Lithium–sulfur batteries have attracted attention due to their six-fold specific energy compared with conventional lithium-ion batteries. Dissolution of lithium polysulfides, volume expansion of sulfur and uncontrollable deposition of lithium sulfide are three of the main challenges for this technology. State-of-the-art sulfur cathodes based on metal-oxide nanostructures can suppress the shuttle-effect and enable controlled lithium sulfide deposition. However, a clear mechanistic understanding and corresponding selection criteria for the oxides are still lacking. Herein, various nonconductive metal-oxide nanoparticle-decorated carbon flakes are synthesized via a facile biotemplating method. The cathodes based on magnesium oxide, cerium oxide and lanthanum oxide show enhanced cycling performance. Adsorption experiments and theoretical calculations reveal that polysulfide capture by the oxides is via monolayered chemisorption. Moreover, we show that better surface diffusion leads to higher deposition efficiency of sulfide species on electrodes. Hence, oxide selection is proposed to balance optimization between sulfide-adsorption and diffusion on the oxides.

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Transition metal dichalcogenides have been widely studied as active electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reactions. However, their properties as oxygen evolution reaction catalysts have not been fully explored. In this study, we systematically investigate a family of transition metal dichalcogenides (MX, M = Co, Ni, Fe; X = S, Se, Te) as candidates for water oxidation. It reveals that the transition metal dichalcogenides are easily oxidized in strong alkaline media via an in situ electrochemical oxidation process, producing nanoporous transition metal oxides toward much enhanced water oxidation activity due to their increased surface area and more exposed electroactive sites. The optimal cobalt nickel iron oxides that derived from their sulfides and selenides demonstrate a low overpotential of 232 mV at current density of 10 mA cm, a small Tafel slope of 35 mV per decade, and negligible degradation of electrochemical activity over 200 h of electrolysis. This study represents the discovery of nanoporous transition metal oxides deriving from their chalcogenides as outstanding electrocatalysts for water oxidation.

The study of the formation, characterization, and functionality of isolated surface hydrides on solid materials is a formidable task because of the complexity of solid surfaces and the difficulty of analyzing structures in solids. Herein, we found the formation of indium (In) hydride species supported by CHA zeolites. The In hydrides were formed by treatment of an In-exchanged CHA zeolite (In-CHA) with H 2 at high temperatures (>773 K). In situ Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed that an [InH 2 ] + ion on a framework anionic site is a plausible structure. In-CHA exhibited high selectivity and durable catalytic activity for the nonoxidative dehydrogenation of ethane for at least 90 h. Kinetic and in situ spectroscopic studies as well as transition state (TS) calculations suggested that [InH 2 ] + ions serve as catalytically active sites for selective dehydrogenation using In-CHA.

α-Ga2O3, β-Ga2O3, and γ-Ga2O3 as well as the silica-supported catalysts γ-Ga2O3/SiO2, β-Ga2O3/SiO2, and Ga­(NO3)3-derived Ga/SiO2 were prepared, characterized, and evaluated for propane dehydrogenation (PDH) at 550 °C. The coordination environment and acidity of surface sites in stand-alone and SiO2-supported Ga2O3 catalysts were studied using FTIR, 15N dynamic nuclear polarization surface-enhanced NMR spectroscopy (15N DNP SENS), and DFT modeling of the adsorbed pyridine probe molecule. The spectroscopic data suggest that the Lewis acidic surface Ga sites in γ-Ga2O3 and β-Ga2O3 (the latter obtained from colloidal nanocrystals of γ-Ga2O3 via thermal treatment at 750 °C) are similar, except that β-Ga2O3 contains a larger relative fraction of weak Ga3+ Lewis acid sites. In contrast, α-Ga2O3 features mostly strong Lewis acid sites. This difference in surface sites parallels their difference in catalytic activities: i.e., weak Lewis acid surface sites are more abundant in β-Ga2O3 relative to α-Ga2O3 and γ-Ga2O3 and the increased relative abundance of weak Lewis acidity correlates with a higher initial catalytic activity in PDH, 0.41 > 0.28 > 0.14 mmol C3H6 m–2 (Ga2O3) h–1 at 550 °C, for respectively β-, α-, and γ-Ga2O3 with initial propene selectivities of 86, 83, and 88%. Dispersion of γ-Ga2O3 or β-Ga2O3 on a silica support introduces strong as well as abundant weak Brønsted acidity to the catalysts, lowering the PDH selectivity. The γ-Ga2O3/SiO2 catalyst was slightly more active than β-Ga2O3/SiO2 in PDH (Ga normalized activity) with initial propene formation rates of 11 and 9 mol C3H6 mol Ga–1 h–1 (sel = 76 and 73%, respectively). However, these catalysts deactivated by ca. 55% within 100 min time on stream (TOS) due to coking. In contrast, Ga/SiO2, with mostly tetracoordinated surface Ga sites and abundant, strong Brønsted acid sites, gave a lower activity and selectivity in PDH (3.5 mol C3H6 mol Ga–1 h–1 and 49%, respectively) but showed no deactivation with TOS. DFT calculations using a fully dehydroxylated oxygen-deficient model β-Ga2O3 surface show that tetra- and pentacoordinated Ga Lewis acid sites bind pyridine more strongly than tricoordinated Ga sites and a higher relative fraction of strong Lewis acid sites correlates with increased coking. Overall, our results indicate that weakly Lewis acidic, tricoordinated Ga3+ sites are likely driving the superior PDH activity of β-Ga2O3.

