Xiaoyu Liang

Iron-Based Metal-Organic Frameworks as Catalysts for Visible Light-Driven Water Oxidation.

The development of earth-abundant, active, and stable catalysts is important for solar energy conversion. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been viewed as a promising class of porous materials, which may have innovative application in photocatalysis. In this paper, three types of Fe-based MOFs and their aminofunctionalized derivatives have been fabricated and systematically studied as water oxidation catalysts (WOCs) for oxygen evolution under visible light irradiation. MIL-101(Fe) possesses a higher current density and earlier onset potential and exhibits excellent visible light-driven oxygen evolution activity than the other Fe-based catalysts. It speeds up the oxygen evolution reaction rate with the higher initial turnover frequencies value of 0.10 s(-1). Our study demonstrates that Fe-based MOFs as efficient WOCs are promising candidates for photocatalytic water oxidation process.

Fabrication of Highly Stable Metal Oxide Hollow Nanospheres and Their Catalytic Activity toward 4-Nitrophenol Reduction

In this paper, hollow nanospheres (HNSs) of metal oxides (NiO, CuO, and NiO/CuO) coated with a porous carbon shell (HNSs@C) with good structural stability were successfully prepared on the basis of the nanoscale Kirkendall effect. The formation process was based on a template-free method, and the as-prepared HNSs@C are very clean compared with products of the template process. In addition, the results of N2 adsorption-desorption noted that both the metal oxide HNSs and the coated carbon were mesoporous structures. Therefore, small molecules can access the inner space of the whole HNSs@C, which was expected to increase the active site area and to show better performances in applied fields, such as catalysts and sensors. As an example of the functional properties, the obtained HNSs@C were investigated as the catalyst for the hydrogenation of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) and manifested highly catalytic activity and excellent stability. This work has opened up a novel route for the development of metal oxide HNSs nanocatalysts. This straightforward method is of significance for development of clean metal oxide HNSs with high stability and multiplied applications.