Mesoporous organic-inorganic hybrid materials, a new class of materials characterized by large specific surface areas and pore sizes between 2 and 15 nm, have been obtained through the coupling of inorganic and organic components by template synthesis. The incorporation of functionalities can be achieved in three ways: by subsequent attachment of organic components onto a pure silica matrix (grafting), by simultaneous reaction of condensable inorganic silica species and silylated organic compounds (co-condensation, one-pot synthesis), and by the use of bissilylated organic precursors that lead to periodic mesoporous organosilicas (PMOs). This Review gives an overview of the preparation, properties, and potential applications of these materials in the areas of catalysis, sorption, chromatography, and the construction of systems for controlled release of active compounds, as well as molecular switches, with the main focus being on PMOs.

Silica-based mesoporous organic-inorganic hybrid materials.

Metal species with different size (single atoms, nanoclusters, and nanoparticles) show different catalytic behavior for various heterogeneous catalytic reactions. It has been shown in the literature that many factors including the particle size, shape, chemical composition, metal–support interaction, and metal–reactant/solvent interaction can have significant influences on the catalytic properties of metal catalysts. The recent developments of well-controlled synthesis methodologies and advanced characterization tools allow one to correlate the relationships at the molecular level. In this Review, the electronic and geometric structures of single atoms, nanoclusters, and nanoparticles will be discussed. Furthermore, we will summarize the catalytic applications of single atoms, nanoclusters, and nanoparticles for different types of reactions, including CO oxidation, selective oxidation, selective hydrogenation, organic reactions, electrocatalytic, and photocatalytic reactions. We will compare the results o...

Metal Catalysts for Heterogeneous Catalysis: From Single Atoms to Nanoclusters and Nanoparticles.

The design and synthesis of efficient electrocatalysts are important for electrochemical conversion technologies. The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is a key process in such conversions, having applications in water splitting and metal–air batteries. Here, we report ultrathin metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) as promising electrocatalysts for the OER in alkaline conditions. Our as-prepared ultrathin NiCo bimetal–organic framework nanosheets on glassy-carbon electrodes require an overpotential of 250 mV to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm−2. When the MOF nanosheets are loaded on copper foam, this decreases to 189 mV. We propose that the surface atoms in the ultrathin MOF sheets are coordinatively unsaturated—that is, they have open sites for adsorption—as evidenced by a suite of measurements, including X-ray spectroscopy and density-functional theory calculations. The findings suggest that the coordinatively unsaturated metal atoms are the dominating active centres and the coupling effect between Ni and Co metals is crucial for tuning the electrocatalytic activity. Efficient electrocatalysts for the oxygen–evolution reaction are desired due to their importance in applications such as water splitting and metal–air batteries. Here, the authors engineer ultrathin metal–organic frameworks that require low overpotential to generate oxygen from alkaline media.

Ultrathin metal–organic framework nanosheets for electrocatalytic oxygen evolution

In this Review, we discuss the state-of-the-art understanding of non-precious transition metal oxides that catalyze the oxygen reduction and evolution reactions. Understanding and mastering the kinetics of oxygen electrocatalysis is instrumental to making use of photosynthesis, advancing solar fuels, fuel cells, electrolyzers, and metal–air batteries. We first present key insights, assumptions and limitations of well-known activity descriptors and reaction mechanisms in the past four decades. The turnover frequency of crystalline oxides as promising catalysts is also put into perspective with amorphous oxides and photosystem II. Particular attention is paid to electronic structure parameters that can potentially govern the adsorbate binding strength and thus provide simple rationales and design principles to predict new catalyst chemistries with enhanced activity. We share new perspective synthesizing mechanism and electronic descriptors developed from both molecular orbital and solid state band structure principles. We conclude with an outlook on the opportunities in future research within this rapidly developing field.

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Toward the rational design of non-precious transition metal oxides for oxygen electrocatalysis

The reaction of triphenylphosphine or N-butylimidazole with cyclic sultones gives zwitterions that are subsequently converted into ionic liquids by reaction with trifluoromethane sulfonic acid or p-toluenesulfonic acid. The resulting ionic liquids have cations to which are tethered alkane sulfonic acid groups. These Bronsted acidic ionic liquids are useful solvent/catalysts for several organic reactions, including Fischer esterification, alcohol dehydrodimerization and the pinacol rearrangement. The new ionic liquids combine the low volatility and ease of separation from product normally associated with solid acid catalysts, with the higher activity and yields normally found using conventional liquid acids.

Novel Brønsted Acidic Ionic Liquids and Their Use as Dual Solvent−Catalysts

Ministry of Science and Technology of China [2011CB932403]; National Nature Science Foundation of China [21131005, 20925103, 21373167, 21033006, 21333008]; Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

Interfacial Effects in Iron-Nickel Hydroxide–Platinum Nanoparticles Enhance Catalytic Oxidation

Structural changes of Au-Cu bimetallic catalysts in CO oxidation: In situ XRD, EPR, XANES, and FT-IR characterizations

http://ntur.lib.ntu.edu.tw/bitstream/246246/166410/1/40.pdf

Jyh-Fu Lee

Papers

Interfacial Effects in Iron-Nickel Hydroxide–Platinum Nanoparticles Enhance Catalytic Oxidation

Structural changes of Au-Cu bimetallic catalysts in CO oxidation: In situ XRD, EPR, XANES, and FT-IR characterizations

Sulfonic acid functionalized mesoporous MCM-41 silica as a convenient catalyst for Bisphenol-A synthesis

Selective synthesis of Bisphenol-A over mesoporous MCM silica catalysts functionalized with sulfonic acid groups

Pinacol-type rearrangement catalyzed by Zr-incorporated SBA-15