Atomic-Scale Observations of Catalyst Structures under Reaction Conditions and during Catalysis
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catalysis (heterogeneous), mesostructured material↗
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Synthesis of Pt{sub 3}Sn alloy nanoparticles and their catalysis for electro-oxidation of CO and methanol.
Monodisperse Pt{sub 3}Sn alloy nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized by a controlled coreduction of Pt(II) acetylacetonate and Sn(II) acetylacetonate at 180-280 C in 1-octadecene. In the synthesis, oleylamine was used as a reducing agent, and oleylamine/oleic acid served as surfactants. The sizes of the Pt{sub 3}Sn NPs were tuned from 4 to 7 nm by controlling the metal salt injection temperatures from 180 to 240 C. These monodisperse Pt3Sn NPs were highly active for CO and methanol oxidation in 0.1 M HClO{sub 4} solutions, and their activity and stability could be further improved by a postsynthesis thermal treatment at 400 C in Ar + 5% H{sub 2} for 1 h. They are promising as a practical catalyst for CO and methanol oxidation reactions in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell conditions.
10 SYNTHETIC FUELS↗
Iron(II) catalysis in oxidation of hydrocarbons with ozone in acetonitrile
Oxidation of alcohols, ethers, and sulfoxides by ozone in acetonitrile is catalyzed by submillimolar concentrations of Fe(CH 3 CN) 6 2+ . The catalyst provides both rate acceleration and greater selectivity toward the less oxidized products. For example, Fe(CH 3 CN) 6 2+ -catalyzed oxidation of benzyl alcohol yields benzaldehyde almost exclusively (>95%), whereas the uncatalyzed reaction generates a 1:1 mixture of benzaldehyde and benzoic acid. Similarly, aliphatic alcohols are oxidized to aldehydes/ketones, cyclobutanol to cyclobutanone, and diethyl ether to a 1:1 mixture of ethanol and acetaldehyde. The kinetics of oxidation of alcohols and diethyl ether are first-order in [Fe(CH 3 CN) 6 2+ ] and [O 3 ] and independent of [substrate] at concentrations greater than ~5 mM. In this regime, the rate constant for all of the alcohols is approximately the same, k cat = (8 ± 1) × 10 4 M –1 s –1 , and that for (C 2 H 5 ) 2 O is (5 ± 0.5) × 10 4 M –1 s –1 . In the absence of substrate, Fe(CH 3 CN) 6 2+ reacts with O 3 with k Fe = (9.3 ± 0.3) × 10 4 M –1 s –1 . The similarity between the rate constants k Fe and k cat strongly argues for Fe(CH 3 CN) 6 2+ /O 3 reaction as rate-determining in catalytic oxidation. The active oxidant produced in Fe(CH 3 CN) 6 2+ /O 3 reaction is suggested to be an Fe(IV) species in analogy with a related intermediate in aqueous solutions. As a result, this assignment is supported by the similarity in kinetic isotope effects and relative reactivities of the two species toward substrates.
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
Acid Catalysis over Low-Silica Faujasite Zeolites
We report low-silica faujasite (FAU) zeolites (with Si/Al ratio of ca. 1.2–1.8) sustain framework integrity and porosity upon moderate ion exchange (0.01 M NH 4 NO 3 solution for 1 h at ambient temperature), which introduces two kinds of protons, distinctive in reactivity and coordination to the zeolite framework, within supercages (H SUP ). Moderate ion exchange limited within supercages transpires while maintaining full occupancy of Na + cations within associated sodalite cages; this in turn helps stabilize the framework of low-silica H-FAU zeolites. Protons located on site II (H 3630 ) and site III (H 3650 ) within supercages on low-silica FAU zeolites can be classified and enumerated by virtue of infrared spectroscopy, providing an opportunity to compare reactivities of these distinct protons for monomolecular protolytic reactions of propane. Protons on site II exhibit prominently higher reactivity for monomolecular propane dehydrogenation and cracking than protons on site III. Low-silica proton-form FAU zeolites (zeolite X) upon moderate ion exchange possess protons on site III that are unavailable on high-silica FAU zeolites (zeolite Y) and limit ion exchange within supercages, providing unprecedented high-temperature structural and chemical stability (>773 K) and enabling their application as solid-acid catalysts.
