Sight into a Rare-Earth-Based Catalyst with Spatial Confinement Effect from the Perspective of Electronic Structure.

Rare-earth elements include 15 kinds of lanthanides as well as Sc and Y elements. Interestingly, the special electronic configuration of a lanthanide rare earth is [Xe]4f5d6s ( = 0-14), which results in rare-earth materials' unique activity in such areas as thermal catalysis, electrocatalysis, photocatalysis, etc. It is worth noting that a class of materials with spatial confinement effects are playing an increasingly important role in the catalytic performance; especially, the construction of hollow multishelled structures (HoMSs) can further enhance the activity of rare-earth catalytic materials.