnessite δ-MnO , feitknechtite β-MnOOH, and hausmannite α-Mn O . The abundance and intrinsic stabilization of Mn /Mn active sites in the three MnO phases explains the superior efficiency and durability of the system for electrocatalytic water oxidation.

Boosting Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Activity with a NiPt@NiS Heteronanostructure Evolved from a Molecular Nickel-Platinum Precursor.

A facile synthetic route to NiPt@NiS heteronanostructures is reported, starting from a subsulfido bridged heterobimetallic nickel-platinum molecular precursor. Notably, the NiPt@NiS on nickel foam displayed merely an overpotential of 12 mV at -10 mA cm, which is substantially lower than that of Pt or NiS, synthesized through a similar approach and represents the most active hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalysts yet reported in alkaline solutions. NiPt@NiS electrodes demonstrated an unceasing HER stability over 8 days, which is well over those reported for Pt-based catalysts signifying a capability of scaled hydrogen production.

Evolution of Superconductivity with Sr-Deficiency in Antiperovskite Oxide SrSnO.

Bulk superconductivity was recently reported in the antiperovskite oxide SrSnO, with a possibility of hosting topological superconductivity. We investigated the evolution of superconducting properties such as the transition temperature T and the size of the diamagnetic signal, as well as normal-state electronic and crystalline properties, with varying the nominal Sr deficiency x. Polycrystalline SrSnO was obtained up to x = 0:6 with a small amount of SrO impurities.

Superconductivity in the antiperovskite Dirac-metal oxide SrSnO.

Investigations of perovskite oxides triggered by the discovery of high-temperature and unconventional superconductors have had crucial roles in stimulating and guiding the development of modern condensed-matter physics. Antiperovskite oxides are charge-inverted counterpart materials to perovskite oxides, with unusual negative ionic states of a constituent metal. No superconductivity was reported among the antiperovskite oxides so far.