| 1. |
- Abrashev, Miroslav V., et al.
(författare)
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Origin of the heat-induced improvement of catalytic activity and stability of MnOx electrocatalysts for water oxidation
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of Materials Chemistry A. - : ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY. - 2050-7488 .- 2050-7496. ; 7:28, s. 17022-17036
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Catalysis of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) by earth-abundant materials in the near-neutral pH regime is of great interest as it is the key reaction for non-fossil fuel production. To address the pertinent stability problems and insufficiently understood structure-activity relations, we investigate the influence of moderate annealing (100-300 degrees C for 20 min) for two types of electrodeposited Mn oxide films with contrasting properties. Upon annealing, the originally inactive and structurally well-ordered Oxide 1 of birnessite type became as OER active as the non-heated Oxide 2, which has a highly disordered atomic structure. Oxide 2 also improved its activity upon heating, but more important is the stability improvement: the operation time increased by about two orders of magnitude (in 0.1 M KPi at pH 7). Aiming at atomistic understanding, electrochemical methods including quantitative analysis of impedance spectra, X-ray spectroscopy (XANES and EXAFS), and adapted optical spectroscopies (infrared, UV-vis and Raman) identified structure-reactivity relations. Oxide structures featuring both di-mu-oxo bridged Mn ions and (close to) linear mono-mu-oxo Mn3+-O-Mn4+ connectivity seem to be a prerequisite for OER activity. The latter motif likely stabilizes Mn3+ ions at higher potentials and promotes electron/hole hopping, a feature related to electrical conductivity and reflected in the strongly accelerated rates of Mn oxidation and O-2 formation. Poor charge mobility, which may result from a low level of Mn3+ ions at high potentials, likely promotes inactivation after prolonged operation. Oxide structures related to the perovskite-like zeta-Mn2O3 were formed after the heating of Oxide 2 and could favour stabilization of Mn ions in oxidation states lower than +4. This rare phase was previously found only at high pressure (20 GPa) and temperature (1200 degrees C) and this is the first report where it was stable under ambient conditions.
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| 2. |
- Behrouzi, Leila, et al.
(författare)
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Electrochemical alcohols oxidation mediated by N-hydroxyphthalimide on nickel foam surface
- 2020
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322. ; 10:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Alcohol to aldehyde conversion is a critical reaction in the industry. Herein, a new electrochemical method is introduced that converts 1 mmol of alcohols to aldehydes and ketones in the presence of N-hydroxyphthalimide (NHPI, 20 mol%) as a mediator; this conversion is achieved after 8.5 h at room temperature using a piece of Ni foam (1.0 cm2) and without adding an extra-base or a need for high temperature. Using this method, 10 mmol (1.08 g) of benzyl alcohol was also successfully oxidized to benzaldehyde (91%) without any by-products. This method was also used to oxidize other alcohols with high yield and selectivity. In the absence of a mediator, the surface of the nickel foam provided oxidation products at the lower yield. After the reaction was complete, nickel foam (anode) was characterized by a combination of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and spectroelectrochemistry, which pointed to the formation of nickel oxide on the surface of the electrode. On the other hand, using other electrodes such as Pt, Cu, Fe, and graphite resulted in a low yield for the alcohol to aldehyde conversion.
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| 3. |
- Bhowmick, Asmit, et al.
(författare)
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Going around the Kok cycle of the water oxidation reaction with femtosecond X-ray crystallography
- 2023
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Ingår i: IUCrJ. - : International Union Of Crystallography. - 2052-2525. ; 10:6, s. 642-655
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- The water oxidation reaction in photosystem II (PS II) produces most of the molecular oxygen in the atmosphere, which sustains life on Earth, and in this process releases four electrons and four protons that drive the downstream process of CO2 fixation in the photosynthetic apparatus. The catalytic center of PS II is an oxygen-bridged Mn4Ca complex (Mn4CaO5) which is progressively oxidized upon the absorption of light by the chlorophyll of the PS II reaction center, and the accumulation of four oxidative equivalents in the catalytic center results in the oxidation of two waters to dioxygen in the last step. The recent emergence of X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) with intense femtosecond X-ray pulses has opened up opportunities to visualize this reaction in PS II as it proceeds through the catalytic cycle. In this review, we summarize our recent studies of the catalytic reaction in PS II by following the structural changes along the reaction pathway via room-temperature X-ray crystallography using XFELs. The evolution of the electron density changes at the Mn complex reveals notable structural changes, including the insertion of OX from a new water molecule, which disappears on completion of the reaction, implicating it in the O-O bond formation reaction. We were also able to follow the structural dynamics of the protein coordinating with the catalytic complex and of channels within the protein that are important for substrate and product transport, revealing well orchestrated conformational changes in response to the electronic changes at the Mn4Ca cluster.
