Isolating Cu-Zn active-sites in Ordered Intermetallics to Enhance Nitrite-to-Ammonia Electroreduction.

Electrocatalytic nitrite reduction to the valuable ammonia is a green and sustainable alternative to the conventional Haber-Bosch method for ammonia synthesis, while the activity and selectivity for ammonia production remains poor at low nitrite concentrations. Herein, we report a nanoporous intermetallic single-atom alloy CuZn (np/ISAA-CuZn) catalyst with completely isolated Cu-Zn active-sites, which achieves neutral nitrite reduction reaction with a remarkable NH Faradaic efficiency over 95% and the highest energy efficiency of ≈ 59.1% in wide potential range from -0.

Pd Nanoparticle Size-Dependent H Coverage for Cu-Catalyzed Nitrate Electro-Reduction to Ammonia in Neutral Electrolyte.

Electrochemical conversion of nitrate (NO ) to ammonia (NH) is an effective approach to reduce nitrate pollutants in the environment and also a promising low-temperature, low-pressure method for ammonia synthesis. However, adequate H intermediates are highly expected for NO hydrogenation, while suppressing competitive hydrogen evolution. Herein, the effect of H coverage on the NORR for ammonia synthesis by Cu electrocatalysts is investigated.

Nanoporous copper titanium tin (np-CuTiSn) Heusler alloy prepared by dealloying-induced phase transformation for electrocatalytic nitrate reduction to ammonia.

Heusler alloys are a series of well-established intermetallic compounds with abundant structure and elemental substitutions, which are considered as potentially valuable catalysts for integrating multiple reactions owing to the features of ordered atomic arrangement and optimized electronic structure. Herein, a nanoporous copper titanium tin (np-CuTiSn) Heusler alloy is successfully prepared by the (electro)chemical dealloying transformation method, which exhibits high nitrate (NO) reduction performance with an NH Faradaic efficiency of 77.14 %, an NH yield rate of 11.

Alloying and confinement effects on hierarchically nanoporous CuAu for efficient electrocatalytic semi-hydrogenation of terminal alkynes.

Electrocatalytic alkynes semi-hydrogenation to produce alkenes with high yield and Faradaic efficiency remains technically challenging because of kinetically favorable hydrogen evolution reaction and over-hydrogenation. Here, we propose a hierarchically nanoporous CuAu alloy to improve electrocatalytic performance toward semi-hydrogenation of alkynes. Using Operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations, we find that Au modulate the electronic structure of Cu, which could intrinsically inhibit the combination of H* to form H and weaken alkene adsorption, thus promoting alkyne semi-hydrogenation and hampering alkene over-hydrogenation.

Asymmetric Local Electric Field Induced by Dual Heteroatoms on Copper Boosts Efficient CO Reduction Over Ultrawide Potential Window.

Electrocatalytic reduction of CO powered by renewable electricity provides an elegant route for converting CO into valuable chemicals and feedstocks, but normally suffers from a high overpotential and low selectivity. Herein, Ag and Sn heteroatoms were simultaneously introduced into nanoporous Cu (np-Ag/Sn-Cu) mainly in the form of an asymmetric local electric field for CO electroreduction to CO in an aqueous solution. The designed np-Ag/Sn-Cu catalyst realizes a recorded 90 % energy efficiency and a 100 % CO Faradaic efficiency over ultrawide potential window (ΔE=1.

Epitaxial Growth of Two-Dimensional Nonlayered AuCrS Materials via Au-Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition.

Two-dimensional (2D) nonlayered transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) materials are emergent platforms for various applications from catalysis to quantum devices. However, their limited availability and nonstraightforward synthesis methods hinder our understanding of these materials. Here, we present a novel technique for synthesizing 2D nonlayered AuCrS via Au-assisted chemical vapor deposition (CVD).

Accelerating electrosynthesis of ammonia from nitrates using coupled NiO/Cu nanocomposites.

Herein, we report a nanocomposite electrocatalyst with coupled Cu and NiO, showing a high Faraday efficiency of 97% and excellent ammonia production rate (450 mg h cm) for nitrate reduction. UV-vis spectroscopic studies confirmed that the synergy between NiO and Cu could avoid NO enrichment and promote tandem nitrate reduction to ammonia synthesis.

Ni Single-Atom Bual Catalytic Electrodes for Long Life and High Energy Efficiency Zinc-Iodine Batteries.

