The development of noble-metal-free heterogeneous catalysts is promising for selective oxidation of aromatic alcohols;h owever,t he relatively lowc onversion of non-noble metal catalysts under solvent-free atmospheric conditions hinders their industrial application. Now,aholey lamellar high entropyoxide (HEO) Co 0.2 Ni 0.2 Cu 0.2 Mg 0.2 Zn 0.2 Omaterial with mesoporous structure is prepared by an anchoring and merging process.The HEO has ultra-high catalytic activity for the solvent-free aerobic oxidation of benzyl alcohol. Up to 98 %conversion can be achieved in only 2h,toour knowledge, the highest conversion of benzyl alcohol by oxidation to date. By regulating the catalytic reaction parameters,benzoicacid or benzaldehyde can be selectively optimizedasthe main product. Analytical characterizations and calculations provide adeeper insight into the catalysis mechanism, revealing abundant oxygen vacancies and holey lamellar framework contribute to the ultra-high catalytic activity.

HIGHLIGHTS • Highly crystalline Mn 2 O 3 materials with tunable pore sizes are obtained and employed as high-performance cathode materials for reversible aqueous Zn-ion battery. • The Zn/Mn 2 O 3 battery exhibits significantly improved rate capability and remarkable cycling durability due to the introduction of nanoporous architecture. • The Zn 2+ /H + intercalations mechanism is put forward for the Zn/Mn 2 O 3 battery.

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Mesoporous transition metal oxides with high crystallinity and large pore volumes were successfully synthesized by a widely applicable ligand-assisted self-assembly approach. In this approach, a carboxyl-containing ligand is employed as a coordination agent to retard the hydrolysis and condensation rates of the precursors. The ligands interact with the PEO chains of P123 via hydrogen bonds, which cooperatively ensures the controllable co-assembly of template micelles and the metal source during solvent evaporation. The X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and nitrogen sorption results show that the obtained mesoporous metal oxides are constructed from numerous highly crystalline nanoparticles and possess close-packed mesostructures with uniform pore size distributions. A series of mesoporous transition metal oxides (Co

A fluorescent composite, HCAA@UiO-66, was prepared by encapsulating fluorescent 7-hydroxycoumarin-4-acetic acid (HCAA) molecules into pore of metal-organic framework (MOF, UiO-66). The encapsulating of HCAA in the pore of UiO-66 does...

Development of a multiresponsive miniaturized soft robot that can jump in different scenarios is highly desirable. This requires the actuator to simultaneously realize a large bending angle, a fast response,...

The development of efficient catalyst for selective oxidation of hydrocarbon to functional compounds remains a challenge. Herein, mesoporous Co 3 O 4 (mCo 3 O 4 -350) showed excellent catalytic activity for selective oxidation of aromatic-alkanes, especially for oxidation of ethylbenzene with a conversion of 42 % and selectivity of 90 % for acetophenone at 120 °C. Notably, mCo 3 O 4 presented a unique catalytic path of direct oxidation of aromatic-alkanes to aromatic ketones rather than the conventional stepwise oxidation to alcohols and then to ketones. Density functional theory calculations revealed that oxygen vacancies in mCo 3 O 4 activate around Co atoms, causing electronic state change from Co 3 + (Oh) !Co 2 + (Oh) . Co 2 + (Oh) has great attraction to ethylbenzene, and weak interaction with O 2 , which provide insufficient O 2 for gradual oxidation of phenylethanol to acetophenone. Combined with high energy barrier for forming phenylethanol, the direct oxidation path from ethylbenzene to acetophenone is kinetically favorable on mCo 3 O 4 , sharply contrasted to non-selective oxidation of ethylbenzene on commercial Co 3 O 4 .

The development of noble-metal-free heterogeneous catalysts is promising for selective oxidation of aromatic alcohols;h owever,t he relatively lowc onversion of non-noble metal catalysts under solvent-free atmospheric conditions hinders their industrial application. Now,aholey lamellar high entropyoxide (HEO) Co 0.2 Ni 0.2 Cu 0.2 Mg 0.2 Zn 0.2 Omaterial with mesoporous structure is prepared by an anchoring and merging process.The HEO has ultra-high catalytic activity for the solvent-free aerobic oxidation of benzyl alcohol. Up to 98 %conversion can be achieved in only 2h,toour knowledge, the highest conversion of benzyl alcohol by oxidation to date. By regulating the catalytic reaction parameters,benzoicacid or benzaldehyde can be selectively optimizedasthe main product. Analytical characterizations and calculations provide adeeper insight into the catalysis mechanism, revealing abundant oxygen vacancies and holey lamellar framework contribute to the ultra-high catalytic activity.