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| 4. |
- Bhowmick, Asmit, et al.
(författare)
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Structural evidence for intermediates during O2 formation in photosystem II
- 2023
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Nature. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 617:7961, s. 629-636
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In natural photosynthesis, the light-driven splitting of water into electrons, protons and molecular oxygen forms the first step of the solar-to-chemical energy conversion process. The reaction takes place in photosystem II, where the Mn4CaO5 cluster first stores four oxidizing equivalents, the S0 to S4 intermediate states in the Kok cycle, sequentially generated by photochemical charge separations in the reaction center and then catalyzes the O–O bond formation chemistry. Here, we report room temperature snapshots by serial femtosecond X-ray crystallography to provide structural insights into the final reaction step of Kok’s photosynthetic water oxidation cycle, the S3→[S4]→S0 transition where O2 is formed and Kok’s water oxidation clock is reset. Our data reveal a complex sequence of events, which occur over micro- to milliseconds, comprising changes at the Mn4CaO5 cluster, its ligands and water pathways as well as controlled proton release through the hydrogen-bonding network of the Cl1 channel. Importantly, the extra O atom Ox, which was introduced as a bridging ligand between Ca and Mn1 during the S2→S3 transition, disappears or relocates in parallel with Yz reduction starting at approximately 700 μs after the third flash. The onset of O2 evolution, as indicated by the shortening of the Mn1–Mn4 distance, occurs at around 1,200 μs, signifying the presence of a reduced intermediate, possibly a bound peroxide.
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| 5. |
- Boniolo, Manuel, et al.
(författare)
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Electronic and geometric structure effects on one-electron oxidation of first-row transition metals in the same ligand framework
- 2021
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Ingår i: Dalton Transactions. - : Royal Society of Chemistry. - 1477-9226 .- 1477-9234. ; 50:2, s. 660-674
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Developing new transition metal catalysts requires understanding of how both metal and ligand properties determine reactivity. Since metal complexes bearing ligands of the Py5 family (2,6-bis-[(2-pyridyl)methyl] pyridine) have been employed in many fields in the past 20 years, we set out here to understand their redox properties by studying a series of base metal ions (M = Mn, Fe, Co, and Ni) within the Py5OH (pyridine-2,6-diylbis[di-(pyridin-2-yl)methanol]) variant. Both reduced (M-II) and the one-electron oxidized (M-III) species were carefully characterized using a combination of X-ray crystallography, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and density-functional theory calculations. The observed metal-ligand interactions and electrochemical properties do not always follow consistent trends along the periodic table. We demonstrate that this observation cannot be explained by only considering orbital and geometric relaxation, and that spin multiplicity changes needed to be included into the DFT calculations to reproduce and understand these trends. In addition, exchange reactions of the sixth ligand coordinated to the metal, were analysed. Finally, by including published data of the extensively characterised Py5OMe (pyridine-2,6-diylbis[di-(pyridin-2-yl)methoxymethane])complexes, the special characteristics of the less common Py5OH ligand were extracted. This comparison highlights the non-innocent effect of the distal OH functionalization on the geometry, and consequently on the electronic structure of the metal complexes. Together, this gives a complete analysis of metal and ligand degrees of freedom for these base metal complexes, while also providing general insights into how to control electrochemical processes of transition metal complexes.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Boniolo, Manuel, et al.
(författare)
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Spin transition in a ferrous chloride complex supported by a pentapyridine ligand
- 2020
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Ingår i: Chemical Communications. - : Royal Society of Chemistry. - 1359-7345 .- 1364-548X. ; 56:18, s. 2703-2706
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ferrous chloride complexes [FeIILxCl] commonly attain a high-spin state independently of the supporting ligand(s) and temperature. Herein, we present the first report of a complete spin crossover with T1/2 = 80 K in [FeII(Py5OH)Cl]+ (Py5OH = pyridine-2,6-diylbis[di(pyridin-2-yl)methanol]). Both spin forms of the complex are analyzed by X-ray spectroscopy and DFT calculations.
