Ning Zhang

Defective UiO-66 obtained by simply tuning the synthesis time is very active for oxidative desulfurization.

A simple charge modulation approach has been developed to stabilize naked Au clusters on a nanoporous conjugated organic network.

Nd3+–doped TiO2 synthesized via the sol-gel method, was used as catalyst for photoreduction of carbon dioxide into methanol in an aqueous solution under UV irradiation. The catalysts were characterized by XRD, IR, UV-vis etc. The maximum photocatalytic activity corresponds to the 0.2 wt.% Nd3+–doped TiO2 nanopowders. In that case, the methanol yield is 184.8μmol/g by 8h UV irradiation, indicating that the Nd/TiO2 can obviously enhance the efficiency of photocatalytic reduction comparing to pure TiO2. Furthermore, the adsorption properties of Nd atom on the regular (110) surface of rutile and (101) surface of anatase were studied by density functional calculations under the B3LYP level. H2O molecule catches the photo-induced hole in the reaction system forming H2O+ which dissociates further into H+ and OH radical on the catalyst surface. The transition state was found by DFT calculation, and the amount of the OH radicals has effects on the selectivity of CH3OH.

Herein, a new preparation strategy of chiral metal–organic frameworks (CMOFs) has been demonstrated. By adsorption and then post-synthetically modified (PSM) procedures, chiral salen(Co(III)) could be imprisoned within the cages of an MOF and remained in its free form. This is the first report on the successful application of CMOFs in heterogeneous asymmetric catalysis for coupling CO₂ with epoxides to obtain optically active cyclic carbonates at room temperature.

A new type of hollow nanostructure featured double metal‐organic frameworks shells with metal nanoparticles (MNPs) is designed and fabricated by the methods of ship in a bottle and bottle around the ship. The nanostructure material, hereinafter denoted as Void@HKUST‐1/Pd@ZIF‐8, is confirmed by the analyses of photograph, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, powder X‐ray diffraction, inductively coupled plasma, and N₂ sorption. It possesses various multifunctionally structural characteristics such as hollow cavity which can improve mass transfer, the adjacent of the inner HKUST‐1 shell to the void which enables the matrix of the shell to host and well disperse MNPs, and an outer ZIF‐8 shell which acts as protective layer against the leaching of MNPs and a sieve to guarantee molecular‐size selectivity. This makes the material eligible candidates for the heterogeneous catalyst. As a proof of concept, the liquid‐phase hydrogenation of olefins with different molecular sizes as a model reaction is employed. It demonstrates the efficient catalytic activity and size‐selectivity of Void@HKUST‐1/Pd@ZIF‐8.

Irrespective of the initial states, the pure Cu( i ) surface of Cu ₂ O would in situ transform into a stable Cu( i )–Cu( ii ) composite surface during the first catalytic run of CO oxidation, resulting in dramatic activity enhancement.

Invited for this month′s cover is the group of Sheng Dai at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The image shows how the catalytic efficiency in nanoporous conjugated polymers can be boosted through spatial modulation. The Communication itself is available at 10.1002/cssc.201700329.