Borohydride Hydrolysis Using a Mechanically and Chemically Stable Aluminium-Stainless Steel Porous Monolith Catalyst Made by 3D Printing.

The challenge of moving to a carbon-free energy economy is highlighted in the context of technology and materials restrictions. Many technologies needed for the so-called energy transition depend on critical metals such as platinum, lithium, iridium and cobalt. Here we focus on solid borohydride salts as hydrogen carriers, studying catalysts for hydrogen release.

Tuning catalytic performance of platinum single atoms by choosing the shape of cerium dioxide supports.

The local coordination environment of single atom catalysts (SACs) often determines their catalytic performance. To understand these metal-support interactions, we prepared Pt SACs on cerium dioxide (CeO) cubes, octahedra and rods, with well-structured exposed crystal facets. The CeO crystals were characterized by SEM, TEM, pXRD, and N sorption, confirming the shape-selective synthesis, identical bulk structure, and variations in specific surface area, respectively.

Noncovalent Grafting of Molecular Complexes to Solid Supports by Counterion Confinement.

Grafting molecular complexes on solid supports is a facile strategy to synthesize advanced materials. Here, we present a general and simple method for noncovalent grafting on charge-neutral surfaces. Our method is based on the generic principle of counterion confinement in surface micropores.

Understanding the Oxidative Properties of Nickel Oxyhydroxide in Alcohol Oxidation Reactions.

The NiOOH electrode is commonly used in electrochemical alcohol oxidations. Yet understanding the reaction mechanism is far from trivial. In many cases, the difficulty lies in the decoupling of the overlapping influence of chemical and electrochemical factors that not only govern the reaction pathway but also the crystal structure of the formed oxyhydroxide.

A rational synthesis of hierarchically porous, N-doped carbon from Mg-based MOFs: understanding the link between nitrogen content and oxygen reduction electrocatalysis.

Controlled mixtures of novel Mg-based metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) were prepared, with H(+) or K(+) as counterions. A linear relation was found between synthesis pH and K/H ratio in the resultant mixture, establishing the tunability of the synthesis. Upon pyrolysis, these precursor mixtures yield nitrogen-doped, hierarchically porous carbons, which have good activity towards the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at pH 13.

A Simple Synthesis of an N-Doped Carbon ORR Catalyst: Hierarchical Micro/Meso/Macro Porosity and Graphitic Shells.

Replacing platinum as an oxygen reduction catalyst is an important scientific and technological challenge. Herein we report a simple synthesis of a complex carbon with very good oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity at pH 13. Pyrolysis of magnesium nitrilotriacetate yields a carbon with hierarchical micro/meso/macro porosity, resulting from in situ templating by spontaneously forming MgO nanoparticles and from etching by pyrolysis gases.