Defect Engineering of Ultrasmall TiO Nanoparticles Enables Highly Efficient Photocatalysts for Solar H Production from Woody Biomass.

The conversion of woody biomass to H through photocatalysis provides a sustainable strategy to generate renewable hydrogen fuel but was limited by the slow decomposition rate of woody biomass. Here, we fabricate ultrasmall TiO nanoparticles with tunable concentration of oxygen vacancy defects (V-TiO) as highly efficient photocatalysts for photocatalytic conversion of woody biomass to H. Owing to the positive role of oxygen vacancy in reducing energy barrier for the generation of OH which was the critical species to oxidize woody biomass, the obtained V-TiO achieves rapid photocatalytic conversion of α-cellulose and poplar wood chip to H in the presence of Pt nanoclusters as the cocatalyst.

Regulating Lewis Acidic Sites of 1T-2H MoS Catalysts for Solar-Driven Photothermal Catalytic H Production from Lignocellulosic Biomass.

Solar-driven photothermal catalytic H production from lignocellulosic biomass was achieved by using 1T-2H MoS with tunable Lewis acidic sites as catalysts in an alkaline aqueous solution, in which the number of Lewis acidic sites derived from the exposed Mo edges of MoS was successfully regulated by both the formation of an edge-terminated 1T-2H phase structure and tunable layer number. Owing to the abundant Lewis acidic sites for the oxygenolysis of lignocellulosic biomass, the 1T-2H MoS catalyst shows high photothermal catalytic lignocellulosic biomass-to-H transformation performance in polar wood chips, bamboo, rice straw corncobs, and rice hull aqueous solutions, and the highest H generation rate and solar-to-H (STH) efficiency respectively achieves 3661 μmol·h·g and 0.18% in the polar wood chip system under 300 W Xe lamp illumination.

Iron-N-heterocyclic carbene complexes as efficient electrocatalysts for water oxidation under acidic conditions.

The development of stable, Earth-abundant, and high-activity molecular water oxidation catalysts under acidic and neutral conditions remains a great challenge. Here, the use of N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-based iron(III) complex 1 {[phenyl(tris(3-methylimidazol-1-ylidene))borate]Fe(III)} as a catalyst for water oxidation under acidic and neutral conditions was investigated. Two iron(II) carbene complexes, 2 {[2,6-bis(3-methylimidazolium-1-yl)pyridine]Fe} and 3 {[2,6-bis(3-methylimidazolium-1-yl)pyridine-4-carboxylic acid]Fe}, were also used for comparison.

Solar-Driven Lignocellulose-to-H Conversion in Water using 2D-2D MoS /TiO Photocatalysts.

As an alternative strategy for H production under ambient conditions, solar-driven lignocellulose-to-H conversion provides a very attractive approach to store and utilize solar energy sustainably. Exploiting efficient photocatalyst for photocatalytic lignocellulose-to-H conversion is of huge significance and remains the key challenge for development of solar H generation from lignocellulose. Herein, 2D-2D MoS /TiO photocatalysts with large 2D nanojunction were constructed for photocatalytic lignocellulose-to-H conversion.

Few-Layer Black Phosphorus Nanosheets: A Metal-Free Cocatalyst for Photocatalytic Nitrogen Fixation.

Exploiting an appropriate strategy to prepare fine crystal quality black phosphorus nanosheet (BPNS) catalyst is a major challenge for its practical application in catalysis. Herein, we address this challenge by developing a rapid electrochemical expansion strategy for scale preparation of fine crystal quality BPNSs from bulk black phosphorus, which was demonstrated to be an active cocatalyst for photocatalytic nitrogen fixation in the presence of CdS as a photocatalyst. The transient photocurrent and charge density studies show that the BPNSs can efficiently accelerate charge separation of CdS, leading to the enhanced photocatalytic activities of BPNS/CdS nanocomposites for nitrogen fixation.