Development of a dual-functional NiFe-BNC catalyst for efficient styrene degradation and CO2 reduction towards sustainable environmental solutions
2025-09-03
(Press-News.org)
A research team led by Professor Chuncai Kong from Xi’an Jiaotong University has designed boron-bridge regulated asymmetric dual-atomic catalysts (NiFe-BNC) that deliver exceptional bifunctional activity for volatile organic compound (VOC) degradation and electrochemical CO2 reduction. Published in Nano-Micro Letters, this work demonstrates a sustainable platform for converting waste gases into valuable resources through synergistic catalysis.
Why This Catalyst Matters
Unprecedented Performance: NiFe-BNC achieves 99% continuous styrene degradation in 2 hours with stable mineralization above 60%. Simultaneously, it enables CO2 electroreduction with a Faradaic efficiency of 98% at industrial-scale current densities of 1000 mA cm-2.
Boron Electron Bridge: Boron doping induces carbon defects, enhances PMS adsorption, and optimizes electronic coupling between Ni and Fe sites, enabling accelerated electron transfer.
Dual Functionality: The same catalyst platform simultaneously addresses environmental remediation (VOC oxidation) and energy conversion (CO2-to-CO).
Design Strategy
The NiFe-BNC catalyst is derived from chitosan, a biomass-based substrate rich in amino and hydroxyl groups that stabilize dispersed metal atoms. Secondary calcination with boric acid introduces a “boron electron bridge” which modulates local coordination environments and electronic density. This design yields:
Defect Engineering: Increased pyridinic nitrogen and carbon defects promote PMS activation.
Optimized Interfaces: Strong Fe–Ni–B coupling tunes intermediate adsorption energies for both VOC oxidation and CO2 reduction.
Hierarchical Porosity: A stable porous structure enables rapid diffusion of reactants and products.
Mechanistic Insights
VOC Degradation: PMS is activated on NiFe-BNC to generate reactive oxygen specie, which drive styrene mineralization. In situ Raman and electrochemical analyses confirm enhanced charge transfer compared with undoped catalysts.
CO2 Reduction: Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that Fe–Ni dual sites with B modulation lower the energy barrier for *COOH formation (from 2.18 to 0.65 eV) and weaken CO adsorption, thereby improving CO selectivity and suppressing hydrogen evolution.
Electronic Modulation: Projected density of states and charge density mapping confirm that boron introduces asymmetric charge redistribution, enhancing electron transfer kinetics and stabilizing dual-atom coordination.
Performance Highlights
VOC Removal: 99% styrene degradation with >60% CO₂ mineralization in flowing systems.
CO2 Electroreduction: 98% CO Faradaic efficiency at 1000 mA cm-2 with long-term stability.
Industrial Viability: Outperforms conventional single-atom and dual-atom catalysts, providing a cost-effective route for coupled environmental and energy applications.
Future Outlook
This study establishes a blueprint for multifunctional catalyst design via electron-bridge regulation. By integrating biomass-derived supports, dual-metal active centers, and heteroatom doping, the NiFe-BNC system demonstrates scalable potential for both pollutant remediation and carbon recycling, advancing the vision of closed-loop carbon utilization.
Stay tuned for further developments from Professor Chuncai Kong and the collaborators as they continue to explore innovative materials for a greener tomorrow.
END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2025-09-03
Background and Motivation
As the world accelerates its transition towards renewable and sustainable energy, the pivotal role of finance in driving this transformation is clearer than ever. From wind and solar to hydropower and biomass, rapid advances in new energy technologies are only possible with robust financial support. Understanding how finance interacts with new energy development—and how financial innovation can promote sustainability—has become a top priority for researchers, investors, and policymakers worldwide.
Methodology and Scope
This special issue brings together eight cutting-edge studies ...
2025-09-03
A new study led by Professor Jonghun Kam's team at POSTECH(Pohang University of Science and Technology) has uncovered a shocking forecast for Pakistan's future. Using a cutting-edge AI model, the research predicts that the country will face unprecedented "super floods" and "extreme droughts" on a periodic basis. This dire prediction is a direct result of accelerating global warming, which is causing more frequent and severe extreme weather events around the world, particularly in vulnerable high-altitude ...