The selective catalytic reduction of NO with ammonia (NH3−SCR) catalyzed by Cu−CHA zeolites is thoroughly investigated using in situ spectroscopic experiments combined with on‐line mass spectroscopy (MS) under steady‐state NH3−SCR conditions and transient conditions for Cu(II)/Cu(I) redox cycles. Quantitative analysis of the in situ XANES spectra of Cu−CHA under steady‐state conditions of NH3−SCR show that NH3‐coordinated Cu(II) species is the dominant Cu species at low temperatures (100–150 °C). At higher temperatures, Cu(II) species and [Cu(NH3)2]+ complex coexist, possibly because the rate of the Cu(II)→Cu(I) reduction step is comparable to that of the Cu(I)→Cu(II) oxidation step. In situ XANES, IR/MS, and UV‐vis/MS experiments on the reduction half cycle demonstrate that the reduction of Cu(II) species occurs via the reaction of NH3‐liganded Cu(II) with NO to yield N2 and H2O. For the oxidation half cycle, in situ XANES experiments of Cu(I) oxidation in 10 % O2 at 200 °C indicate that an increased density in CHA zeolite exhibits a higher oxidation rate. In situ UV‐vis experiments of Cu(I) reoxidation using different mixtures of oxidant feed gas demonstrate the key role of O2 in the oxidation cycle. It is suggested that the reoxidation of Cu(I) to Cu(II) species occurs with only O2 as the oxidant, and a high Cu density in CHA zeolite promotes SCR activity by enhancing the oxidative activation of Cu(I) to Cu(II) during the catalytic cycle.

Operando infrared (IR) spectroscopy and density functional theory (DFT) calculations were combined to investigate the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NOx by NH3 over H-AFX zeolites. The steady-state kinetics shows that SCR reactions involving NO2 proceed much more rapidly than those of NO. Data from in situ IR combined with on-line mass spectrometry under transient conditions demonstrate that Brønsted acid sites (BASs) promote the reaction of NO2 with NH3 to form N2, H2O and NH4NO3 at low temperatures (50-150 °C). Combined with DFT results, these data suggest that NO promotes the reduction of NH4NO3 to NH4NO2, which then decomposes into N2 and H2O. Therefore, the accumulation of NH4NO3 in the zeolite is inhibited by NO. Furthermore, when NO is absent, NH4NO3 decomposition into N2O and H2O occurs only at high temperatures (> 200 °C). A comparison of H-AFX and Cu-AFX implies that Cu sites are not active for the reduction of NO2 by NH3, and that BASs are responsible for the NH3-SCR reactions involving NO2.

Two-dimensional transition-metal carbides and nitrides (MXenes) are a large family of materials actively studied for various applications, especially in the field of energy storage. MXenes are commonly synthesized by etching the layered ternary compounds, called MAX phases. We demonstrate a direct synthetic route for scalable and atom-economic synthesis of MXenes, including compounds that have not been synthesized from MAX phases, by the reactions of metals and metal halides with graphite, methane, or nitrogen. The direct synthesis enables chemical vapor deposition growth of MXene carpets and complex spherulite-like morphologies that form through buckling and release of MXene carpet to expose fresh surface for further reaction. The directly synthesized MXenes showed excellent energy storage capacity for lithium-ion intercalation.