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A simple and low-cost polymer-aided sol–gel method was developed to prepare γ-Al2O3 protective layers for LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2 (NCM622) cathode materials. The selected polyvinyl alcohol polymer additive not only facilitates the formation of a uniform and thin γ-Al2O3 layer on the irregular and rough cathode particle surface to protect it from corrosion but also serves as a pore-forming agent to generate micropores in the film after sintering to allow fast transport of lithium ions, which guaranteed the excellent and stable battery performance at high working voltage. Detailed studies in the full battery mode showed that the leached corrosion species from the cathode had a more profound harmful effect to the graphite anode, which seemed to be the dominating factor that caused the battery performance decay.

The catalytic activity of iron(II) complexes with functionalized amine-pyrazolyl tripodal ligands toward dimerization of terminal alkynes in the presence a base (KOtBu or NaOtBu) has been studied. An unusual E/Z selectivity of the reaction determined by tert-butoxide was observed.

Ni and NiSn supported on zirconia (ZrO2) and on indium (In)-incorporated zirconia (InZrO2) catalysts were prepared by a wet chemical reduction route and tested for hydrogenation of CO2 to methanol in a fixed-bed isothermal flow reactor at 250 °C. The mono-metallic Ni (5%Ni/ZrO2) catalysts showed a very high selectivity for methane (99%) during CO2 hydrogenation. Introduction of Sn to this material with the following formulation 5Ni5Sn/ZrO2 (5% Ni-5% Sn/ZrO2) showed the rate of methanol formation to be 0.0417 μmol/(gcat·s) with 54% selectivity. Furthermore, the combination NiSn supported on InZrO2 (5Ni5Sn/10InZrO2) exhibited a rate of methanol formation 10 times higher than that on 5Ni/ZrO2 (0.1043 μmol/(gcat·s)) with 99% selectivity for methanol. All of these catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, CO2-temperature-programmed desorption, and density functional theory (DFT) studies. Addition of Sn to Ni catalysts resulted in the formation of a NiSn alloy. The NiSn alloy particle size was kept in the range of 10–15 nm, which was evidenced by HRTEM study. DFT analysis was carried out to identify the surface composition as well as the structural location of each element on the surface in three compositions investigated, namely, Ni28Sn27, Ni18Sn37, and Ni37Sn18 bimetallic nanoclusters, and results were in agreement with the STEM and electron energy-loss spectroscopy results. Also, the introduction of “Sn” and “In” helped improve the reducibility of Ni oxide and the basic strength of catalysts. Considerable details of the catalytic and structural properties of the Ni, NiSn, and NiSnIn catalyst systems were elucidated. These observations were decisive for achieving a highly efficient formation rate of methanol via CO2 by the H2 reduction process with high methanol selectivity.

Nonoxidative dehydrogenation of methanol to methyl formate over a CuMgO-based catalyst was investigated. Although the active site is metallic copper (Cu0), the best reaction conditions were obtained by tuning the ratio of Cu/Mg and doping the catalyst with 1 wt % of Pd to achieve a very specific activity for methyl formate synthesis. On the basis of the CO2 temperature-programmed desorption study, the basic strength of the catalyst plays a role in the efficient conversion of methanol to methyl formate via dehydrogenation. These CuMgO-based catalysts show excellent thermal stability during the reaction and the regeneration processes. Approx. 80% methanol conversion with constant selectivity to methyl formate was achieved even after 4 rounds of usage for a total reaction time exceeding 200 h, indicative of their potential for practical applications.