Unraveling the structure-activity relationship and improving the catalytic performance is paramount in propane dehydro-aromatization reactions. Herein, a tandem catalyst with high propane dehydro-aromatization reaction performance was prepared via coupling the PtFe@S-1 with Zn/ZSM-5 zeolites (PtFe@S-1&1.0Zn/ZSM-5), which exhibits high dehydrogenation activity, aromatics selectivity (~60% at ~78% propane conversion), and stability. The addition of zinc inhibits the cleavage of C₆⁼ intermediates on ZSM-5 and promotes the aromatization pathway by weakening zeolite acid strength, significantly improving the selectivity to aromatics. This understanding of the structure-activity relationship in propane dehydro-aromatization reaction helps develop future high-performance catalysts.

With regard to green chemistry and sustainable development, the fixation of CO₂ into epoxides to form cyclic carbonates is an attractive and promising pathway for CO₂ utilization. Metal oxides, renowned as promising eco-friendly catalysts for industrial production, are often undervalued in terms of their impact on the CO₂ addition reaction. In this work, we successfully developed ZnO nanoplates with (002) surfaces and ZnO nanorods with (100) surfaces via morphology-oriented regulation to explore the effect of crystal faces on CO₂ cycloaddition. The quantitative data obtained from electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy indicated that the concentration of oxygen vacancies on the ZnO nanoplate surfaces was more than twice that on the ZnO nanorod surfaces. Density functional theory calculations suggested that the (002) surfaces have lower adsorption energies for CO₂ and epichlorohydrin than the (100) surfaces. As a result, the yield of cyclochloropropene carbonate on the ZnO nanoplates (64.7%) was much greater than that on the ZnO nanorods (42.3%). Further evaluation of the reused catalysts revealed that the decrease in the oxygen vacancy concentration was the primary factor contributing to the decrease in catalytic performance. Based on these findings, a possible catalytic mechanism for CO₂ cycloaddition with epichlorohydrin was proposed. This work provides a new idea for the controllable preparation of high-performance ZnO catalysts for the synthesis of cyclic carbonates from CO₂ and epoxides.

The enzymatic redox reactions in natural photosynthesis rely much on the participation of cofactors, with reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide/nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADH/NADPH) or their oxidized form (NAD⁺/NADP⁺) as an important redox power. The photocatalytic regeneration of expensive and unstable NADH/NADPH in vitro is an important process in enzymatic reduction and has attracted much research attention. Though different types of photocatalysts have been developed for photocatalytic NADH/NADPH regeneration, the efficiency is still relatively low. To elucidate the key factors affecting the performance of photocatalytic NADH/NADPH regeneration is helpful to rationally design the photocatalyst and improve the photocatalytic efficiency. In this paper, we overview the recent progress in photocatalytic NADH/NADPH regeneration with the focus on the strategies to improve the visible light adsorption, the charge separation and migration efficiency, as well as the surface reaction, which jointly determine the overall photocatalytic regeneration efficiency. The potential development of photocatalytic NADH/NADPH regeneration and photocatalytic-enzymatic-coupling system is prospected finally.

Organic matter-induced mineralization is a green and versatile method for synthesizing hybrid nanostructured materials, where the material properties are mainly influenced by the species of natural biomolecules, linear synthetic polymer, or small molecules, limiting their diversity. Herein, we adopted dendrimer poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) as the inducer to synthesize organosilica-PAMAM network (OSPN) capsules for mannose isomerase (MIase) encapsulation based on a hard-templating method. The structure of OSPN capsules can be precisely regulated by adjusting the molecular weight and concentration of PAMAM, thereby demonstrating a substantial impact on the kinetic behavior of the MIase@OSPN system. The MIase@OSPN system was used for catalytic production of mannose from D-fructose. A mannose yield of 22.24% was obtained, which is higher than that of MIase in organosilica network capsules and similar to that of the free enzyme. The overall catalytic efficiency (k_cat/K_m) of the MIase@OSPN system for the substrate D-fructose was up to 0.556 s⁻¹·mmol⁻¹·L. Meanwhile, the MIase@OSPN system showed excellent stability and recyclability, maintaining more than 50% of the yield even after 12 cycles.

Surface engineering and Cu valence regulation are essential factors in improving the C₂ selectivity during the electrochemical reduction of CO₂. Herein, we present a sea urchin-like CuO/Cu₂O catalyst derived from rhombic dodecahedra Cu₂O through one-step oxidation/etching method where the mixed Cu⁺/Cu⁰ states are formed via in situ reduction during electrocatalysis. The combined effects of the morphology and the mixed Cu⁺/Cu⁰ states on C–C coupling are evaluated by the Faradaic efficiency of C₂ and the C₂/C₁ ratio obtained in an H-cell. R-CuO/Cu₂O exhibited 49.5% Faradaic efficiency of C₂ with a C₂/C₁ ratio of 3.1 at −1.4 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode, which are 1.5 and 3.2 times higher than those of R-Cu₂O, respectively. Using a flow-cell, 68.0% Faradaic efficiency of C₂ is achieved at a current density of 500 mA·cm⁻². The formation of the mixed Cu⁺/Cu⁰ states was confirmed by in situ Raman spectra. Additionally, the sea urchin-like structure provides more active sites and enables faster electron transfer. As a result, the excellent C₂ production on R-CuO/Cu₂O is primarily attributed to the synergistic effects of the sea urchin-like structure and the stable mixed Cu⁺/Cu⁰ states. Therefore, this work presents an integrated strategy for developing Cu-based electrocatalysts for C₂ production through electrochemical CO₂ reduction.