Jing Chen

The construction of multicomponent transition metal oxide catalysts can effectively increase the surface defects of catalysts, and bring a synergistic effect from different components, thus enhancing the generation of reactive oxygen species and improving the catalytic activity of catalysts for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) oxidation. In this article, CuO/Co₃O₄ catalysts with abundant oxygen vacancies for the degradation of ethyl acetate was prepared by a simple impregnation method. The effect of the ratio of Co/Cu on the redox capacity, oxygen vacancy, active oxygen species and catalytic oxidation activity of ethyl acetate were studied. The 90% conversion and mineralization temperatures of ethyl acetate for the optimal catalyst Co₃O₄-20Cu are 211 and 214 °C (WHSV = 60,000 mL/(g·h), 1000 ppm ethyl acetate), which also shows good stability and excellent water vapor resistance. Compared with pure Co₃O₄, the CuO/Co₃O₄ catalysts have more oxygen vacancies, provide more reactive oxygen species, allowing the catalyst better low-temperature reduction. Through in situ DRIFTS study, the intermediates of ethyl acetate decomposition were analyzed, then a possible catalytic oxidation mechanism of ethyl acetate on the Co₃O₄-20Cu catalyst was proposed. In addition, we prepared a Co₃O₄-20Cu/cordierite monolithic catalyst on the basis of Co₃O₄-20Cu, exhibiting a good catalytic activity in degradation of ethyl acetate.

Three‐dimensional ordered macroporous (3DOM) materials have good properties in the mass transfer and diffusion. Herein, a novel Z‐scheme 3DOM‐ZrO₂/Cd_0.5Zn_0.5S (Zr3D/CZS) heterojunction catalyst was prepared and applied to photocatalytic water splitting for hydrogen production. The results show that the three‐dimensional macroporous zirconia is conducive to the transport of photogenerated charges, and the optimal catalyst 2Zr3D/CZS achieves the highest hydrogen production rate of 83.12 mmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹ under the full spectrum illumination, which is 213 and 2 times higher than that of pure ZrO₂ (0.39 mmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹) and CZS (40.86 mmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹), respectively. Under 450 nm light irradiation, the apparent quantum efficient is up to 44 %. In addition, the catalyst also showed good stability. The possible charge transfer mechanism was proposed under the full spectrum and visible light, respectively. This work provides an efficient strategy for design and synthesis of high active ZrO₂ based photocatlysts for hydrogen production.

The design of a catalyst with multifunctional sites is one of the effective methods for low-temperature catalytic oxidation of chlorinated volatile organic compounds (CVOCs). The loss of redox sites and competitive adsorption of H₂O prevalent in the treatment of industrial exhaust gases are the main reasons for the weak mineralization ability and poor water vapor resistance of V-based catalysts. In this work, platinum (Pt) is selected to combine with the V/CeO₂ catalyst, which provides more redox sites and H₂O dissociative activation sites and further enhances its catalytic performance. The results show that PtV/CeO₂ achieves 90% of the CO₂ yield at 318 °C and maintains excellent catalytic activity rather than continuous deactivation within 15 h after water vapor injection. The formation of Pt-O-V bonds enhances the redox ability and promotes deep oxidation of polychlorinated intermediates, accounting for the significantly improved mineralization ability of PtV/CeO₂. The dissociative activation effect of Pt on H₂O molecules strengthens the migration and activation of V-adsorbed H₂O, precluding V-poisoning and notably improving water resistance. This study lays a solid foundation for the efficient degradation of chlorobenzene under humid conditions.

The Pt species in the Pt-P25 catalysts lower the thermochemical energy barrier, while the photocatalytic process on TiO₂ enhances the catalytic oxidation reaction.

Owing to the unique properties of high porosity, outstanding chemical stability, and designable structures, vast applications of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have been explored in a wide range of areas including energy storage, catalysis, gas separation, etc. Nevertheless, from the perspective of electrochemical sensing, the conductivity of COFs is not satisfactory. Here, a two-dimensional (2D) hybrid nanosheet combining a COF, a supramolecular host, and nanomaterials was constructed by assembling cucurbit[8]uril (CB8) onto the surface of the COF, and achieved in situ growth of uniformly dispersed AuNPs with the aid of the modulation effect of CB8 to synergistically enhance the sensing performance. By taking advantage of the abundant active loading sites and large specific area of the 2D-COF, excellent conductivity of AuNPs, and host–guest binding ability of CB8, the prepared COF/CB8/AuNPs is utilized to modify the glassy carbon electrode (GCE) as an advanced electrochemical sensor for simultaneous detection of structurally similar analytes, e.g. antineoplastic agent 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and RNA base uracil (U) using differential pulse voltammetry, achieving detection limits down to the nanomolar level (e.g. 0.037 and 0.074 μM for 5-FU and U, respectively) and the physiologically relevant linear detection range within the sub-micromolar window. Impressively, the prepared COF/CB8/AuNPs/GCE sensor is considerably robust in complicated biofluids, allowing for detecting 5-FU and U in unprocessed native synthetic urine (SU) and whole fetal bovine serum (FBS), which remained highly challenging for electrochemical sensors. This study elucidates the integration of COFs with supramolecular host systems, paving the way for the development of advanced electrochemical sensors for rapid and onsite detection in pharmaceutical diagnostic applications.

Ru–ZrO₂/C with effective light-to-heat conversion and low-valence Ru achieves 504.1 mmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹ of rate and 98.9% selectivity for photothermal CO₂ methanation.