Size-Controlled Water-Soluble Ag Nanoparticles

Ag nanoparticles of two different sizes (1 and 4 nm) were prepared within an apoferritin cavity by using an Ag+-loaded apoferritin as a nanoconfined environment for their construction. The initial amount of Ag' ions injected in the apoferritin cavity dictates the size of the final Ag particles. The protein shell prevents bulk aggregation of the metal particles, which renders them water soluble and extremely stable

You’re the emotional one: the role of perspective for emotion processing in reading comprehension

Two experiments were conducted to explore whether perspective influences the way readers engage with and process emotional information while reading. Texts presenting characters in an emotional situation from either a personal or an onlooker perspective were presented and reading times were measured for each sentence. Participants also provided emotional self-ratings after reading. In the first experiment, positive texts were processed with greater ease, especially when readers experienced the texts from a personal perspective. In Experiment 2, an emotional match/mismatch was inserted so that a final explicit emotion word either matched or mismatched the emotional valence of the text. Mismatch effects were stronger and more consistent for the personal perspective. The two experiments provide evidence that the perspective of the reader can influence emotion processing. Processing of emotional information was easier for the personal perspective, and readers were more sensitive to inconsistent emotional information from that perspective

Ceria-Praseodymia Mixed Oxides: Relationships Between Redox Properties and Catalytic Activities Towards NO Oxidation to NO2 and CO-PROX Reactions

A series of CexPr1−xO2−δ catalysts was prepared by co-precipitation method in alkali media. These catalysts were characterized by N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms at −196 °C, X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetry combined with mass spectrometry (TG-MS), and temperature-programmed reduction with H2 and CO (H2-TPR and CO-TPR, respectively). Catalytic tests were performed for temperature programmed NO oxidation to NO2 (from 25 to 750 °C) and for the preferential oxidation of CO in H2 rich stream (CO-PROX reaction) in the range of 150–500 °C. The trends in the order of catalytic activities towards NO oxidation and CO-PROX are correlated with the redox properties of the catalysts and their composition. CexPr1−xO2−δ mixed oxides present very different catalytic behaviours towards NO oxidation and CO-PROX reactions. These experimental trends might be explained by the balance of several factors: the acid character of the NO and CO molecules, the different lattice oxygen mobility of the catalysts, the presence of surface carbonates species in the samples, and the catalysts’ reducibility under H2 and CO. The understanding of the features that govern the activity towards these environmentally relevant oxidation reactions is important in the designing of effective catalysts.The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEOII/2014/010), MINECO (CTQ2015-64801-R, MAT2013-40823-R, CSD2009-00013) and the UE (FEDER funding). X. Chen thanks the program of “Ramón y Cajal” from Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain

Regioselective Generation of Single-Site Iridium Atoms and Their Evolution into Stabilized Subnanometric Iridium Clusters in MWW Zeolite

