A strategy to develop improved catalysts is to create systems that merge the advantages of heterogeneous and molecular catalysis. One such system involves supported liquid-phase catalysts, which feature a molecularly defined, catalytically active liquid film/droplet layer adsorbed on a porous solid support. In the past decade, this concept has also been extended to supported ionic liquid-phase catalysts. Here we develop this idea further and describe supported catalytically active liquid metal solutions (SCALMS). We report a liquid mixture of gallium and palladium deposited on porous glass that forms an active catalyst for alkane dehydrogenation that is resistant to coke formation and is thus highly stable. X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, supported by theoretical calculations, confirm the liquid state of the catalytic phase under the reaction conditions. Unlike traditional heterogeneous catalysts, the supported liquid metal reported here is highly dynamic and catalysis does not proceed at the surface of the metal nanoparticles, but presumably at homogeneously distributed metal atoms at the surface of a liquid metallic phase.

Our contribution demonstrates that rhodium, an element that has barely been reported as an active metal for selective dehydrogenation of alkanes becomes a very active, selective, and robust dehydrogenation catalyst when exposed to propane in the form of single atoms at the interface of a solid-supported, highly dynamic liquid Ga–Rh mixture. We demonstrate that the transition to a fully liquid supported alloy droplet at Ga/Rh ratios above 80, results in a drastic increase in catalyst activity with high propylene selectivity. The combining results from catalytic studies, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, IR-spectroscopy under reaction conditions, microscopy, and density-functional theory calculations, we obtained a comprehensive microscopy picture of the working principle of the Ga–Rh supported catalytically active liquid metal solution.

The chemical bulk reductive covalent functionalization of thin-layerb lack phosphorus (BP) using BP intercalation compounds has been developed. Through effective reductive activation, covalent functionalization of the charged BP by reaction with organic alkylh alides is achieved. Functionalization was extensively demonstrated by means of several spectroscopic techniques and DFT calculations;t he products showed higher functionalization degrees than those obtained by neutral routes.Since 2014, two-dimensional (2D) black phosphorus (BP) has attracted tremendous attention throughout the scientific community due to its high p-type charge carrier mobility and its tunable direct band gap. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] In contrast to graphene,B P exhibits amarked puckering of the sp 3 structure,constituting atwo-dimensional s-only system, involving one lone electron pair at each Pa tom. Whereas its outstanding physical and materials properties have been intensively investigated, its chemistry remains almost unexplored. [10][11][12] Indeed, af irst series of noncovalent functionalization protocols has been reported, mainly focused on improving the intrinsic instability of BP against water and oxygen. [13][14][15][16][17] Beyond these approaches,t he covalent functionalization of the interface is one of the most promising routes for fine-tuning the chemical and physical properties of 2D nanomaterials. [18,19] In this sense,only afew recent reports on single-flake chemistry with diazonium salts, [20] and wet-chemistry on previously exfoliated flakes with nucleophiles [21][22][23] or carbon-free radicals [24] have been reported so far.This is probably due to the intrinsic low degree of reactivity of neutral BP towards these reactions and the difficulties associated with overcoming the huge van der Waals energy stored within aBPcrystal, thus blocking the direct functionalization of BP.A long this front, ab ulk wetchemical derivatization sequence remains to be found. Moreover, an unambiguous determination of the covalent binding and its influence in the chemical structure of the P-layers is required to systematically explore the characteristics of BP reactivity.To address these challenges we took advantage of the well-known reductive graphene chemistry using graphite intercalation compounds (GICs). [18,[25][26][27] As af irst success in this direction, we have recently reported the preparation of BP intercalation compounds (BPICs) with alkali metals (K and Na). [28] This paves the way for the exploration of the reductive route using activated negatively charged BP-ite nanosheets and electrophiles (E) as covalent reaction partners.Herein, we provide the first real proof for covalent binding in BP with alkyl halides using abattery of characterization techniques.F urthermore,d ensity functional theory (DFT) calculations were carried out to rationalize our results, providing adeep understanding of the covalent derivatization of BP.This thorough study reveals for the first time the lattice opening in BP,absent in graphene,which is a...

Carbon dioxide (CO2) absorption by the amine-functionalized ionic liquid (IL) dihydroxyethyldimethylammonium taurinate at 310 K was studied using surface- and bulk-sensitive experimental techniques. From near-ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy at 0.9 mbar CO2, the amount of captured CO2 per mole of IL in the near-surface region is quantified to ~0.58 mol, with ~0.15 mol in form of carbamate dianions and ~0.43 mol in form of carbamic acid. From isothermal uptake experiments combined with infrared spectroscopy, CO2 is found to be bound in the bulk as carbamate (with nominally 0.5 mol of CO2 bound per 1 mol of IL) up to ~2.5 bar CO2, and as carbamic acid (with nominally 1 mol CO2 bound per 1 mol IL) at higher pressures. We attribute the fact that at low pressures carbamic acid is the dominating species in the near-surface region, while only carbamate is formed in the bulk, to differences in solvation in the outermost IL layers as compared to the bulk situation.

Detailed knowledge of the structure and degree of oxidation of platinum surfaces under operando conditions is essential for understanding catalytic performance. However, experimental investigations of platinum surface oxides have been hampered by technical limitations, preventing in situ investigations at relevant pressures. As a result, the time-dependent evolution of oxide formation has only received superficial treatment. In addition, the amorphous structures of many surface oxides have hindered realistic theoretical studies. Using near-ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (NAP-XPS) we show that a time scale of hours (t≥4 h) is required for the formation of platinum surface oxides. These experimental observations are consistent with ReaxFF grand canonical Monte Carlo (ReaxFF-GCMC) calculations, predicting the structures and coverages of stable, amorphous surface oxides at temperatures between 430-680 K and an O partial pressure of 1 mbar.