Photo/electrocatalysis and photosensitization using metal nanoclusters for green energy and medical applications

Owing to the rapidly increasing demand for sustainable technologies in fields such as energy, environmental science, and medicine, nanomaterial-based photo/electrocatalysis has received increasing attention. Recently, synthetic innovations have allowed the fabrication of atomically precise metal nanoclusters (NCs). These NCs show potential for green energy and medical applications. The present article primarily focuses on evaluation of the recent developments in the photo/electrocatalytic and photosensitizing characteristics of metal and alloy NCs. The review comprises two sections: (i) photo/electrocatalysis for green energy and (ii) photosensitization for biomedical therapy applications. Finally, the challenges associated with the use of metal NCs are presented on the basis of current developments.

How Does the Oxidation State of Palladium Surfaces Affect the Reactivity and Selectivity of Direct Synthesis of Hydrogen Peroxide from Hydrogen and Oxygen Gases? A Density Functional Study

Direct synthesis of H₂O₂ from H₂ and O₂ is an environmentally benign and atom economic process and as such is the ideal pathway in catalysis. However, currently no low-cost pathway of this kind of catalysis exists, although it would be an attractive alternative strategy to the common industrial anthraquinone method for H₂O₂ production. Metal-based catalysts are widely employed in such a direct synthesis process but often need to be oxidized, alloyed, or supplied with additives to make them selective. To understand the metal-oxidation state in heterogeneous catalysis, we studied the selective oxidation of hydrogen by molecular oxygen on Pd(111) and PdO(101) surfaces, leading to either H₂O₂ or H₂O products. Our results demonstrate, for the first time, that the oxidized PdO(101) surface clearly shows better performance and selectivity, as compared to the reduced Pd(111) one. The activation barrier on the oxidized Pd surface is ca. 0.2 eV lower than the one on the reduced Pd surface. On the oxidized surface, the H₂O₂ synthesis route is preferred, while, on the reduced surface, the H₂O route is predominant. The decomposition of H₂O₂ is also greatly inhibited on the oxidized surface. We analyzed the different pathways in detail through thermochemical cycles, which establishes that the oxidized surface shows weaker adsorption ability toward the reagents O₂ and H₂, the key intermediate OOH, and also the product H₂O₂ in comparison with the Pd(111) surface, which we believe affect the selectivity. The work presented here clearly shows that the oxidation state of metal surfaces is one of the most important factors that tunes the catalysis of a chemical reaction and can affect the selectivity and reaction patterns dramatically.

A novel ring-shaped reaction pathway with interconvertible intermediates in chitinase A as revealed by QM/MM simulation combined with a one-dimensional projection technique

Efficient sampling achieved by the use of a one-dimensional projection technique reveals the catalytic mechanism of chitinase A from Serratia marcescens.

Theoretical Studies on the Direct Propylene Epoxidation Using Gold-Based Catalysts: A Mini-Review

Direct propylene epoxidation using Au-based catalysts is an important gas-phase reaction and is clearly a promising route for the future industrial production of propylene oxide (PO). For instance, gold nanoparticles or clusters that consist of a small number of atoms demonstrate unique and even unexpected properties, since the high ratio of surface to bulk atoms can provide new reaction pathways with lower activation barriers. Support materials can have a remarkable effect on Au nanoparticles or clusters due to charge transfer. Moreover, Au (or Au-based alloy, such as Au–Pd) can be loaded on supports to form active interfacial sites (or multiple interfaces). Model studies are needed to help probe the underlying mechanistic aspects and identify key factors controlling the activity and selectivity. The current theoretical/computational progress on this system is reviewed with respect to the molecular- and catalyst-level aspects (e.g., first-principles calculations and kinetic modeling) of propylene epoxidation over Au-based catalysts. This includes an analysis of H2 and O2 adsorption, H2O2 (OOH) species formation, epoxidation of propylene into PO, as well as possible byproduct formation. These studies have provided a better understanding of the nature of the active centers and the dominant reaction mechanisms, and thus, could potentially be used to design novel catalysts with improved efficiency.

Metadynamics for training neural network model chemistries: A competitive assessment

Neural network model chemistries (NNMCs) promise to facilitate the accurate exploration of chemical space and simulation of large reactive systems. One important path to improving these models is to add layers of physical detail, especially long-range forces. At short range, however, these models are data driven and data limited. Little is systematically known about how data should be sampled, and "test data" chosen randomly from some sampling techniques can provide poor information about generality. If the sampling method is narrow, "test error" can appear encouragingly tiny while the model fails catastrophically elsewhere. In this manuscript, we competitively evaluate two common sampling methods: molecular dynamics (MD), normal-mode sampling, and one uncommon alternative, Metadynamics (MetaMD), for preparing training geometries. We show that MD is an inefficient sampling method in the sense that additional samples do not improve generality. We also show that MetaMD is easily implemented in any NNMC software package with cost that scales linearly with the number of atoms in a sample molecule. MetaMD is a black-box way to ensure samples always reach out to new regions of chemical space, while remaining relevant to chemistry near k_bT. It is a cheap tool to address the issue of generalization.

Spin and structural features of oxygen dissociation on tetrahedral Ag20 and Ag19Au clusters

The spin-crossing mechanism of oxygen dissociation on Ag₂₀ and monodoped Ag₁₉Au clusters was investigated using spin-polarized scalar-relativistic DFT. The activation energy decreases by 11–29 kJ mol⁻¹ relative to that for the spin-conserving pathway.

How do Water Solvent and Glutathione Ligands Affect the Structure and Electronic Properties of Au25(SR)18(-)?

The effects of aqueous solvent and biological ligands on the structural and electronic properties of thiolate-protected Au25(SR)18(-) clusters have been studied by performing quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) simulations. Analysis of bond distances and angles show that the solvated nanocluster experiences modest structural changes, which are reflected as flexibility of the Au core. The hydrophilic glutathione ligands shield the metallic core effectively and distort its symmetry via sterical hindrance effects. We show that the previously reported agreement between the calculated HOMO-LUMO gap of the cluster and the optical measurement is due to cancellation of errors, where the typical underestimation of the theoretical band gap compensates the effect of the missing solvent. The use of a hybrid functional results in a HOMO-LUMO gap value of 1.5 eV for the solvated nanocluster with glutathione ligands, in good agreement with optical measurements. Our results demonstrate that ligand/solvent effects should be considered for a proper comparison between theory and experiment.

One step synthesis of the smallest photoluminescent and paramagnetic PVP-protected gold atomic clusters

Gold atomic clusters of only two and three atoms were prepared by a simple electrochemical technique based on the anodic dissolution of a gold electrode in the presence of PVP, and subsequent electroreduction of the Au-PVP complexes. These clusters show stable photoluminescent and magnetic properties, which make them the smallest and most elemental gold (0) building blocks in nature (after atoms) bringing new possibilities to construct novel nano/microstructures with large potential interest in biomedicine, catalysis, and so forth.