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
Sulfated Zirconium Metal–Organic Frameworks as Well-Defined Supports for Enhancing Organometallic Catalysis
Understanding heterogeneous catalysts is a challenging pursuit due to surface site nonuniformity and aperiodicity in traditionally-used materials. One example is sulfated metal oxides, which function as highly-active catalysts and as supports for organometallic complexes. These applications are due to traits such as acidity, ability to act as a weakly coordinating ligand, and aptitude for promoting transformations via radical cation intermediates. Research is ongoing about the structural features of sulfated metal oxides that imbue the aforementioned properties, such as sulfate geometry and coordination. To better understand these materials, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have been targeted as structurally-defined analogs. Composed of inorganic nodes and organic linkers, MOFs possess features such as high porosity and crystallinity, which make them attractive for mechanistic studies of heterogeneous catalysts. In this work, a Zr 6 -based MOF NU-1000 is sulfated and characterized using atomically-precise techniques such as single crystal X-ray diffraction (SCXRD) in addition to diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS). Here, the dynamic nature of the sulfate binding motif is found to transition from monodentate, to bidentate, to tridentate depending on the degree of hydration, as supported by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Heightened Brønsted acidity compared to the parent MOF was observed upon sulfation, and probed through trimethylphosphine oxide (TMPO) physisorption, ammonia sorption, in-situ ammonia DRIFTS, and DFT studies. With the support structure benchmarked, an organoiridium complex was chemisorbed onto the sulfated MOF node and the efficacy of this supported catalyst was demonstrated for stoichiometric and catalytic activation of benzene-d6 and toluene with structure-activity relationships derived.
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
Optimizing the Synthetic Potential of O 2 : Implications of Overpotential in Homogeneous Aerobic Oxidation Catalysis
Molecular oxygen is the quintessential oxidant for organic chemical synthesis, but many challenges continue to limit its utility and breadth of applications. Extensive historical research has focused on overcoming kinetic challenges presented by the ground-state-triplet electronic structure of O 2 and the various reactivity and selectivity challenges associated with reactive oxygen species derived from O 2 reduction. This Perspective will analyze thermodynamic principles underlying catalytic aerobic oxidation reactions, borrowing concepts from the study of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in fuel cells. This analysis is especially important for "oxidase"-type liquid-phase catalytic aerobic oxidation reactions, which proceed by a mechanism that couples two sequential redox half-reactions: (1) substrate oxidation, and (2) oxygen reduction, typically affording H 2 O 2 or H 2 O. The catalysts for these reactions feature redox potentials that lie between the potentials associated with the substrate oxidation and oxygen reduction reactions, and changes in the catalyst potential lead to variations in effective overpotentials for the two half reactions. Catalysts that operate at low ORR overpotential retain more thermodynamic driving force for the substrate oxidation step, enabling O 2 to be used in more challenging oxidations. While catalysts that operate at high ORR overpotential have less driving force available for substrate oxidation, they often exhibit different or improved chemoselectivity relative to the high-potential catalysts. The concepts are elaborated in a series of case studies to highlight their implications for chemical synthesis. Examples include comparisons of (a) NO x /oxoammonium and Cu/nitroxyl catalysts, (b) high-potential quinones and amine oxidase biomimetic quinones, and (c) Pd aerobic oxidation catalysts, with or without NO x cocatalysts. In addition, we show how reductive activation of O 2 provides a means to access potentials not accessible with conventional oxidase-type mechanisms. Altogether, this analysis highlights the central role of catalyst overpotential in guiding the development of aerobic oxidation reactions.
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
Noncovalent Bonding Controls Selectivity in Heterogeneous Catalysis: Coupling Reactions on Gold
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catalysis (heterogeneous), mesostructured material↗
Liquid-Phase Effects on Adsorption Processes in Heterogeneous Catalysis
Aqueous solvation free energies of adsorption have recently been measured for phenol adsorption on Pt(111). Endergonic solvent effects of ~1 eV suggest solvents dramatically influence a metal catalyst’s activity with significant implications for the catalyst design. However, measurements are indirect and involve adsorption isotherm models, which potentially reduces the reliability of the extracted energy values. Computational, implicit solvation models predict exergonic solvation effects for phenol adsorption, failing to agree with measurements even qualitatively. In this study, an explicit, hybrid quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical approach for computing solvation free energies of adsorption is developed, solvation free energies of phenol adsorption are computed, and experimental data for solvation free energies of phenol adsorption are reanalyzed using multiple adsorption isotherm models. Explicit solvation calculations predict an endergonic solvation free energy for phenol adsorption that agrees well with measurements to within the experimental and force field uncertainties. Computed adsorption free energies of solvation of carbon monoxide, ethylene glycol, benzene, and phenol over the (111) facet of Pt and Cu suggest that liquid water destabilizes all adsorbed species, with the largest impact on the largest adsorbates.
