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An effective chemical way to optimize the oxygen electrocatalyst and Li‐O2 electrode functionalities of metal oxide can be developed by the control of chemical bond nature with the surface anchoring of highly oxidized selenate (SeO42−) clusters. The bond competition between (Se6+−O) and (Mn−O) bonds is quite effective in stabilizing Jahn–Teller‐active Mn3+ state and in increasing oxygen electron density of α‐MnO2 nanowire (NW). The selenate‐anchored α‐MnO2 NW shows excellent oxygen electrocatalytic activity and electrode performance for Li‐O2 batteries, which is due to the improved charge transfer kinetics and reversible formation/decomposition of Li2O2. The present study underscores that the surface anchoring of highly oxidized cluster can provide a facile, effective way of improving the oxygen electrocatalyst and electrochemical performances of nanostructured metal oxide in Li‐O2 cells. An effective method to optimize the oxygen electrocatalyst and Li‐O2 electrode performances of nanostructured manganese oxide involves controlling the bonding nature with SeO42− anchoring. The competition between Se6+−O and Mn−O bonds is effective in improving the electrocatalyst and electrode functionalities of α‐MnO2 nanowire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrocatalytic CO2 conversion into fuel is a prospective strategy for the sustainable energy production. However, still many parts of the catalyst such as low catalytic activity, selectivity, and stability are challenging. Herein, a hierarchical hexagonal Zn catalyst showed highly efficient and, more importantly, stable performance as an electrocatalyst for selectively producing CO. Moreover, we found that its high selectivity for CO is attributed to morphology. In electrochemical analysis, Zn (101) facet is favorable to CO formation whereas Zn (002) facet favors the H2 evolution during CO2 electrolysis. Indeed, DFT calculations showed that (101) facet lowers a reduction potential for CO2 to CO by more effectively stabilizing a .COOH intermediate than (002) facet. This further suggests that tuning the crystal structure to control (101)/(002) facet ratio of Zn can be considered as a key design principle to achieve a desirable product from Zn catalyst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A universal methodology to efficiently improve the photocatalyst performance of semiconductors was developed by employing exfoliated RuO2 two-dimensional nanosheets as a conducting hybridization matrix. The hybridization with a RuO2 nanosheet is easily achieved by crystal growth or electrostatically derived anchoring of semiconductor nanocrystals on the RuO2 nanosheet. An enhanced chemical interaction of inorganic semiconductor with hydrophilic RuO2 nanosheet is fairly effective in optimizing their photocatalytic activity and photostability by the enhancement of charge separation and charge mobility. The RuO2-containing nanohybrids show much better photocatalyst functionalities than do the graphene-containing ones. The present study clearly demonstrates that hydrophilic RuO2 nanosheets are superior hybridization matrices, over the widely used hydrophobic graphene nanosheets, for exploring new efficient hybrid-type photocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]