Electrocatalytic NO Reduction to NH₃ on Mo₂C Nanosheets

Electrocatalytic reduction of NO to NH3 (NORR) emerges as a promising route for achieving harmful NO treatment and sustainable NH3 generation. In this work, we first report that Mo2C is an active and selective NORR catalyst. The developed Mo2C nanosheets deliver a high NH3 yield rate of 122.7 μmol h–1 cm–2 with an NH3 Faradaic efficiency of 86.3% at −0.4 V. Theoretical computations unveil that the surface-terminated Mo atoms on Mo2C can effectively activate NO, promote protonation energetics, and suppress proton adsorption, resulting in high NORR activity and selectivity of Mo2C

Tuning the Physical and Chemical Properties of 2D InSe with Interstitial Boron Doping: A First-Principles Study

InSe monolayer is a new two-dimensional (2D) material with unique geometric configuration. Its crystal structure has a large atom interval, significantly different from those of graphene and MoS₂, two typical 2D materials. This structural characteristic may facilitate interstitial doping, which is obviously impossible in graphene and MoS₂. In this work, first-principles calculations are employed to study the effects of interstitial doping of boron atoms on the electronic and magnetic properties of InSe monolayer. For comparison, substitutional doping is also studied with In replaced by boron. It is found that interstitial doping can induce spin-polarized state and nonzero local magnetic moments. In order to investigate the effects of doping contents on electronic structures and magnetism, three dopant concentrations (6.25%, 12.5%, 25%) are taken into account. For interstitial doping, with increasing the B contents, the local magnetic moments first emerge and then disappear, corresponding to the nonmonotonic doping-content dependence. For substitutional doping, no local magnetic moments are observed with any doping contents. These results show that B-doping-induced magnetism strongly depends on the doping methods and doping contents in the InSe monolayer. The reasons leading to the doping behaviors are discussed in detail. This work opens up an alternative way for tuning the physical and chemical properties of 2D InSe material, and would be helpful for future InSe-based spintronics devices

Three New Dimers and Two Monomers of Phenolic Amides from the Fruits of Lycium barbarum and Their Antioxidant Activities

The aims of this study were to complement the current knowledge on the antioxidative composition of alcohol extracts from the fruits of Lycium barbarum and to evaluate their antioxidant activities. Three new dimers of phenolic amides, named lyciumamides A (<b>3</b>), B (<b>4</b>), and C (<b>5</b>), together with two monomers, <i>N</i>-<i>E</i>-coumaroyl tyramine (<b>1)</b> and <i>N</i>-<i>E</i>-feruloyl tyramine (<b>2</b>), were isolated from the fruits for the first time with the help of activity-guided chromatography. Compounds <b>1</b>–<b>5</b> were evaluated for their antioxidant activities in scavenging 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl free radical and inhibiting lipid peroxidation in rat liver microsomes induced by ascorbate/Fe²⁺, cumine hydroperoxide, or CCl₄/reduced form of nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide phosphate, and the results showed that all of them exhibited strong activities, whereas compounds <b>1</b> and <b>2</b> were more potent than the reference <i>tert</i>-butyl-4-hydroxyanisole