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: L. Liu, M. Lopez-Haro, D. M. Meira, P. Concepcion, J. J. Calvino, A. Corma, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020, 59, 15695, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202005621. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.[EN] Preparation of supported metal catalysts with uniform particle size and coordination environment is a challenging and important topic in materials chemistry and catalysis. In this work, we report the regioselective generation of single-site Ir atoms and their evolution into stabilized subnanometric Ir clusters in MWW zeolite, which are located at the 10MR window connecting the two neighboring 12MR supercages. The size of the subnanometric Ir clusters can be controlled by the post-synthesis treatments and maintain below 1 nm even after being reduced at 650 degrees C, which cannot be readily achieved with samples prepared by conventional impregnation methods. The high structure sensitivity, size-dependence, of catalytic performance in the alkane hydrogenolysis reaction of Ir clusters in the subnanometric regime is evidenced.This work has been supported by the European Union through the European Research Council (grant ERC-AdG-2014-671093, SynCatMatch) and the Spanish government through the "Severo Ochoa Program" (SEV-2016-0683). The authors also thank Microscopy Service of UPV for the TEM and STEM measurements. High-resolution STEM measurements were performed at the DME-UCA node of the ELECMI National Singular Infrastruture, in Cadiz University, with financial support from FEDER/MINECO (MAT2017-87579-R and MAT2016-81118-P). This research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source, an Office of Science User Facility operated for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory, and was supported by the U.S. DOE under Contract No.DE-AC02-06CH11357, and the Canadian Light Source and its funding partners. The financial support from ExxonMobil on this project is also greatly acknowledged.Liu, L.; Lopez-Haro, M.; Meira, DM.; Concepción Heydorn, P.; Calvino, JJ.; Corma Canós, A. (2020). Regioselective Generation of Single-Site Iridium Atoms and Their Evolution into Stabilized Subnanometric Iridium Clusters in MWW Zeolite. Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 59(36):15695-15702. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202005621S15695157025936Liu, L., & Corma, A. (2018). Metal Catalysts for Heterogeneous Catalysis: From Single Atoms to Nanoclusters and Nanoparticles. Chemical Reviews, 118(10), 4981-5079. doi:10.1021/acs.chemrev.7b00776Thomas, J. M., Raja, R., & Lewis, D. W. (2005). 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E., Carr, R. T., Guzman, J., Casty, G. L., … Corma, A. (2016). Reversible Transformation of Pt Nanoparticles into Single Atoms inside High-Silica Chabazite Zeolite. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 138(48), 15743-15750. doi:10.1021/jacs.6b10169Liu, L., Zakharov, D. N., Arenal, R., Concepcion, P., Stach, E. A., & Corma, A. (2018). Evolution and stabilization of subnanometric metal species in confined space by in situ TEM. Nature Communications, 9(1). doi:10.1038/s41467-018-03012-6Yan, W., Xi, S., Du, Y., Schreyer, M. K., Tan, S. X., Liu, Y., & Borgna, A. (2018). Heteroatomic Zn-MWW Zeolite Developed for Catalytic Dehydrogenation Reactions: A Combined Experimental and DFT Study. ChemCatChem, 10(14), 3078-3085. doi:10.1002/cctc.201800199De Graaf, J., van Dillen, A. ., de Jong, K. ., & Koningsberger, D. . (2001). Preparation of Highly Dispersed Pt Particles in Zeolite Y with a Narrow Particle Size Distribution: Characterization by Hydrogen Chemisorption, TEM, EXAFS Spectroscopy, and Particle Modeling. Journal of Catalysis, 203(2), 307-321. doi:10.1006/jcat.2001.3337Jentys, A. (1999). Estimation of mean size and shape of small metal particles by EXAFS. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 1(17), 4059-4063. doi:10.1039/a904654bLu, J., Serna, P., Aydin, C., Browning, N. D., & Gates, B. C. (2011). Supported Molecular Iridium Catalysts: Resolving Effects of Metal Nuclearity and Supports as Ligands. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 133(40), 16186-16195. doi:10.1021/ja206486jZhao, A., & Gates, B. C. (1996). Hexairidium Clusters Supported on γ-Al2O3:  Synthesis, Structure, and Catalytic Activity for Toluene Hydrogenation. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 118(10), 2458-2469. doi:10.1021/ja952996xNoei, H., Franz, D., Creutzburg, M., Müller, P., Krausert, K., Grånäs, E., … Stierle, A. 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Tailoring the Transport Properties of Mesoporous Doped Cerium Oxide for Energy Applications

Hard-template nanocasted mesoporous cerium oxide possesses a unique combination of thermal stability, high surface area, and short diffusion lengths for mass and gas transport, which makes it relevant for high-temperature catalysis, sensing, and electrochemical applications. Here, we present an in-depth study of a number of mesoporous doped ceria systems, and we assess their fundamental structure and functionalities by complementary transmission electron microscopy imaging and spectroscopy, electron tomography reconstructions, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. We employed surface chemical modifications for increasing the ionic conductivity of as-synthesized mesoporous Gd-doped ceria by 2 orders of magnitude, enabling the ionic pathway across mesoporous particles. Complementary bulk doping strategies (by the addition of Pr) result in the easy tuning of the electrical transport mechanisms converting pure ionic mesoporous ceria into a mixed ionic-electronic conductor. The results obtained here are rationalized in light of local charge accumulation and mobility effects, providing a potential tool for engineering transport properties in nanocasted ceria and similar nanostructured materials for use in energy applications in the form of functional composites, infiltrated structures, or catalytic layers

Key insights on the structural characterization of textured Er2O3–ZrO2 nano-oxides prepared by a surfactant-free solvothermal route

Zirconia-mixed oxides can exhibit cubic fluorite and pyrochlore structure. Their discrimination is not easy in nanooxides with a crystal size close to that of a few unit cells. In this work, high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) has been employed to provide key insights on the structural characterization of a nanometric and porous mixed Er2O3–ZrO2 oxide. The material was prepared by a simple template-free solvothermal route that provided nanocrystalline powders at low temperature (170 °C) with spherical morphology, and high surface area (∼280 m2 g−1). The porosity was mainly originated from the assembling of organic complexing agents used in the synthesis to limit the crystal growth and to control hydrolysis and condensation reaction rates. The samples were characterized by thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and N2 adsorption measurements. A detailed study by HRTEM was conducted on microtomed samples. It was observed that the material was made of nanocrystals packed into spherical agglomerates. HRTEM simulations indicated that it is not possible to identify the pyrochlore phase in nanoparticles with diameter below 2 nm. In our samples, the analysis of the HRTEM lattice images by means of fast Fourier transform (FFT) techniques revealed well defined spots that can be assigned to different planes of a cubic fluorite-type phase, even in the raw material. Raman spectroscopy was also a powerful technique to elucidate the crystalline phase of the materials with the smallest nanoparticles. HREM and Raman results evidenced that the material is constituted, irrespective of the temperature of the final calcination step, by an ensemble of randomly oriented nanocrystals with fluorite structure. This study opens new perspectives for the design of synthetic approaches to prepare nanooxides (fluorites and pyrochlores) and the analysis of their crystalline structure

