Probing the Surface of Oxide Nanoparticles Using DNP-Enhanced High-Resolution NMR of Quadrupolar Nuclei.

The surfaces of nanomaterials with applications in optoelectronics and catalysis control their physicochemical properties. NMR spectroscopy, enhanced by dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP), is a powerful approach to probe the local environment of spin-1/2 nuclei near surfaces. However, this technique often lacks robustness and resolution for half-integer quadrupolar nuclei, which represent more than 66% of the NMR-active isotopes.

Design of porphyrin-based frameworks for efficient visible light-promoted reduction of CO from dilute gas: Combined experimental and theoretical investigation.

The photocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction (COR) coupled with hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) constitutes a promising step for a sustainable generation of syngas (CO + H), an essential feedstock for the preparation of several commodity chemicals. Herein, visible light/sunlight-promoted catalytic reduction of CO and protons to syngas using rationally designed porphyrin-based 2D porous organic frameworks, POF(Co/Zn) is demonstrated. Indeed, POF(Co) showed superior catalytic performance over the Zn counterpart with CO and H generation rates of 1104 and 3981 μmol gh, respectively.

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.

Nickel-Laden Dendritic Plasmonic Colloidosomes of Black Gold: Forced Plasmon Mediated Photocatalytic CO Hydrogenation.

In this work, we have designed and synthesized nickel-laden dendritic plasmonic colloidosomes of Au (black gold-Ni). The photocatalytic CO hydrogenation activities of black gold-Ni increased dramatically to the extent that measurable photoactivity was only observed with the black gold-Ni catalyst, with a very high photocatalytic CO production rate (2464 ± 40 mmol g h) and 95% selectivity. Notably, the reaction was carried out in a flow reactor at low temperature and atmospheric pressure without external heating.

Direct CO capture and conversion to fuels on magnesium nanoparticles under ambient conditions simply using water.

Converting CO directly from the air to fuel under ambient conditions is a huge challenge. Thus, there is an urgent need for CO conversion protocols working at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, preferentially without any external energy input. Herein, we employ magnesium (nanoparticles and bulk), an inexpensive and the eighth-most abundant element, to convert CO to methane, methanol and formic acid, using water as the sole hydrogen source.

Lithium silicate nanosheets with excellent capture capacity and kinetics with unprecedented stability for high-temperature CO capture.

An excessive amount of CO is the leading cause of climate change, and hence, its reduction in the Earth's atmosphere is critical to stop further degradation of the environment. Although a large body of work has been carried out for post-combustion low-temperature CO capture, there are very few high temperature pre-combustion CO capture processes. Lithium silicate (LiSiO), one of the best known high-temperature CO capture sorbents, has two main challenges, moderate capture kinetics and poor sorbent stability.

Defects in nanosilica catalytically convert CO to methane without any metal and ligand.

Active and stable metal-free heterogeneous catalysts for CO fixation are required to reduce the current high level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which is driving climate change. In this work, we show that defects in nanosilica (E' centers, oxygen vacancies, and nonbridging oxygen hole centers) convert CO to methane with excellent productivity and selectivity. Neither metal nor complex organic ligands were required, and the defect alone acted as catalytic sites for carbon dioxide activation and hydrogen dissociation and their cooperative action converted CO to methane.

Plasmonic colloidosomes of black gold for solar energy harvesting and hotspots directed catalysis for CO to fuel conversion.

In this work, we showed the tuning of the catalytic behavior of dendritic plasmonic colloidosomes (DPCs) by plasmonic hotspots. A cycle-by-cycle solution-phase synthetic protocol yielded high-surface-area DPCs by controlled nucleation-growth of gold nanoparticles. These DPCs, which had varying interparticle distances and particle-size distribution, absorb light over the entire visible region as well as in the near-infrared region of the solar spectrum, transforming gold into black gold.

Facile synthesis to tune size, textural properties and fiber density of dendritic fibrous nanosilica for applications in catalysis and CO capture.

Morphology-controlled nanomaterials such as silica play a critical role in the development of technologies for use in the fields of energy, environment (water and air pollution) and health. Since the discovery of Stöber's silica, followed by the discovery of mesoporous silica materials (MSNs) such as MCM-41 and SBA-15, a surge in the design and synthesis of nanosilica with various sizes, shapes, morphologies and textural properties (surface area, pore size and pore volume) has occurred. Dendritic fibrous nanosilica (DFNS; also known as KCC-1) is one of the recent discoveries in morphology-controlled nanomaterials.

Dendritic fibrous nano-silica supported gold nanoparticles as an artificial enzyme.

Mimicking enzymatic activity is a challenging task. Herein we report dendritic fibrous nano-silica (DFNS) supported gold (Au) nanoparticles (DFNS/Au) as a peroxidase like artificial enzyme. It showed a superior enzymatic activity in 3,5,3',5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) oxidation chosen as a model reaction, significantly higher than natural horseradish peroxidase (HRP) enzyme as well as other reported nanomaterial based artificial enzymes.