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
Hydrolysis of Ketene Catalyzed by Formic Acid: Modification of Reaction Mechanism, Energetics, and Kinetics with Organic Acid Catalysis
The hydrolysis of ketene (H2C=C=O) to form acetic acid involving two water molecules and also separately in the presence of one to two water molecules and formic acid (FA) was investigated. Our results show that, while the currently accepted indirect mechanism, involving addition of water across the carbonyl C=O bond of ketene to form an ene-diol followed by tautomerization of the ene-diol to form acetic acid, is the preferred pathway when water alone is present, with formic acid as catalyst, addition of water across the ketene C=C double bond to directly produce acetic acid becomes the kinetically favored pathway for temperatures below 400 K. We find not only that the overall barrier for ketene hydrolysis involving one water molecule and formic acid (H2C2O + H2O + FA) is significantly lower than that involving two water molecules (H2C2O + 2H(2)O) but also that FA is able to reduce the barrier height for the direct path, involving addition of water across the C=C double bond, so that it is essentially identical with (6.4 kcal/mol) that for the indirect ene-diol formation path involving addition of water across the C=O bond. For the case of ketene hydrolysis involving two water molecules and formic acid (H2C2O + 2H(2)O + FA), the barrier for the direct addition of water across the C=C double bond is reduced even further and is 2.5 kcal/mol lower relative to the ene-diol path involving addition of water across the C=O bond. In fact, the hydrolysis barrier for the H2C2O + 2H(2)O + FA reaction through the direct path is sufficiently low (2.5 kcal/mol) for it to be an energetically accessible pathway for acetic acid formation under atmospheric conditions. Given the structural similarity between acetic and formic acid, our results also have potential implications for aqueous-phase chemistry. Thus, in an aqueous environment, even in the absence of formic acid, though the initial mechanism for ketene hydrolysis is expected to involve addition of water across the carbonyl bond as is currently accepted, the production and accumulation of acetic acid will likely alter the preferred pathway to one involving addition of water across the ketene C=C double bond as the reaction proceeds.
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
Support shape effect in metal oxide catalysis: ceria nanoshapes supported vanadia catalysts for oxidative dehydrogenation of iso-butane
The activation energy of VOx/CeO2 catalysts in oxidative dehydrogenation of iso-butane was found dependent on the shape of ceria support: rods < octahedra, closely related to the surface oxygen vacancy formation energy and defects amount of the two ceria supports with different crystallographic surface planes.
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
A Facile Synthesis of MPd (M=Co, Cu) Nanoparticles and Their Catalysis for Formic Acid Oxidation
Monodisperse CoPd nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized and studied for catalytic formic acid (HCOOH) oxidation (FAO). The NPs were prepared by coreduction of Co(acac)2 (acac = acetylacetonate) and PdBr2 at 260 C in oleylamine and trioctylphosphine, and their sizes (5-12 nm) and compositions (Co10Pd90 to Co60Pd40) were controlled by heating ramp rate, metal salt concentration, or metal molar ratios. The 8 nm CoPd NPs were activated for HCOOH oxidation by a simple ethanol wash. In 0.1 M HClO4 and 2 M HCOOH solution, their catalytic activities followed the trend of Co50Pd50 > Co60Pd40 > Co10Pd90 > Pd. The Co50Pd50 NPs had an oxidation peak at 0.4 V with a peak current density of 774 A/gPd. As a comparison, commercial Pd catalysts showed an oxidation peak at 0.75 V with peak current density of only 254 A/gPd. The synthesis procedure could also be extended to prepare CuPd NPs when Co(acac)2 was replaced by Cu(ac)2 (ac = acetate) in an otherwise identical condition. The CuPd NPs were less active catalysts than CoPd or even Pd for FAO in HClO4 solution. The synthesis provides a general approach to Pd-based bimetallic NPs and will enable further investigation of Pd-based alloy NPs for electro-oxidation and other catalytic reactions.
77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
Atomically-precise dopant-controlled single cluster catalysis for electrochemical nitrogen reduction
Not Available
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
Neighboring Pd single atoms surpass isolated single atoms for selective hydrodehalogenation catalysis
Single atom catalysts have been found to exhibit superior selectivity over nanoparticulate catalysts for catalytic reactions such as hydrogenation due to their single-site nature. However, improved selectively is often accompanied by loss of activity and slow kinetics. Here we demonstrate that neighboring Pd single atom catalysts retain the high selectivity merit of sparsely isolated single atom catalysts, while the cooperative interactions between neighboring atoms greatly enhance the activity for hydrogenation of carbon-halogen bonds. Experimental results and computational calculations suggest that neighboring Pd atoms work in synergy to lower the energy of key meta-stable reactions steps, i.e., initial water desorption and final hydrogenated product desorption. The placement of neighboring Pd atoms also contribute to nearly exclusive hydrogenation of carbon-chlorine bond without altering any other bonds in organohalogens. The promising hydrogenation performance achieved by neighboring single atoms sheds light on a new approach for manipulating the activity and selectivity of single atom catalysts that are increasingly studied in multiple applications.