Zinc-iodine batteries (Zn-I2) are extremely attractive as the safe and cost-effective scalable energy storage system in the stationary applications. However, the inefficient redox kinetics and "shuttling effect" of iodine species result in unsatisfactory energy efficiency and short cycle life, hindering their commercialization. In this work, Ni single atoms highly dispersed on carbon fibers is designed and synthesized as iodine anchoring sites and dual catalysts for Zn-I2 batteries, and successfully inhibit the iodine species shuttling and boost dual reaction kinetics.

Platinum-Ruthenium Dual-Atomic Sites Dispersed in Nanoporous NiSe Enabling Ampere-Level Current Density Hydrogen Production.

Alkaline anion-exchange-membrane water electrolyzers (AEMWEs) using earth-abundant catalysts is a promising approach for the generation of green H. However, the AEMWEs with alkaline electrolytes suffer from poor performance at high current density compared to proton exchange membrane electrolyzers. Here, atomically dispersed Pt-Ru dual sites co-embedded in nanoporous nickel selenides (np/PtRu-NiSe) are developed by a rapid melt-quenching approach to achieve highly-efficient alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction.

Sulfur-Stabilizing Ultrafine High-Entropy Alloy Nanoparticles on MXene for Highly Efficient Ethanol Electrooxidation.

High-entropy alloys (HEAs) are significantly promising candidates for heterogeneous catalysis, yet the controllable synthesis of ultrafine HEA nanoparticles (NPs) remains a formidable challenge due to severe thermal sintering during the high-temperature fabrication process. Herein, we report a sulfur-stabilizing strategy to construct ultrafine HEA NPs with an average diameter of 4.02 nm supported on sulfur-modified TiCT (S-TiCT) MXene, on which the strong interfacial metal-sulfur interactions between HEA NPs and the S-TiCT supports significantly increase the interfacial adhesion strength, thus greatly suppressing nanoparticle sintering by retarding both particle migration and metal atom diffusion.

Palladium metallene confined on MXene with increased hydroxyl binding strength for highly efficient ethanol electrooxidation.

Rational design and synthesis of high-performance electrocatalysts for ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) is crucial to large-scale commercialization of direct ethanol fuel cells, but it is still an incredible challenge. Herein, a unique Pd metallene/TiCT MXene (Pdene/TiCT)-supported electrocatalyst is constructed via an in-situ growth approach for high-efficiency EOR. The resulting Pdene/TiCT catalyst achieves an ultrahigh mass activity of 7.

Growth of nanostructured CuAl alloy films by magnetron sputtering for non-enzymatic glucose-sensing applications.

Enzymatic glucose sensors usually exhibit excellent sensitivity and selectivity but suffer from poor stability due to the negative influence of temperature and humidity on enzyme molecules. As compared to enzymatic glucose sensors, non-enzymatic counterparts are generally more stable but are facing challenges in concurrently improving both sensitivity and selectivity of a trace amount of glucose molecules in physiological samples such as saliva and sweat. Here, a novel non-enzymatic glucose sensor based on nanostructured CuAl alloy films has been fabricated by a facile magnetron-sputtering followed by controllable electrochemical etching approach.

Pd Atomic Engineering of Nanoporous Ni/NiO for Efficient Nitrophenol Hydrogenation Reaction.

The catalytic hydrogenation of nitrophenols is widely utilized for both industrial synthesis and environmental protection, thus efficient and cost-effective catalysts are in urgent need. Still, the cost and scarcity of the materials still inhibit their application and the active sites are not well specified, especially in the complex catalysts. Herein, we developed an atomic Pd-doped nanoporous Ni/NiO (Pd@np-Ni/NiO) catalyst via facial dealloying for efficient nitrophenol hydrogenation reaction under mild conditions.

Efficient electrosynthesis of formamide from carbon monoxide and nitrite on a Ru-dispersed Cu nanocluster catalyst.

Conversion into high-value-added organic nitrogen compounds through electrochemical C-N coupling reactions under ambient conditions is regarded as a sustainable development strategy to achieve carbon neutrality and high-value utilization of harmful substances. Herein, we report an electrochemical process for selective synthesis of high-valued formamide from carbon monoxide and nitrite with a RuCu single-atom alloy under ambient conditions, which achieves a high formamide selectivity with Faradaic efficiency of 45.65 ± 0.

Engineering CoP Alloy Foil to a Well-Designed Integrated Electrode Toward High-Performance Electrochemical Energy Storage.

Nanostructured integrated electrodes with binder-free design show great potential to solve the ever-growing problems faced by currently commercial lithium-ion batteries such as insufficient power and energy densities. However, there are still many challenging problems limiting practical application of this emerging technology, in particular complex manufacturing process, high fabrication cost, and low loading mass of active material. Different from existing fabrication strategies, here using a CoP alloy foil as a precursor  a simple neutral salt solution-mediated electrochemical dealloying method to well address the above issues is demonstrated.

