Direct Synthesis of 1-Butanol with High Faradaic Efficiency from CO Utilizing Cascade Catalysis at a Ni-Enhanced (CrO)GaO Electrocatalyst.

Electrochemical transformation of CO into energy-dense liquid fuels provides a viable solution to challenges regarding climate change and nonrenewable resource dependence. Here, we report on the modification of a Cr-Ga oxide electrocatalyst through the introduction of nickel to generate a catalyst that generates 1-butanol at unprecedented faradaic efficiencies (ξ = 42%). This faradaic efficiency occurs at -1.

Exploiting Metal-Ligand Cooperativity to Sequester, Activate, and Reduce Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide with a Neutral Zinc Complex.

As atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide (CO) continue to increase, there is an immediate need to balance the carbon cycle. Current approaches require multiple processes to fix CO from the atmosphere or flue gas and then reduce it to value-added products. The zinc(II) catalyst Zn(DMTH) (DMTH = diacetyl-2-(4-methyl-3-thiosemicarbazonate)-3-(2-pyridinehydrazonato)) reduces CO from air to formate with a faradaic efficiency of 15.

Utilizing Charge Effects and Minimizing Intramolecular Proton Rearrangement to Improve the Overpotential of a Thiosemicarbazonato Zinc HER Catalyst.

The zinc(II) complex of diacetyl-2-(4-methyl-3-thiosemicarbazone)-3-(2-hydrazonepyridine), ZnL (), was prepared and evaluated as a precatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) under homogeneous conditions in acetonitrile. Complex is protonated on the noncoordinating nitrogen of the hydrazonepyridine moiety to yield the active catalyst Zn(HL)OAc () upon addition of acetic acid. Addition of methyl iodide to yields the corresponding methylated derivative ZnLI ().

Atomically Thin Femtojoule Memristive Device.

The morphology and dimension of the conductive filament formed in a memristive device are strongly influenced by the thickness of its switching medium layer. Aggressive scaling of this active layer thickness is critical toward reducing the operating current, voltage, and energy consumption in filamentary-type memristors. Previously, the thickness of this filament layer has been limited to above a few nanometers due to processing constraints, making it challenging to further suppress the on-state current and the switching voltage.

Metal-Assisted Ligand-Centered Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution upon Reduction of a Bis(thiosemicarbazonato)Cu(II) Complex.

In this study, we report the electrocatalytic behavior of the neutral, monomeric Cu(II) complex of diacetyl-bis(N-4-methyl-3-thiosemicarbazonato), CuL, for metal-assisted ligand-centered hydrogen evolution in acetonitrile and dimethylformamide. CuL displays a maximum turnover frequency (TOF) of 10 000 s in acetonitrile and 5100 s in dimethylformamide at an overpotential of 0.80 and 0.

Formation of graphitic structures in cobalt- and nickel-doped carbon aerogels.

We have prepared carbon aerogels (CAs) doped with cobalt or nickel through sol-gel polymerization of formaldehyde with the potassium salt of 2,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid, followed by ion exchange with M(NO3)2 (where M = Co2+ or Ni2+), supercritical drying with liquid CO2, and carbonization at temperatures between 400 and 1050 degrees C under a N2 atmosphere. The nanostructures of these metal-doped carbon aerogels were characterized by elemental analysis, nitrogen adsorption, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Metallic nickel and cobalt nanoparticles are generated during the carbonization process at about 400 and 450 degrees C, respectively, forming nanoparticles that are approximately 4 nm in diameter.

Nanoscale vibrational analysis of single-walled carbon nanotubes.

We use near-field Raman imaging and spectroscopy to study localized vibrational modes along individual, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) with a spatial resolution of 10-20 nm. Our approach relies on the enhanced field near a laser-irradiated gold tip which acts as the Raman excitation source. We find that for arc-discharge SWNTs, both the radial breathing mode (RBM) and intermediate frequency mode (IFM) are highly localized.