Wanbing Gong

Atomically precise heterogeneous catalysts offer unprecedented opportunities for establishing clear structure-activity relationships in catalysis. However, the precise control over the number of metal atoms in such systems remains a significant challenge, primarily due to difficulties in maintaining atomic-level dispersion, preventing metal migration and aggregation. This study develops a tandem synthesis strategy combining ligand protection and precursor engineering. First, atomically precise precursors Pt1(C44H32P2)2(CO)4, Pt2(C18H12Cl3P)3Br2(CO)1, and Pt3(C18H21P)5(CO)2 are synthesized using mixed ligands. Subsequently, by integrating Joule induction rapid thermal annealing technology, structurally well-defined Pt1/OKB, Pt2/OKB, and Pt3/OKB catalysts are successfully constructed on oxidized Ketjenblack (OKB) support. Under mild conditions (60 °C, 0.5 MPa H2) for nitrobenzene selective hydrogenation, the Pt3/OKB catalyst achieves > 99% conversion and > 99% aniline selectivity, significantly outperforming Pt single-atom, Pt dual-atom, and Pt nanoparticle catalysts. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations demonstrate that the unique coordination environment in the triatomic structure optimizes adsorption strength, suppressing excessive benzene ring hydrogenation while facilitating H2 activation and intermediate stabilization, thereby achieving synergistic regulation of activity and selectivity at the atomic scale. This study provides an atomically precise synthetic method for heterogeneous catalysts and elucidates the dependence of catalytic hydrogenation performance on the number of metal atoms.

Correction for ‘Unlocking the catalytic potential of heterogeneous nonprecious metals for selective hydrogenation reactions’ by Wanbing Gong et al. , Chem. Soc. Rev. , 2025, 54 , 960–982, https://doi.org/10.1039/d4cs01005a.

Solar-driven, selective biomass hydrogenation is recognized as a promising route to renewable chemicals production, but remains challenging. Here, we report a TiO₂ supported Cu single-atom catalyst with a four-coordinated Cu₁−O₄ structure, which can be universally applied for solar-driven production of various renewable chemicals from lignocellulosic biomass-derived platform molecules with good yields using green methanol as a hydrogen donor, to address this challenge. It is significant that the biomass upgrading driven by natural sunlight on a gram scale demonstrates the great practical potential. By combining in situ soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy with theoretical calculations, we successfully identify the dynamic evolution of Cu sites along with the biomass hydrogenation and methanol oxidation, where the tandem process is enabled by the photogenerated electrons and holes to complete a chemical cycle. The concept of solar-driven biomass hydrogenation proposed here provides an efficient and sustainable methodology for the sustainable production of renewable chemicals.

This review summarizes the recent advances of heterogeneous catalysts for catalytic transfer hydrogenation using CO ₂ -derived formic acid and methanol as the hydrogen sources.

The thermodynamically favorable electrocatalytic oxidation coupled with hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is considered as a sustainable and promising technique. Nonetheless, it remains a great challenge due to the lack of simple, cheap, and high-efficient electrocatalysts. Here, we successfully develop a simple and scalable electro-deposition and subsequent phosphorization route to fabricate Ni-doped Co₂P (Ni-Co₂P) nanosheets catalyst using the in-situ released Ni species from defective Ni foam as metal source. Impressively, the as-synthesized Ni-Co₂P catalyst exhibits excellent electrochemical 5-hydroxymethylfurfural oxidation reaction (HOR) performance with > 99% 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid yield and > 97% Faradaic efficiency at an ultralow potential of 1.29 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). Experimental characterization and theoretical calculation reveal that the atomically doped Ni species can enhance the adsorption of reactant and thus lower the reaction energy barriers. By coupling the electrocatalytic HOR with HER, the employed two-electrode system using Ni−Co₂P and commercial Ni foam as anode and cathode, respectively, exhibits a low cell voltage of 1.53 V to drive a current density of 10 mA·cm⁻², which is 90 mV lower than that of pure water splitting. This work provides a facile and efficient approach for the preparation of high-performance earth-abundant electrocatalysts toward the concurrent production of H₂ and value-added chemicals.

A Ni-based MOF is in situ grown onto Ni(OH)₂ nanosheets to effectively suppress the oxygen evolution reaction for the efficient electrocatalytic oxidation of biomass-derived 5-hydroxymethylfurfural to 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid with 100% yield and faradaic efficiency at 1.4 V (vs. RHE).

The (112) plane dominated CoP nanoparticles in carbon nanotubes (CoP/CNs) fabricated by a pyrolysis-phosphorization approach exhibited superior electrocatalytic NRR activity with a large NH₃ yield rate and high faradaic efficiency.