Amazing stuff! Good news! I don't think we have enough CO2 in the atmosphere! Just kidding!
Remember, atmospheric CO2 is mostly alarmism and hysteria!
"A rare copper nanocluster has been synthesised that behaves as a ‘superatom’. The Chinese team hopes it will unlock copper’s long-promised potential for sustainable carbon-to-fuel chemistry, turning carbon dioxide into valuable chemicals. ...
designed a protective shell of organic ligands that bind tightly to the cluster, locking the atoms into a stable arrangement. The result is a new cluster, [Cu45H6(C≡CR)18(OAc)15] (or Cu45 for short).
‘It is resistant to heat, oxidation and reduction, as well as acidic and basic conditions,’ ... ‘and survives longer than any other Cu(0)-based cluster known to date.’ Cu45’s ‘ultrastability’ is thanks to its electronic structure, which features a large energy gap that makes it far less prone to oxidation.
The team also tested Cu₄₅ as an electrocatalyst, finding that it converts carbon dioxide into multi-carbon products such as ethylene, ethanol and acetic acid with a high Faradaic efficiency. ..."
From the abstract:
"Atomically coinage metal nanoclusters are highly attractive for various applications including catalysis, photochemistry, and energy conversion. While Cu nanoclusters are low cost, their development has lagged behind that of Au and Ag counterparts due to their inherent instability primarily caused by the low Cu(I)/Cu(0) reduction potential. Therefore, the synthesis of stable Cu(0)-containing nanoclusters remains a formidable challenge.
Herein, we report the first 6-electron superatomic copper nanocluster, [Cu45H6(C≡CR)18(OAc)15] (Cu45). This cluster has remarkable stability, being resistant to thermal, oxidative, reductive, acidic, and basic treatments. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis and time-dependent DFT calculations reveal that the outstanding stability of Cu45 is attributed to its superatomic electronic configuration (1S21P4) and strong copper–ligand interactions.
Furthermore, Cu45 is the first well-defined Cu superatom electrocatalyst used for CO2-to-C2H4 electrocatalysis, which exhibits outstanding performance with a maximum Faradaic efficiency for C2+ products of 81.8% (58% for ethene), surpassing all known copper cluster catalysts.
In situ ATR-SEIRAS and theoretical calculations reveal that Cu45 effectively activates CO2 and promotes C–C coupling, thereby facilitating the formation of C2+ products. This work provides new insights into the design of robust Cu nanoclusters for electrocatalytic applications, enabling their broader application in future research and technology development."
Ultrastable Copper Superatom (no public access)
Space-filling model of the Cu45 superatom
The molecular structure of the Cu45 superatom
No comments:
Post a Comment