Pd nanomaterials can be cheaper alternative catalysts for electrocatalytic formic acid oxidation reaction (FAOR) in fuel cells. Size and shape of the nanoparticles and crystal engineering can play a crucial...

Materials for biological contacts.

A new emissive Zn(ii)-based coordination polymer (Zn-CP) bearing paddle-wheel clusters has been developed and demonstrated to have potential for recognising a nitroaromatic-based explosive (TNP) and a pesticide (2,6-DCNA) in aqueous solution.

Coordination polymers (CPs) based on transition metals have immense importance as electrocatalysts due to their diverse chemical structures coupled with redox-active metal centers. Among the earth-abundant transition metals, Ni­(II) has huge importance as oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalyst owing to its high electrical conductivities, low cost, and most importantly, ability to exist in multiple oxidation states. In this report, a new Ni­(II)-based CP [Ni­(MCA)­(bipy)­(H2O)2] n denoted as CP 1 (H2MCA = mesaconic acid, bipy = 4,4′-bipyridine) was prepared by a solvothermal method. The crystal structure analysis revealed that CP 1 has a two-dimensional structure having 8 Å × 12 Å rectangular channels. For comparison purposes, we have also synthesized another CP formulated as {[Ni­(bipy)3(H2O)2]·(bipy)·(ClO4)2} CP 2 and tried to clarify the role of the coordinated mesaconate linker in OER. The developed CPs were directly utilized as OER catalysts in alkaline solution. The bi-linker CP 1 shows a higher OER activity compared to mono-linker CP 2 and requires an overpotential of 530 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm–2. This indicates that the additional pi-conjugated organic linker mesaconic acid in CP 1 eases the formation of NiOOH species, which enhances the OER activity.

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