Defect-enriched iron fluoride-oxide nanoporous thin films bifunctional catalyst for water splitting

Developing cost-effective electrocatalysts operated in the same electrolyte for water splitting, including oxygen and hydrogen evolution reactions, is important for clean energy technology and devices. Defects in electrocatalysts strongly influence their chemical properties and electronic structures, and can dramatically improve electrocatalytic performance. However, the development of defect-activated electrocatalyst with an efficient and stable water electrolysis activity in alkaline medium remains a challenge, and the understanding of catalytic origin is still limited. Here, we highlight defect-enriched bifunctional eletrocatalyst, namely, three-dimensional iron fluoride-oxide nanoporous films, fabricated by anodization/fluorination process. The heterogeneous films with high electrical conductivity possess embedded disorder phases in crystalline lattices, and contain numerous scattered defects, including interphase boundaries, stacking faults, oxygen vacancies, and dislocations on the surfaces/interface. The heterocatalysts efficiently catalyze water splitting in basic electrolyte with remarkable stability. Experimental studies and first-principle calculations suggest that the surface/edge defects contribute significantly to their high performance

Defect-enriched iron fluoride-oxide nanoporous thin films bifunctional catalyst for water splitting

Developing cost-effective electrocatalysts operated in the same electrolyte for water splitting, including oxygen and hydrogen evolution reactions, is important for clean energy technology and devices. Defects in electrocatalysts strongly influence their chemical properties and electronic structures, and can dramatically improve electrocatalytic performance. However, the development of defect-activated electrocatalyst with an efficient and stable water electrolysis activity in alkaline medium remains a challenge, and the understanding of catalytic origin is still limited. Here, we highlight defect-enriched bifunctional eletrocatalyst, namely, three-dimensional iron fluoride-oxide nanoporous films, fabricated by anodization/fluorination process. The heterogeneous films with high electrical conductivity possess embedded disorder phases in crystalline lattices, and contain numerous scattered defects, including interphase boundaries, stacking faults, oxygen vacancies, and dislocations on the surfaces/interface. The heterocatalysts efficiently catalyze water splitting in basic electrolyte with remarkable stability. Experimental studies and first-principle calculations suggest that the surface/edge defects contribute significantly to their high performance

Thiol-addition reactions and their applications in thiol recognition

[EN] Because of the biological importance of thiols, the development of probes for thiols has been an active research area in recent years. In this review, we summarize the results of recent exciting reports regarding thiol-addition reactions and their applications in thiol recognition. The examples reported can be classified into four reaction types including 1,1, 1,2, 1,3, 1,4 addition reactions, according to their addition mechanisms, based on different Michael acceptors. In all cases, the reactions are coupled to color and/or emission changes, although some examples dealing with electrochemical recognition have also been included. The use of thiol-addition reactions is a very simple and straightforward procedure for the preparation of thiol-sensing probes.The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 21072119, 21102086), the Shanxi Province Science Foundation for Youths (no. 2012021009-4), the Shanxi Province Foundation for Returnee (no. 2012-007), the Taiyuan Technology star special (No. 12024703), the Shanxi Province Foundation for Selected Returnees (no. 2010), and CAS Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Living Biosystems Open Foundation (ACL201304). Financial support from the Spanish Government (project MAT2012-38429-C04-01) and the Generalitat Valencia (project PROMETEO/2009/016) is gratefully acknowledged.Yin, C.; Huo, F.; Zhang, J.; Martínez Mañez, R.; Yang, Y.; Lv, H.; Li, S. (2013). Thiol-addition reactions and their applications in thiol recognition. Chemical Society Reviews. 42(14):6032-6059. https://doi.org/10.1039/c3cs60055fS60326059421