Polyoxometalate-based nanostructures for electrocatalytic and photocatalytic CO ₂ reduction

Abstract

Electro/photo-catalytic CO2 reduction to value-added chemicals and fuels is being actively studied as a promising pathway for renewable energy storage and climate change mitigation. Since the inert molecular properties and the competing hydrogen generation reaction, the development of high-performance electrocatalysts with high Faradaic efficiency and product selectivity but low overpotential is in urgent need. Polyoxometalate (POM) is a class of polynuclear metal oxide clusters with precise atomic structure, thus providing ideal research platform to reveal the relationship between macroscopic properties and microstructure. Moreover, the highly tunable redox properties and the abundant transition-metal atom composition ensure thriving research for POM-based nanostructures towards CO2 reduction. In this review, we firstly introduce the specific roles of POM in electro/photo-catalytic CO2 reduction. The recent advances in POM-based nanostructures ranging from single cluster, assemblies, organic-inorganic hybrids, to derivatives are systematically summarized. Particularly, the structure-performance relationship of POM-based nanostructures is discussed at the atomic and molecular level. Finally, the challenges and opportunities in the design of high-efficiency POM-based nanostructures are proposed for inspiring the development of electro/photo-catalytic CO2 reduction field.

Two new transition metal–organic frameworks as multiresponsive fluorescence sensors for detecting Fe3+, Cr2O72− and TNP

“…Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are promising crystalline porous materials, which are self-assembled by metal ions or clusters and organic linkers containing binding sites. [16][17][18][19][20] Due to their structural diversity and designability, ultra-high specific surface area and chemical stability, [21][22][23] MOFs have been applied in many fields, such as magnetism, 24,25 catalysis, 26 fluorescence sensing, [27][28][29][30][31][32] gas adsorption and storage, [33][34][35][36] proton conduction, [37][38][39][40][41][42] etc. Among many applications, luminescent MOFs (LMOFs) based on transition metals have attracted wide attention due to their low cost and potential as a simple and effective fluorescent sensing material.…”

In situ surface/interface generation on Cu2O nanostructures toward enhanced electrocatalytic CO2 reduction to ethylene using operando spectroscopy

“…Among the various electrocatalysts, copper is a distinct metal catalyst, which can produce considerable amounts of hydrocarbons and alcohols, [9][10][11][12][13] because it can adjust the adsorption energy of intermediates and then promote the C-C coupling to form C 2+ products. [14][15][16] C 2 H 4 is the main C 2+ product and an important organic raw material, which is widely used in various industries.…”

Electrochemically Reconstructed Vanadic Oxide-Doped Cobalt Pyrophosphate as an Electrocatalyst for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction

“…Although the well-known noble-metal-based materials, such as RuO 2 and IrO 2 , have been regarded as the most efficient electrocatalysts for the OER, , the high cost and stability hindered their further application. The transition-metal-based materials due to their low cost, extraordinary redox nature, and abundant active site, not only including iron, cobalt, nickel composite materials , but also metal oxygen cluster hybrids, − as well as metal–organic framework (MOF), have been extensively exploited for the preparation of the electrocatalysts. Among them, cobalt or nickel-based materials were the most promising candidates as alternative electrocatalysts for the OER, relying on their excellent electrocatalytic activities.…”