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
Adsorbate chemical environment-based machine learning framework for heterogeneous catalysis
Abstract Heterogeneous catalytic reactions are influenced by a subtle interplay of atomic-scale factors, ranging from the catalysts’ local morphology to the presence of high adsorbate coverages. Describing such phenomena via computational models requires generation and analysis of a large space of atomic configurations. To address this challenge, we present Adsorbate Chemical Environment-based Graph Convolution Neural Network (ACE-GCN), a screening workflow that accounts for atomistic configurations comprising diverse adsorbates, binding locations, coordination environments, and substrate morphologies. Using this workflow, we develop catalyst surface models for two illustrative systems: (i) NO adsorbed on a Pt 3 Sn(111) alloy surface, of interest for nitrate electroreduction processes, where high adsorbate coverages combined with low symmetry of the alloy substrate produce a large configurational space, and (ii) OH* adsorbed on a stepped Pt(221) facet, of relevance to the Oxygen Reduction Reaction, where configurational complexity results from the presence of irregular crystal surfaces, high adsorbate coverages, and directionally-dependent adsorbate-adsorbate interactions. In both cases, the ACE-GCN model, trained on a fraction (~10%) of the total DFT-relaxed configurations, successfully describes trends in the relative stabilities of unrelaxed atomic configurations sampled from a large configurational space. This approach is expected to accelerate development of rigorous descriptions of catalyst surfaces under in-situ conditions.
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
Bioinspiration in light harvesting and catalysis
Capturing and converting solar energy into fuels and feedstocks is a global challenge that spans numerous disciplines and fields of research. Billions of years of evolution have allowed natural organisms to hone strategies for harvesting light from the sun and storing energy in the form of carbon–carbon and carbon–hydrogen bonds. Photosynthetic antenna proteins capture solar photons and funnel photoexcitations to reaction centres with high yields, and enzymes catalyze multi-electron reactions, facilitating chemical transformations not yet efficiently implemented using artificially engineered catalysts. Researchers in renewable energy often look to nature to understand the mechanisms at work and, if possible, to explore their translation into artificial systems. Here, we review advances in bioinspiration across the fields of biological light harvesting and chemical energy conversion. We examine how multi-photon and multi-electron reactions in biology can inspire new methods in photoredox chemistry to achieve novel, selective and complex organic transformations; how carbonic-dehydrogenase-inspired design principles enable catalytic reactions such as the conversion of CO 2 into useful products such as fuels; and how concepts from photosynthetic antenna complexes and reaction centres can benefit artificial light-harvesting materials. We then consider areas in which bioinspiration could enable advances in the rational design of molecules and materials, the expansion of the synthetic capabilities of catalysts and the valorization of molecular building blocks. Here, we highlight the challenges that must be overcome to realize these advances and propose new directions that may use bioinspiration to achieve them.
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
Nonseparable exchange–correlation functional for molecules, including homogeneous catalysis involving transition metals
A gradient approximation, GAM, to the exchange–correlation functional of Kohn–Sham theory with broad performance for metal and nonmetal bond energies and weak interactions is reported.
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
Exploring opportunities in operando DRIFTS and complementary techniques for advancing plasma catalysis
Exploring the dynamic interaction of non-thermal plasma (NTP) with catalytic processes is critical to unravelling elusive catalyst structure–function relationships under NTP conditions, specifically dielectric barrier discharges (DBD).
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
Insights from designing an artificial cascade catalysis system using principles from substrate channeling in enzymes
Generalizing the key requirements of highly-selective, multi-step chemical conversions involving spatially separated reaction centers remains one of the grand challenges of chemistry. Much work towards this effort has focused on decomposing multi-step conversions into their constituent reactions, whose intermediates are successively upgraded in a chemical cascade via diffusion from center to center. This approach for synthesizing more complex molecules takes its cues from biochemical networks, where near-unit conversion of even complex carbohydrates is achieved by upgrading chemical precursors via enzymatic cascades. In this computational study we examine a simple cascade involving coupled Ag and Cu catalysts that sequentially converts CO2 to CO and then CO2 and CO to reduced products, generically named CO2Product and COProduct. The system architecture is inspired by the phenomenon of biological substrate channeling, and components are examined to evaluate their effects on conversion efficiency in the cascade. Aside from a substrate channel linking two reaction centers, we find efficient cascades must also incorporate directional substrate diffusion, compartmentalization of the reaction centers, and proper timing of substrate arrival at the active center. We make explicit linkages between these requirements and chemical conversion in known biological systems, revealing additional control elements that could be incorporated.
CO 2 reduction↗