The design of electrocatalysts for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells must satsify two equally important fundamental principles: optimization of electrocatalytic activity and long-term stability in acid media (pH <1) at high potential (0.8 V). We report here a solution-based approach to the preparation of Pt-based alloy with early transition metals and realistic parameters for the stability and activity of Pt(3)M (M = Y, Zr, Ti, Ni, and Co) nanocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The enhanced stability and activity of Pt-based alloy nanocatalysts in ORR and the relationship between electronic structure modification and stability were studied by experiment and DFT calculations. Stability correlates with the d-band fillings and the heat of alloy formation of Pt(3)M alloys, which in turn depends on the degree of the electronic perturbation due to alloying. This concept provides realistic parameters for rational catalyst design in Pt-based alloy systems.

Two catalytic protocols of the oxidative C-C bond formation have been developed on the basis of the C-H bond activation of pyridine N-oxides. Pd-catalyzed alkenylation of the N-oxides proceeds with excellent regio-, stereo-, and chemoselectivity, and the corresponding ortho-alkenylated N-oxide derivatives are obtained in good to excellent yields. Direct cross-coupling reaction of pyridine N-oxides with unactivated arene was also developed in the presence of Pd catalyst and Ag oxidant, which affords ortho-arylated pyridine N-oxide products with high site-selectivity.

Halogen photoelimination reactions constitute the oxidative half-reaction of closed HX-splitting energy storage cycles. Here, we report high-yielding, endothermic Cl2 photoelimination chemistry from mononuclear Ni(III) complexes. On the basis of time-resolved spectroscopy and steady-state photocrystallography experiments, a mechanism involving ligand-assisted halogen elimination is proposed. Employing ancillary ligands to promote elimination offers a strategy to circumvent the inherently short-lived excited states of 3d metal complexes for the activation of thermodynamically challenging bonds.

We have investigated the release of active sites blocked by bubbles attached on the surface of catalysts during the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline water electrolysis, via the modulation of the wetting properties of the four different morphologies of a nickel catalyst.

Endothermic halogen elimination reactions, in which molecular halogen photoproducts are generated in the absence of chemical traps, are rare. Inspired by the proclivity of mononuclear Ni(III) complexes to participate in challenging bond-forming reactions in organometallic chemistry, we targeted Ni(III) trihalide complexes as platforms to explore halogen photoelimination. A suite of Ni(III) trihalide complexes supported by bidentate phosphine ligands has been synthesized and characterized. Multinuclear NMR, EPR, and electronic absorption spectroscopies, as well as single-crystal X-ray diffraction, have been utilized to characterize this suite of complexes as distorted square pyramidal, S = 1/2 mononuclear Ni(III) complexes. All complexes participate in clean halogen photoelimination in solution and in the solid state. Evolved halogen has been characterized by mass spectrometry and quantified chemically. Energy storage via halogen elimination was established by solution-phase calorimetry measurements; in all cases, halogen elimination is substantially endothermic. Time-resolved photochemical experiments have revealed a relatively long-lived photointermediate, which we assign to be a Ni(II) complex in which the photoextruded chlorine radical interacts with a ligandbased aryl group. Computational studies suggest that the observed intermediate arises from a dissociative LMCT excited state. The participation of secondary coordination sphere interactions to suppress back-reactions is an attractive design element in the development of energy-storing halogen photoelimination involving first-row transition metal complexes. Article pubs.acs.org/Organometallics