2025-09-03
**EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL TUESDAY, SEPT. 2, AT 7:30 P.M.**
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital and four other institutions have devised a novel method to test for prostate cancer using biomarkers present in urine, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health. This approach could significantly reduce the need for invasive, often painful biopsies, they say.
By analyzing urine samples from prostate cancer patients before and after prostate-removal surgery, as well as from healthy individuals, ...
2025-09-02
A father’s exposure to passive smoking as a child may impair the lifelong lung function of his children, putting them at risk of COPD—a risk that is heightened further if they are childhood passive smokers themselves—finds research published online in the respiratory journal Thorax.
The findings highlight the intergenerational harms of smoking, say the researchers, who urge fathers to intercept this harmful legacy by avoiding smoking around their children.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, ...
2025-09-02
People with learning disabilities progress faster to severe type 2 diabetes and are at greater risk of dying from their condition than people without these disabilities, suggests research published in the open access journal BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Control.
This is despite having better overall blood glucose control and similar risks of vascular complications, the findings indicate.
Around 1.5 million people (950,000 adults) in the UK have a learning disability, which includes conditions such as Down syndrome and cerebral palsy, note the researchers.
Type 2 ...
2025-09-02
New research to be presented at this year’s Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Vienna, Austria (15-19 September) and published in the journal Diagnostics shows that people with hepatitis B immunity induced by vaccination have a lower risk of developing diabetes of any kind. The study is by Dr Nhu-Quynh Phan, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan, and colleagues, under the supervision of Professor Chiehfeng Chen.
The liver plays an important role in glucose metabolism, specfically maintaining the balance of glucose levels (glucose homeostasis) and it is thought HBV infection may affect liver functions and ...
2025-09-02
Medicaid plays a key role for giving people with opioid-use disorder access to treatment, according to a Rutgers Health study.
Progress in life-saving treatment for opioid-use disorder with the medication has stalled in the past several years, according to a Rutgers Health study. However, researchers added that while some states were able to achieve substantial improvement, others lost ground.
Specifically, states that have expanded access to Medicaid insurance coverage since 2018 saw increases in prescriptions for opioid-use disorder treatment, according to the study, while states that haven’t ...
2025-09-02
Duluth, MN - In the world’s cold and snowy regions, shorter and warmer winters are one of the most conspicuous consequences of climate change. For freshwater lakes, this means later freezing, earlier thawing, and thinner ice. A new study, published in Ecology Letters, shows that the ecological impacts of these winter changes may be most dramatic in high-latitude lakes.
“The ecology of ice-covered lakes is a bit of a black box for lake scientists,” said Ted Ozersky, a University of Minnesota Duluth biologist who led the research. “For a long time, we assumed that nothing interesting happened under the ice, so few studies looked at what goes on in ...
2025-09-02
It's hard to believe that there is anything positive that could come out of wildfires. They have devastated homes, taken lives, erased memories, leveled cities and destroyed our forests and wildlands. But a University of Delaware professor has found that there is something of value to be learned from what’s left behind in the remnants.
The charred debris left in the wake of wildfires, such as those currently burning in Colorado, Canada and Arizona’s Grand Canyon National Park, is known as wildfire char. UD’s Pei Chiu, professor of civil, construction ...
2025-09-02
Immersing oneself in the virtual and augmented reality world is not only awesome for entertainment, it helps industries like manufacturing and medicine operate more efficiently. Nevertheless, as fast as the technology brings you into the world, the weight and stiffness of its hardware can just as easily remind you that you aren’t really golfing on the PGA tour or preparing for a surgery.
Inspired by Softbotics, researchers in the Soft Machines Lab at Carnegie Mellon University are developing wearable electronics to augment our senses with ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Development of a dual-functional NiFe-BNC catalyst for efficient styrene degradation and CO2 reduction towards sustainable environmental solutions
