Poly[(2‐methacryloyloxy)Ethyl]Trimethylammonium Chloride Supported Cobalt Oxide Nanoparticles as an Active Electrocatalyst for Efficient Oxygen Evolution Reaction

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Poly[(2-methacryloyloxy)Ethyl]Trimethylammonium Chloride Supported Cobalt Oxide Nanoparticles as an Active Electrocatalyst for Efficient Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Water splitting is viewed as a clean substitute for fossil fuels and as the most promising approach for quickly producing hydrogen fuel. The oxygen evolution process (OER), which yields oxygen as the sole byproduct at the anode of a water electrolyzer, also yields hydrogen at the cathode. In this work, we proposed a facile synthetic route to prepare a nanostructured Co-based material for OER via a simple chemical method.


Abstract

To combat with energy crisis considering clean energy, oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is crucial to implement electrolytic hydrogen fuel production in real life. Here, straightforward chemical synthesis pathways are followed to prepare cobalt tetraoxide nanoparticles (Co3O4NPs) in an alkaline OER process using poly[(2-methacryloyloxy)ethyl]trimethylammonium chloride (Co3O4NPs@PMTC) as support to prevent aggregation. In material characterization, the X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern confirms the crystallinity of the synthesized Co3O4NPs@PMTC, and Raman spectroscopy indicates that the Co3O4NPs contain cubic close-packed oxides. The morphological analysis reveals the wrinkle-like disruption which is distributed evenly owing to the folded nanosheet arrays. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy indicates the presence of a significant number of cobalt atoms in the Co3O4NPs, and elemental mapping analysis demonstrates the composition of the NPs. At a current density of 10 mA cm−2, oxygen is emitted at 1.67 V delivering an overpotential of 440 mV. This unique structure of Co3O4NPs@PMTC provides beneficial functions that are responsible for a large number of active sites and the rapid release of oxygen gas with long-term stability. Through kinetic study, we found a Tafel slope of 48.9 mV dec−1 which proves the catalytic behavior of Co3O4NPs@PMTC is promising toward the OER process.

At the limits of bisphosphonio‐substituted stannylenes

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At the limits of bisphosphonio-substituted stannylenes

Bisphosphoniostannylenes and plumbylenes have been embedded into [3]ferrocenophane scaffolds staying monomeric for the stannylenes and dimerice via halide bridges for the plumbylene. The compounds are dynamic in solution which can be suspended with weakly coordination anions.


Abstract

Donor stabilization of Sn(II) and Pb(II) halides with 1,1’-ferrocenylene bridged bisphosphanes has been explored for Fe(C5H4P(C6H5)2)2 (dppf), and Fe(C5H4PH(C4H9))2. These bisphosphanes are reacted with SnBr2 and PbCl2 with and without additional Lewis acid (AlCl3) forming acyclic and cyclic donor adducts from which the latter represent bisphosphoniotetrylenes. Since dynamic exchange in solution is observed, characterization includes solution and solid-state NMR in addition to SC-XRD, amended by DFT calculations.

REMP Initiators with an Unusual Ancillary Ligand

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Tethered tungsten-alkylidenes bearing azoimido ligands (M≡Nγ-Nβ=NαR) are synthesized, characterized, and tested as initiators for ring expansion metathesis polymerization (REMP). While these ligands are typically unstable and prone to dinitrogen loss, this work demonstrates that tethered alkylidene complexes bearing azoimido ligands are stable enough to be REMP initiators. Moreover, they are more efficient, long-lived, and stereoselective than their corresponding imido derivatives (M≡NR). Density Functional Theory (DFT) analysis of the azoimido complexes provides insight into their unusual stability.