Defects Tune the Strong Metal-Support Interactions in Copper Supported on Defected Titanium Dioxide Catalysts for CO Reduction.

A highly active and stable Cu-based catalyst for CO to CO conversion was demonstrated by creating a strong metal-support interaction (SMSI) between Cu active sites and the TiO-coated dendritic fibrous nano-silica (DFNS/TiO) support. The DFNS/TiO-Cu10 catalyst showed excellent catalytic performance with a CO productivity of 5350 mmol g h (i.e.

Nanostructured Metal Phosphide Based Catalysts for Electrochemical Water Splitting: A Review.

Amongst various futuristic renewable energy sources, hydrogen fuel is deemed to be clean and sustainable. Electrochemical water splitting (EWS) is an advanced technology to produce pure hydrogen in a cost-efficient manner. The electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are the vital steps of EWS and have been at the forefront of research over the past decades.

Size- and shape-controlled synthesis of hexagonal bipyramidal crystals and hollow self-assembled Al-MOF spheres.

We report an efficient protocol for the synthesis of monodisperse crystals of an aluminum (Al)-based metal organic framework (MOF) while obtaining excellent control over the size and shape solely by tuning of the reaction parameters without the use of a template or structure-directing agent. The size of the hexagonal crystals of the Al-MOF can be selectively varied from 100 nm to 2000 nm by simply changing the reaction time and temperature via its nucleation-growth mechanism. We also report a self-assembly phenomenon, observed for the first time in case of Al-MOF, whereby hollow spheres of Al-MOF were formed by the spontaneous organization of triangular sheet building blocks.

Recovery of high surface area mesoporous silica from waste hexafluorosilicic acid (H2SiF6) of fertilizer industry.

In this article we report recovery of mesoporous silica from the waste material (hexafluorosilicic acid) of phosphate fertilizer industry. The process involves the reaction of hexafluorosilicic acid (50 ml, 24 wt% H(2)SiF(6)) and 100ml, 0.297 M Na(2)CO(3) to generate the alkaline aqueous slurry.