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Chemistry has always had a central role in the provision of food and energy, materials and medicines. Recent years have increasingly seen chemistry research move towards environmentally friendly, sustainable products and processes.
This collection page was originally created for the 2018 Gordon Research Conference on Green chemistry where the focus was the development of sustainable means for the provision of food, energy and water.
This protocol combines shell-isolated nanoparticle-enhanced Raman spectroscopy and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations to unravel the directional molecular features of interfacial water, enabling a better understanding of electrocatalysis.
The hole-mediated oxidation reaction controls the rate of hydrogen production from water. Currently, associated challenges of wasted holes and the consequential chemical effects have placed the greatest bottleneck in photocatalytic hydrogen production. This Review provides a critical assessment of the hole and its related phenomena in solar hydrogen production.
The discovery of robust and efficient water oxidation catalysts based on first-row transition metal complexes is still a challenge. Here, we describe the underlying chemistry related to the deactivation pathways of first-row transition metal complexes and put forward a series of principles and basic checks to enable the development of robust catalysts.
Microenvironment engineering through electrolyte optimization is a promising approach to mitigate catalyst poisoning effects in electrochemical systems, but the role of electrolyte anions is not fully understood. Here, in a combined experimental-theoretical evaluation, the authors study the effects of different acidic electrolytes (pH 1) on platinum for hydrogen (HER/HOR) and oxygen electrocatalysis (ORR/OER), finding that oxygen reduction performance can be improved 4-fold using nitric rather than sulfuric acid.
Polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolysis is more efficient than its alkaline counterpart, but its implementation, in part, hinges on developing Earth-abundant catalysts that are active and stable for the oxygen evolution reaction in acid. Now, it is shown that incorporating Mn into Co3O4 substantially extends the catalyst lifetime in acidic electrolyte while maintaining the activity.
In photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells, water oxidation to O2, when coupled to CO2 reduction, typically requires a pair of light absorbers or an applied bias voltage. Now, a bias-free PEC cell with a single sunlight absorber drives simultaneous CO2 reduction to give formate, and the oxidation of an organic substrate in aqueous conditions.
A versatile solar-driven hybrid photoelectrochemical platform has been developed for the simultaneous conversion of greenhouse gas CO2 and waste plastics into value-added fuels and chemicals with high efficiency and selectivity.
The activation of CO2 for catalytic carboxylation of alkenes is mainly limited to two-electron processes. Now, a visible-light photocatalytic single-electron transfer reduction of CO2 is reported leading to the key intermediate CO2•−, which allows carboxylation of unactivated aliphatic alkenes.
Integrated electro-biocatalytic systems based on immobilization have been limited by low maximum current density. Here, the authors present spatially separated electrocatalytic CO2 fixation to acetic acid with high activity, as feedstock for fermentation by genetically engineered yeast to produce complex bioproducts including glucose and fatty acids.
The relationship between product selectivity and catalyst structure under dynamic reaction conditions has proved difficult to interpret in electrocatalytic CO2 reduction. Here, the authors combine operando X-ray techniques with high time resolution to investigate control over product selectivity using potential pulses.
The electrochemical production of ethylene oxide from CO2 is an attractive yet challenging process. Now, a BaOx/IrO2 catalyst for ethylene oxidation is reported and applied in an O2-redox-mediated paired system for complete CO2 to ethylene oxide production.
Chemicals and fuels can be generated from CO2 via electrolysers that employ gas diffusion electrodes (GDEs). In this Review, the authors consider promising catalysts and reactors—and how these fail—to identify key advances and remaining gaps in the development of industrially relevant GDE-based CO2 electrolysers.
The valorization of undesirable substrates offers a two-fold strategy for pollution remediation and renewable energy conversion. Here, authors demonstrate the scavenging of Ni from electroplating wastewater and subsequent utilization as materials for photothermal CO2 reduction.
Heavy rare earth elements are critical for modern technological applications, including renewable energy technologies, but their extraction can have disastrous environmental impacts. Employing electrokinetic mining techniques can increase recovery efficiency while reducing harmful environmental consequences.
Biomass and plastic share structural similarities in their composition and types of bond linkage between their monomeric units. Reviewing their catalytic conversion technologies in a unified angle provides new insights and opportunities for future advances.
Sustainable polymers are materials derived from renewable, recycle and waste sources that are themselves able to be recycled, biodegraded or composted. Mohanty et al. discuss the synthetic strategies for creating sustainable polymers and assessing their utility and end-of-life potential.
Kevin Wyss and colleagues report the flash synthesis of graphene from end-of-life vehicle plastic waste. A polyurethane/flash graphene composite is also re-flashed back into more graphene. A life cycle assessment suggests environmental benefits compared to other graphene synthetic routes.
The combined process of biomass pyrolysis and in-line catalytic steam reforming is a promising alternative for the selective production of hydrogen from renewable sources. In this Primer, Lopez et al. outline the main factors influencing hydrogen production, from reactor configurations and operating conditions to product analysis and catalyst development.
If chemistry is to contribute effectively to the development of a more sustainable world, it is essential that it is taught within a broader socioeconomic and ecological context.
MOF-303 is a promising water-harvesting sorbent that can take up water at low relative humidity and release it under mild heating. This metal–organic framework can be made at different scales using the four green synthetic methods described in this protocol.
Direct carbonization of zeolitic imidazolate framework-type metal-organic frameworks, as described in this protocol, results in nanoporous carbons that can be used for diverse electrochemical applications.
This Review summarizes advanced photocatalytic systems for value-added chemical production from renewable biomass, with specific attention on the efficient strategies for controlling the generation of key radical intermediates and their subsequent conversion towards desired chemicals.
Laboratories have a large environmental impact, with high levels of resource consumption and waste generation. In this article, the author discusses some of the actionable strategies that can bring real and impactful improvements, encompassing education, community engagement and the adoption of best practices by researchers. Building a global culture of sustainability in science will be crucial to reducing the carbon footprint of laboratories.
The pulp and paper industry produces approximately 50 million metric tons of lignin per year as a waste product. Here, lignin is shown to act as a photocatalyst for the solar-driven synthesis of hydrogen peroxide from H2O and O2 under visible light. Coupling this photocatalytic process with unspecific peroxygenases enables the enantioselective oxyfunctionalization of C–H bonds.
For microbial industrial lignin conversion, a key challenge is to overcome rate-limiting steps in the upper pathways of aromatic catabolism. This Review discusses the critical enzymatic reactions of aromatic O-demethylation, decarboxylation and hydroxylation for lignin valorization via biological funnelling.
Environmentally friendly binders for energy materials may improve sustainability, but can suffer from poor performance. Here a gel derived from graphene oxide and starch is used as a hybrid binder for supercapacitors, providing good rate performance and stability over 17,000 cycles.