Nature of metal-support interaction for metal catalysts on oxide supports.

The metal-support interaction is one of the most important pillars in heterogeneous catalysis, but developing a fundamental theory has been challenging because of the intricate interfaces. Based on experimental ‎data, interpretable machine learning, theoretical derivation, and first-principles simulations, we established a ‎general theory of metal-oxide interactions grounded in ‎metal-metal and metal-oxygen interactions. The theory applies to metal nanoparticles and atoms on oxide supports and oxide films on metal supports.

Sabatier principle of metal-support interaction for design of ultrastable metal nanocatalysts.

The stability of supported nanocatalysts is crucial to meeting environmental and energy challenges and necessitates fundamental theory to relieve trial-and-error experimentation and accelerate lab-to-fab translation. Here, we report a Sabatier principle of metal-support interaction for stabilizing metal nanocatalysts against sintering based on the kinetic simulations of 323 metal-support pairs using scaling relations from 1252 energetics data. Too strong of an interaction is shown to trigger Ostwald ripening, whereas too weak of an interaction stimulates particle migration and coalescence.

ZIF-L membrane with a membrane-interlocked-support composite architecture for H/CO separation.

Metal-organic framework (MOF) membranes hold great promise in energy-efficient chemical separations. The outstanding challenges of the microstructural design stem from (1) thinning of membranes to immensely reduce the mass-transfer resistance (for high permeances); (2) tuning of orientation to optimize the selective transport of gas molecules, and (3) reinforcement of intercrystalline structure to subside leakage through defective gaps (for high selectivity). Here, we propose the ZIF-L membrane that is completely confined into the voids of the alumina support through an interfacial assembly process, producing an appealing membrane-interlocked-support (MIS) composite architecture that meets the requirements of the microstructural design of MOF membranes.

Quantification of critical particle distance for mitigating catalyst sintering.

Supported metal nanoparticles are of universal importance in many industrial catalytic processes. Unfortunately, deactivation of supported metal catalysts via thermally induced sintering is a major concern especially for high-temperature reactions. Here, we demonstrate that the particle distance as an inherent parameter plays a pivotal role in catalyst sintering.

First-principles investigation of electrochemical dissolution of Pt nanoparticles and kinetic simulation.

Dissolution is the primary route of Pt nanoparticle degradation in electrochemical devices, e.g., fuel cells.

Silencing of C3G increases cardiomyocyte survival inhibition and apoptosis via regulation of p-ERK1/2 and Bax.

Experimental studies have shown that overexpression of Rap guanine nucleotide exchange factor 1 (C3G) plays pro-survival and anti-apoptotic roles through molecule phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase1/2 (p-ERK1/2) in cardiomyocytes. However, it is still unclear if silencing of C3G may increase cell survival inhibition and apoptosis in cardiomyocytes, and whether C3G silence induced injuries are reduced by the overexpression of C3G through regulation of p-ERK1/2 and pro-apoptotic molecule Bax. In this study, the rat-derived H9C2 cardiomyocytes were infected with C3G small hairpin RNA interference recombinant lentiviruses, which silenced the endogenous C3G expression in the cardiomyocytes.