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| 8. |
- Boniolo, Manuel, et al.
(författare)
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Water Oxidation by Pentapyridyl Base Metal Complexes? : A Case Study
- 2022
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Ingår i: Inorganic Chemistry. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0020-1669 .- 1520-510X. ; 61:24, s. 9104-9118
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The design of molecular water oxidation catalysts (WOCs) requires a rational approach that considers the intermediate steps of the catalytic cycle, including water binding, deprotonation, storage of oxidizing equivalents, O–O bond formation, and O2 release. We investigated several of these properties for a series of base metal complexes (M = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni) bearing two variants of a pentapyridyl ligand framework, of which some were reported previously to be active WOCs. We found that only [Fe(Py5OMe)Cl]+ (Py5OMe = pyridine-2,6-diylbis[di-(pyridin-2-yl)methoxymethane]) showed an appreciable catalytic activity with a turnover number (TON) = 130 in light-driven experiments using the [Ru(bpy)3]2+/S2O82– system at pH 8.0, but that activity is demonstrated to arise from the rapid degradation in the buffered solution leading to the formation of catalytically active amorphous iron oxide/hydroxide (FeOOH), which subsequently lost the catalytic activity by forming more extensive and structured FeOOH species. The detailed analysis of the redox and water-binding properties employing electrochemistry, X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), UV–vis spectroscopy, and density-functional theory (DFT) showed that all complexes were able to undergo the MIII/MII oxidation, but none was able to yield a detectable amount of a MIV state in our potential window (up to +2 V vs SHE). This inability was traced to (i) the preference for binding Cl– or acetonitrile instead of water-derived species in the apical position, which excludes redox leveling via proton coupled electron transfer, and (ii) the lack of sigma donor ligands that would stabilize oxidation states beyond MIII. On that basis, design features for next-generation molecular WOCs are suggested.
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| 9. |
- Cheah, Mun Hon, et al.
(författare)
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Electrochemical oxidation of ferricyanide
- 2021
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Nature. - 2045-2322. ; 11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report the electrochemical oxidation of ferricyanide, [Fe-III(CN)(6)](3-) and characterised the oxidation product by in-situ FTIR and XAS spectroelectrochemistry methods. Oxidation of [Fe-III(CN)(6)](3-) is proposed to proceed via a tentative Fe(IV) intermediate that undergoes reduction elimination to give cis-[Fe-III(CN)(4)(CH3CN)(2)](1-) as stable product in acetonitrile. Speciation of the oxidation product by DFT calculations is underpinned by good agreement to experimental data.
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| 10. |
- Chernev, Petko, et al.
(författare)
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Light-driven formation of manganese oxide by today's photosystem II supports evolutionarily ancient manganese-oxidizing photosynthesis
- 2020
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Springer Nature. - 2041-1723. ; 11:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Water oxidation and concomitant dioxygen formation by the manganese-calcium cluster of oxygenic photosynthesis has shaped the biosphere, atmosphere, and geosphere. It has been hypothesized that at an early stage of evolution, before photosynthetic water oxidation became prominent, light-driven formation of manganese oxides from dissolved Mn(2+) ions may have played a key role in bioenergetics and possibly facilitated early geological manganese deposits. Here we report the biochemical evidence for the ability of photosystems to form extended manganese oxide particles. The photochemical redox processes in spinach photosystem-II particles devoid of the manganese-calcium cluster are tracked by visible-light and X-ray spectroscopy. Oxidation of dissolved manganese ions results in high-valent Mn(III, IV)-oxide nanoparticles of the birnessite type bound to photosystem II, with 50-100 manganese ions per photosystem. Having shown that even today's photosystem II can form birnessite-type oxide particles efficiently, we propose an evolutionary scenario, which involves manganese-oxide production by ancestral photosystems, later followed by downsizing of protein-bound manganese-oxide nanoparticles to finally yield today's catalyst of photosynthetic water oxidation.
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