Rapid Melt-Quenching Enables General Synthesis of High-Loading Single-Atom Catalysts with Bicontinuous Nanoporous Structure.

Single-atom catalysts have attracted extensive attention due to their unique atomic structures and extraordinary activities in catalyzing chemical reactions. However, the lack of general and efficient approaches for producing high-density single atoms on suitably tailored supporting matrixes hinders their industrial applications. Here, a rapid melt-quenching strategy with high throughput to synthesize single atoms with high metal-atom loadings of up to 9.

Scalable-doped Nanoporous 1T″ ReSe via a General Surface Co-Alloy Strategy.

Reliable and controllable doping of 2D transition metal dichalcogenides is an efficient approach to tailor their physicochemical properties and expand their functional applications. However, precise control over dopant distribution and scalability of the process remains a challenge. Here, we report a general method to achieve scalable in situ doping of centimeter-sized bicontinuous nanoporous ReSe films with transition metal atoms via surface coalloy growth.

Aligned InS Nanorods for Efficient Electrocatalytic Carbon Dioxide Reduction.

Electrochemical CO reduction technology can combine renewable energy sources with carbon capture and storage to convert CO into industrial chemicals. However, the catalytic activity under high current density and long-term electrocatalysis process may deteriorate due to agglomeration, catalytic polymerization, element dissolution, and phase change of active substances. Here, we report a scalable and facile method to fabricate aligned InS nanorods by chemical dealloying.

Atomic Engineering Catalyzed Redox Kinetics of Ni Co (OH) on Nanoporous Phosphide Electrode for Efficient Ni-Zn Batteries.

Aqueous nickel-zinc (Ni-Zn) batteries with excellent safety and environmental benignity are promising candidates for sustainable energy storage. However, the inferior conductivity and inevitable phase transition of trditional Ni-based cathodes limit the redox kinetics and lead to restricted electrode specific capacity and device energy density. Here, a Ni Co (OH) electrode doped with Pd, Ag, and Au atoms is constructed for catalyzing the redox kinetics on the conductive nanoporous phosphide.

Nanoporous Intermetallic SnTe Enables Efficient Electrochemical CO Reduction into Formate via Promoting the Fracture of Metal-Oxygen Bonding.

Electrochemical reduction of CO into formate product is considered the most practical significance link in the carbon cycle. Developing cheap and efficient electrocatalysts with high selectivity for formate on a wide operated potential window is desirable yet challenging. Herein, nanoporous ordered intermetallic tin-tellurium (SnTe) is synthesized with a greater reduction performance for electrochemical CO to formate reduction compared to bare Sn.

A General Strategy for Engineering Single-Metal Sites on 3D Porous N, P Co-Doped TiCT MXene.

Two-dimensional (2D) MXenes have been developed to stabilize single atoms via various methods, such as vacancy reduction and heteroatom-mediated interactions. However, anchoring single atoms on 3D porous MXenes to further increase catalytic active sites and thus construct electrocatalysts with high activity and stability remains unexplored. Here, we reported a general synthetic strategy for engineering single-metal sites on 3D porous N, P codoped TiCT nanosheets.

Single-Atom Gold Isolated Onto Nanoporous MoSe for Boosting Electrochemical Nitrogen Reduction.

The electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) provides a promising strategy to convert the abundant but inert N into NH using renewable energy. Herein, single-atom Au isolated onto bicontinous nanoporous MoSe (np-MoSe ) is designed as an electrocatalyst for achieving highly efficient NRR catalysis, which exhibits a high Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 37.82% and an NH production rate of 30.

Nanoporous B C towards Highly Efficient Electrochemical Nitrogen Fixation.

The electrochemical nitrogen fixation under mild conditions is a promising alternative to the current nitrogen industry with high energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission. Here, a nanoporous boron carbide (np-B C ) catalyst is reported for electrochemical nitrogen fixation, which is fabricated by the combination of metallurgical alloy design and chemical etching. The resulting np-B C exhibits versatile catalytic activities towards N reduction reactions (NRR) and N oxidation reaction (NOR).

Spontaneously Sn-Doped Bi/BiO Core-Shell Nanowires Toward High-Performance CO Electroreduction to Liquid Fuel.

Electrochemical CO reduction provides a promising strategy to product value-added fuels and chemical feedstocks. However, it remains a grand challenge to further reduce the overpotentials and increase current density for large-scale applications. Here, spontaneously Sn doped Bi/BiOx nanowires (denoted as Bi/Bi(Sn)O NWs) with a core-shell structure were synthesized by an electrochemical dealloying strategy.