Electrochemical oxidation of styrene to benzaldehyde by discrimination of spin-paired π electrons.

The oxidation of styrene to benzaldehyde has been a considerable challenge in the electrochemical synthesis of organic compounds because styrene is more easily oxidized to benzoic acid. In this work, MnO with an asymmetric electronic configuration is designed to discriminate the spin-paired π electrons of styrene. One of these discriminated π electrons combined with reactive oxygen species (ROS), ˙OH, ˙OOH, , produced simultaneously on a MnO/(RuTi)O/Ti bifunctional anode, to form benzaldehyde , rather than benzoic acid.

Enhanced catalysis of radical-to-polysulfide interconversion increased sulfur vacancies in lithium-sulfur batteries.

The practical application of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries is seriously hindered by severe lithium polysulfide (LiPS) shuttling and sluggish electrochemical conversions. Herein, the CoS/MoS heterojunction as a model cathode host material is employed to discuss the performance improvement strategy and elucidate the catalytic mechanism. The introduction of sulfur vacancies can harmonize the chemisorption of the heterojunction component.