Cobalt nanoclusters coated with N-doped carbon for chemoselective nitroarene hydrogenation and tandem reactions in water

[EN] The development of active and selective non-noble metal-based catalysts for the chemoselective reduction of nitro compounds in aquo media under mild conditions is an attractive research area. Herein, the synthesis of subnanometric and stable cobalt nanoclusters, covered by N-doped carbon layers as core shell (CoaNC-800), for the chemoselective reduction of nitroarenes is reported. The Co@NC-800 catalyst was prepared by the pyrolysis of the Co(tpy)(2) complex impregnated on Vulcan carbon. In fact, the use of a molecular complex based on six N-Co bonds drives the formation of a well-defined and distributed cobalt core-shell nanocluster covered by N-doped carbon layers. In order to elucidate its nature, it has been fully characterized by using several advanced techniques. in addition, this as-prepared catalyst showed high activity, chemoselectivity and stability toward the reduction of nitro compounds with H-2 and under mild reaction conditions; water was used as a green solvent, improving the previous results based on cobalt catalysts. Moreover, the Co@NC-800 catalyst is also active and selective for the one-pot synthesis of secondary aryl amines and isoindolinones through the reductive amination of nitroarenes. Finally, based on diffraction and spectroscopic studies, metallic cobalt nanoclusters with surface CoNx patches have been proposed as the active phase in the Co@NC-800 material.The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Spanish Government (RTI2018-096399-A-I00) and the Program Severo Ochoa SEV-2016-0683. S. G. T. is thankful to MINECO for her FPU Ph.D. contract FPU16/02117. P. O.-B. is thankful to MICCIN for his Ramon y Cajal contract RYC-2014-16620 and to UPV for the grant PAID-06-18/SP20180172 The High-Resolution STEM data were recorded at the DME-UCA node of the ELECMI ICTS Spanish National Infrastructure for Electron Microscopy of Materials. JJC acknowledges financial support from MINECO/FEDER (Project MAT2017-97579-R). C. W. L. acknowledges the Visiting Researcher Fellowship from PRH 50.1 - ANP/FINEP Human Resources Program (Brazil).Gutiérrez-Tarriño, S.; Rojas-Buzo, S.; Lopes, CW.; Agostini, G.; Calvino, JJ.; Corma Canós, A.; Oña-Burgos, P. (2021). Cobalt nanoclusters coated with N-doped carbon for chemoselective nitroarene hydrogenation and tandem reactions in water. Green Chemistry. 23(12):4490-4501. https://doi.org/10.1039/d1gc00706h44904501231

Regioselective generation and reactivity control of subnanometric platinum clusters in zeolites for high-temperature catalysis

[EN] Subnanometric metal species (single atoms and clusters) have been demonstrated to be unique compared with their nanoparticulate counterparts. However, the poor stabilization of subnanometric metal species towards sintering at high temperature (>500 degrees C) under oxidative or reductive reaction conditions limits their catalytic application. Zeolites can serve as an ideal support to stabilize subnanometric metal catalysts, but it is challenging to localize subnanometric metal species on specific sites and modulate their reactivity. We have achieved a very high preference for localization of highly stable subnanometric Pt and PtSn clusters in the sinusoidal channels of purely siliceous MFI zeolite, as revealed by atomically resolved electron microscopy combining high-angle annular dark-field and integrated differential phase contrast imaging techniques. These catalysts show very high stability, selectivity and activity for the industrially important dehydrogenation of propane to form propylene. This stabilization strategy could be extended to other crystalline porous materials.This work has been supported by the European Union through the European Research Council (grant ERC-AdG-2014-671093, SynCatMatch) and the Spanish government through the Severo Ochoa Programme (SEV-2016-0683). L.L. thanks ITQ for providing a contract. The authors also thank the Microscopy Service of UPV for the TEM and STEM measurements. The XAS measurements were carried out in CLAESS beamline at the ALBA synchrotron. HR STEM measurements were performed at DME-UCA in Cadiz University with financial support from FEDER/MINECO (MAT2017-87579-R and MAT2016-81118-P). A relevant patent application (European patent application No. 19382024.8) has been presented. C.W.L. thanks CAPES (Science without Frontiers-Process no. 13191/13-6) for a predoctoral fellowship.Liu, L.; Lopez-Haro, M.; Lopes, CW.; Li, C.; Concepción Heydorn, P.; Simonelli, L.; Calvino, JJ.... (2019). Regioselective generation and reactivity control of subnanometric platinum clusters in zeolites for high-temperature catalysis. Nature Materials. 18(8):866-875. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-019-0412-6S86687518