Publications related to Selective Alkyne Hydrogenation over Nano-metal Systems: Closing the Gap between Model and Real Catalysts for Industrial Applications

The simultaneous Selective Catalytic Reduction of N2O and NO over Fe-exchanged zeolites

Iron-exchanged zeolites are industrial heterogeneous catalysts deployed to remediate anthropogenic emissions of both nitrous oxide (N2O) and nitrogen oxides (NOx = NO + NO2). Despite the extensive scientific attention received, limited knowledge is availab ...

EPFL2024

Probing Catalytic Sites and Adsorbate Spillover on Ultrathin FeO2-x Film on Ir(111) during CO Oxidation

Harald Brune, Hao Yin, Wei Fang

The spatially resolved identification of active sites on the heterogeneous catalyst surface is an essential step toward directly visualizing a catalytic reaction with atomic scale. To date, ferrous centers on platinum group metals have shown promising pote ...

Amer Chemical Soc2024

New Applications of 1,3,2-Diazaphospholenes in Catalysis

Johannes Klett

The constant urge to construct new molecules in an economical and sustainable fashion led to the development of numerous metal-catalyzed transformations. Organocatalysts consisting of abundant and more sustainable elements offer an elegant solution to over ...

EPFL2024

Stencil-Based Selective Surface Functionalization of Silicon Nanowires in 3D Device Architectures for Next-Generation Biochemical Sensors

Yusuf Leblebici, Ece Öztürk, Mohammad Nasr Esfahani

Surface functionalization of 1D materials such as silicon nanowires is a critical preparation technology for biochemical sensing. However, existing nonselective functionalization techniques result in nonlocal binding and contamination, with potential devic ...

Amer Chemical Soc2024

Photogeneration of Hydrogen: Insights from a Pt(II)-Complex Incorporated into a Covalent Organic Framework

Paolo Costa, Federico De Biasi

Pt(II)-based molecular catalysts stand as a prototypical system in hydrogen evolution reactions (HER) owing to their consistently elevated activity levels. Their integration into heterogeneous systems thus provides an ideal platform to develop catalytic ma ...

Wiley-VCH Verlag2024

Hybrid organic/metal-oxide shells on semiconductor nanocrystals via colloidal atomic layer deposition

Ona Segura Lecina

The escalating energy demand and the imperative necessity to reduce the carbon footprint require transformative approaches to energy conversion. Materials chemistry plays a pivotal role in addressing these global challenges by developing novel materials fo ...

EPFL2024

Arylative Ring Expansion of 3-Vinylazetidin-3-Ols and 3-Vinyloxetan-3-Ols to Dihydrofurans by Dual Palladium and Acid Catalysis

Qian Wang, Jieping Zhu, Takuji Fujii

In contrast to the well-studied 1-vinylcyclobu- tanols, the reactivity of 3-vinylazetidin-3-ols 1 and 3- vinyloxetan-3-ols 2 under transition metal catalysis remains largely unexplored. We report herein their unique reactivity under dual palladium and acid ...

Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH2024

Plasmonically enhanced molecular junctions for investigation of atomic-scale fluctuations in self-assembled monolayers

Sakthi Priya Amirtharaj

Molecular junctions represent a fascinating frontier in the realm of nanotechnology and are one of the smallest optoelectronic devices possible, consisting of individual molecules or a group of molecules that serve as the active element sandwiched between ...

EPFL2024

Plasmonic Nanostructures for Photocatalysis: Material, Photonic and Electronic Effects

Fateme Kiani Shahvandi

Plasmonic photochemistry has a large potential to replace energy-intensive chemical processes with low-temperature, low-pressure light-driven chemical reactions. Plasmonic nanostructures have emerged as promising photocatalysts with exceptional and tunable ...

EPFL2024

Engineering Frustrated Lewis Pair Active Sites in Porous Organic Scaffolds for Catalytic CO2 Hydrogenation

Anne-Clémence Corminboeuf, Jacob Terence Blaskovits, Shubhajit Das, Rubén Laplaza Solanas

Frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs), featuring reactive combinations of Lewis acids and Lewis bases, have been utilized for myriad metal-free homogeneous catalytic processes. Immobilizing the active Lewis sites to a solid support, especially to porous scaffolds, ...

