Impurity Ion Complexation Enhances Carbon Dioxide Reduction Catalysis

Herein, we show that group 11 CO[subscript 2] reduction catalysts are rapidly poisoned by progressive deposition of trace metal ion impurities present in high purity electrolytes. Metal impurity deposition was characterized by XPS and in situ stripping voltammetry and is coincident with loss of catalytic activity and selectivity for CO[subscript 2] reduction, favoring hydrogen evolution on poisoned surfaces. Metal deposition can be suppressed by complexing trace metal ion impurities with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid or solid-supported iminodiacetate resins. Metal ion complexation allows for reproducible, sustained catalytic activity and selectivity for CO[subscript 2] reduction on Au, Ag, and Cu electrodes. Together, this study establishes the principal mode by which group 11 CO[subscript 2] reduction catalysts are poisoned and lays out a general approach for extending the lifetime of electrocatalysts subject to impurity metal deposition.MIT Energy Initiative (Saudi Aramco, research agreement)United States. Air Force Office of Scientific Research (Award FA9550-15-1-0135)Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemistry (Junior Faculty Funds)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Predoctoral Fellowship)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (MIT MRSEC Program, award number DMR-0819762

Ion-Transfer Voltammetric Behavior of Propranolol at Nanoscale Liquid-Liquid Interface Arrays

In this work, the ion-transfer voltammetric detection of the protonated β-blocker propranolol was explored at arrays of nanoscale interfaces between two immiscible electrolyte solutions (ITIES). Silicon nitride nanoporous membranes with 400 pores in a hexagonal arrangement, with either 50 or 17 nm radius pores, were used to form regular arrays of nanoITIES. It was found that the aqueous-to-organic ion-transfer current continuously increased steadily rather than reaching a limiting current plateau after the ion-transfer wave; the slope of this limiting current region was concentration dependent and associated with the high ion flux at the nanointerfaces. Electrochemical data were examined in terms of an independent nanointerface approach and an equivalent microdisc approach, supported by finite element simulation. In comparison to the larger interface configuration (50 nm radius), the array of 17 nm radius nanoITIES exhibited a 6.5-times higher current density for propranolol detection due to the enhanced ion flux arising from the convergent diffusion to smaller electrochemical interfaces. Both nanoITIES arrays achieved the equivalent limits of detection, 0.8 μM, using cyclic voltammetry. Additionally, the effect of scan rate on the charging and faradaic currents at these nanoITIES arrays, as well as their stability over time, was investigated. The results demonstrate that arrays of nanoscale liquid–liquid interfaces can be applied to study electrochemical drug transfer, and provide the basis for the development of miniaturized and integrated detection platforms for drug analysis

Redox-controlled potassium intercalation into two polyaromatic hydrocarbon solids

Alkali metal intercalation into polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) has been studied intensely after reports of superconductivity in a number of potassium- and rubidium-intercalated materials. There are, however, no reported crystal structures to inform our understanding of the chemistry and physics because of the complex reactivity of PAHs with strong reducing agents at high temperature. Here we present the synthesis of crystalline K2Pentacene and K2Picene by a solid–solid insertion protocol that uses potassium hydride as a redox-controlled reducing agent to access the PAH dianions, and so enables the determination of their crystal structures. In both cases, the inserted cations expand the parent herringbone packings by reorienting the molecular anions to create multiple potassium sites within initially dense molecular layers, and thus interact with the PAH anion π systems. The synthetic and crystal chemistry of alkali metal intercalation into PAHs differs from that into fullerenes and graphite, in which the cation sites are pre-defined by the host structure

Electrochemical half-reaction-assisted sub-bandgap photon sensing in a graphene hybrid phsotodetector

The photogating effect has been previously utilized to realize ultra-high photoresponsivity in a semiconductor-graphene hybrid photodetector. However, the spectral response of the graphene hybrid photodetector was limited by the bandgap of the incorporated semiconductor, which partially compromised the broadband absorption of graphene. Here, we show that this limitation can be overcome in principle by harnessing the electron-accepting ability of the electrochemical half-reaction. In our new graphene phototransistor, the electrochemical half-reaction serves as an effective reversible electron reservoir to accept the photoexcited hot electron from graphene, which promotes the sub-bandgap photosensitivity in a silver chloride (AgCl)-graphene photodetector. The photoconductive gain of ~ 3 × 109 electrons per photon in the AgCl-graphene hybrid is favored by the long lifetime of photoexcited carriers in the chemically reversible redox couple of AgCl/Ag0, enabling a significant visible light (400–600 nm) responsivity that is far beyond the band-edge absorption of AgCl. This work not only presents a new strategy to achieve an electrically tunable sub-bandgap photoresponse in semiconductor-graphene heterostructures but also provides opportunities for utilizing the electrochemical half reaction in other two-dimensional systems and optoelectronic devices.published_or_final_versio