Science Direct June 30, 2022 Partial oxidation of methane (CH4) to methanol (CH3OH) lifts the energy density and drives the production of numerous chemicals. In nature, this is achieved by methane monooxygenase with di-iron sites, which is extremely challenging to mimic in artificial systems due to the high dissociation energy of the C–H bond in CH4 and facile over-oxidation of CH3OH to CO and CO2. An international team of researchers (UK, China, USA – University of Chicago, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Japan) has achieved the direct photo-oxidation of CH4 over mono-iron hydroxyl sites immobilized within a metal–organic framework, PMOF-RuFe(OH). Under […]
Tag Archives: Catalysis
Researchers develop world’s most durable hydrogen fuel cell
Nanowerk July 2, 2022 An international team of researchers (Hong Kong, USA – Argonne National Laboratory, China, Morocco) has designed a hybrid electrocatalyst that consists of atomically dispersed Pt and Fe single atoms and Pt–Fe alloy nanoparticles. Its Pt mass activity is 3.7 times higher than that of commercial Pt/C in a fuel cell. The fuel cell with a low Pt loading in the cathode shows an excellent durability, with a 97% activity retention after 100,000 cycles and no noticeable current drop at 0.6 V for over 200 hours. These results highlight the importance of the synergistic effects among active sites in […]
Quickly identify high-performance multi-element catalysts
Eurekalert February 17, 2021 Many electrochemical reactions go through several steps. Each should be optimized on a catalyst surface if possible, but different requirements apply to each step. With the example of the oxygen reduction reaction, an international team of researchers (Denmark, Germany) showed that for high entropy alloys comprising five or more principal elements, by utilizing a data‐driven discovery cycle, the multidimensionality challenge raised by this catalyst class can be mastered. Iteratively refined computational models predict activity trends around which continuous composition‐spread thin‐film libraries are synthesised. High throughput characterisation datasets are then used as input for refinement of the […]
Energy researchers invent error-free catalysts
Phys.org March 4, 2020 Catalytic enhancement of chemical reactions via heterogeneous materials occurs through stabilization of transition states at designed active sites. An international team of researchers (University of Minnesota, University of Delaware, UC Santa Barbara, UMass Amherst) designed a new class of catalysts that greatly accelerated the primary surface reactions using waves. When the applied wave frequency and amplitude match up with characteristics of the primary chemistry, the reaction becomes thousands of times faster than all other side reactions and essentially stops making any errors to side products. The researchers were able to broadly explain the relationship between different […]