Crossing the Valley of Death: From Fundamental to Applied Research in Electrolysis.

The growing societal and political focus on the use of environmentally friendly technologies has led to an ever-increasing interest in electrolysis technologies in the scientific communities. This development is reflected by the plethora of candidate catalysts for the hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions, as well as the CO reduction reaction, reported in the literature. However, almost none of them entered the stage of application yet.

Characterization of phosphate sequestration by a lanthanum modified bentonite clay: a solid-state NMR, EXAFS, and PXRD study.

Phosphate (Pi) sequestration by a lanthanum (La) exchanged clay mineral (La-Bentonite), which is extensively used in chemical lake restoration, was investigated on the molecular level using a combination of (31)P and (139)La solid state NMR spectroscopy (SSNMR), extended X-ray absorption spectroscopy (EXAFS), powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and sorption studies. (31)P SSNMR show that all Pi was immobilized as rhabdophane (LaPO4·n H2O, n ≤ 3), which was further supported by (139)La SSNMR and EXAFS. However, PXRD results were ambiguous with respect to rhabdophane and monazite (LaPO4).

Copper scandium zirconium phosphate: occupancy of the M1 and M2 sites in the temperature range 100-300 K.

The title compound, with nominal formula Cu(2)ScZr(PO(4))(3), has a beige coloration and displays fast Cu(+) cation conduction at elevated temperatures. It adopts a NASICON-type structure in the space group R3c. The examined crystal was an obverse-reverse twin with approximately equal twin components.

Copper(II) manganese(II) orthophosphate, Cu0.5Mn2.5(PO4)2.

The title compound, Cu(0.5)Mn(2.5)(PO(4))(2), is a copper-manganese phosphate solid solution with the graftonite-type structure, viz.