Amer Chemical Soc2024

Second harmonic scattering of nanoparticles: A journey into the electrical double layer

Bingxin Chu

In aqueous solutions, a charged surface causes the redistribution of nearby ions. The ion layers formed are known as the electrical double layer (EDL), and are widespread in many systems involving electrochemistry, colloidal science, biomedicine, and energ ...

EPFL2024

Well-Defined Ti Surface Sites in Ziegler-Natta Pre-Catalysts from 47/49Ti Solid-State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

Pierrick Berruyer

Treatment of Ziegler-Natta (ZN) catalysts with BCl3 improves their activity by increasing the number of active sites. Here we show how Ti-47/49 solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy enables us to understand the electronic structure of t ...

Amer Chemical Soc2024

Heterogeneous catalysis via light-heat dual activation: A path to the breakthrough in C1 chemistry

Bingqiao Xie

A hybrid photothermal catalytic system, which combines both the photochemical (light) and thermal (heat) activation pathways over a bifunctional catalyst, has demonstrated remarkable levels of reaction activity and selectivity when compared with individual ...

Cell Press2024

Tailoring nanocatalysts and reaction interfaces for water- and CO2-electrolysis

Thi Ha My Pham

Renewable energy sources offer a promising solution for mitigating sustainability and CO2 emissions-related issues due to their vast energy generation capacity. They enable hydrogen production via water electrolysis, as well as carbon capture and utilizati ...

EPFL2024

An Overview of Heterogeneous Catalysts Based on Hypercrosslinked Polystyrene for the Synthesis and Transformation of Platform Chemicals Derived from Biomass

Lioubov Kiwi

Platform chemicals, also known as chemical building blocks, are substances that serve as starting materials for the synthesis of various value-added products, which find a wide range of applications. These chemicals are the key ingredients for many fine an ...

MDPI2023

A general and robust Ni-based nanocatalyst for selective hydrogenation reactions at low temperature and pressure

Paul Joseph Dyson, Yelin Hu, Matthias Beller, Mingyang Liu

Catalytic hydrogenations are important and widely applied processes for the reduction of organic compounds both in academic laboratories and in industry. To perform these reactions in sustainable and practical manner, the development and applicability of n ...

Amer Assoc Advancement Science2023

Optical manipulation of plasmonic nanoparticles: Applications in surface chemistry and nano-optics

Jeonghyeon Kim

Optical tweezers are devices that can manipulate nano- and microparticles using a laser. The principle of optical tweezers is to apply a force to an object using the momentum of light. This force is very small, but it is sufficient to move things in the mi ...

EPFL2023

Anisotropic In-Plane strain engineering Ni(OH)2 to activate alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction

Chao Yang, Kangning Zhao

Realizing a hydrogen economy strongly requires alkaline water electrolysis to achieve large-scale generation of H2, but lacks stable and efficient catalysts. The insufficient active sites in Ni(OH)2 impair the catalytic performance of alkaline HER. Herein, ...

ELSEVIER SCIENCE SA2023

Cycloalkane Oxidation Catalyzed by Copper-based Catalysts with H2O2 under Mild Conditions

Nukorn Plainpan, Jantira Chimlert

Copper-catalyzed cycloalkane oxidation using H2O2 as an oxidant was investigated under mild conditions. The copper catalysts studied in this work ranged from commercially-available copper(II) salts to copper(II) complexes containing polypyridyl ligands. Va ...

WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH2023

Dual Photoredox and Copper Catalysis: Enantioselective 1,2-Amidocyanation of 1,3-Dienes

Qian Wang, Jieping Zhu, Dan Forster, Weisi Guo

Dual photoredox−transition-metal catalysis has emerged as a powerful tool for the development of chemical transformations. However, its application in the selective difunctionalization of 1,3-dienes remains essentially unexploited. By the synergistic actio ...

2023