2D molybdenum sulfide with unique physical and chemical properties, has been considered to possess application prospect in photocatalysis, electrocatalysis and heterogeneous catalysis, attracting extensive attention by catalysis researchers. The catalytic reaction usually involves multistep and complicated processes. For example, the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) of water splitting happening at the gas (H2), liquid (H2O) and solid (catalyst) three-phase interface, requires the 2D molybdenum sulfide catalyst to own not only excellent intrinsic activity, but also a suitable surface and interface structure. In order to catalyze this process with high efficiency, it needs multisale modulation and optimization of structural and electronic properties in 2D molybdenum sulfide, but still remains as a great challenge.
　　On the basis of previous studies towards surface and interface modulation of 2D catalytic materials, associate Prof. DENG Dehui and Prof. BAO Xinhe etc. from Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics have successfully achieved the multiscale structural and electronic control of 2D molybdenum sulfide atomic crystal. The optimized catalyst shows a superior catalytic activity and durability for electrocatalytic HER in acidic medium, and this work has been recently published in Nature Communications (Nat. Commun., 2017, 8, 14430; DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14430).
　　 
　　Multiscale structural and electronic control of molybdenum disulfide foam for highly efficient hydrogen production (Image by JIANG Xiumei and DENG Jiao)
　　The research group innovated the preparation strategy, and developed a “bottom-up” chemical method to synthesize the uniform mesoporous MoS2 foam assisted by the SiO2 nanospheres as hard template. Various analysis approaches indicated this structure can realize a triple-scale modulation: (1) the macro-scale: uniform mesopores facilitate the transport of reactant (H3O+) and product (H2), and increase the accessibility of active sites; (2) the nano-scale: oriented vertical growth of MoS2 nanosheets around the mesopores increase the number of edges as the active sites; (3) the atom-scale: on the basis of previous study by introducing single-atom into the MoS2 2D framework (Energy Environ. Sci., 2015, 8, 1594), further doping transition metal Co atoms into the 2D plane substitutinga part of Mo atoms can efficiently modify the electronic structure of surface S atoms, and thereby trigger their intrinsic catalytic activities. In addition, experiments combined with DFT calculations indicated MoS2 with moderate Co atoms doping content possesses the optimal activity. The 3D MoS2 catalyst with the multiscale modulation demonstrated a high electrocatalytic HER performance, showing a potential to replace the noble metal catalyst. The strategy through a multiscale structural and electronic control, introduced in the present work, opens a new opportunity for the rational design of MoS2 in the catalytic study and application, and the involved concept can be extended to other energy-related process or other 2D materials.
　　This work is supported by Ministry of Science and Technology of China, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials (2011-iChEM) . (Text and Image by JIANG Xiumei and DENG Jiao)
　　Dr. LU Xinyi
　　Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
　　457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian, 116023, China,
　　Tel: 86-411-84379201
　　E-mail: luxinyi@dicp.ac.cn 

　　2D molybdenum sulfide with unique physical and chemical properties, has been considered to possess application prospect in photocatalysis, electrocatalysis and heterogeneous catalysis, attracting extensive attention by catalysis researchers. The catalytic reaction usually involves multistep and complicated processes. For example, the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) of water splitting happening at the gas (H2), liquid (H2O) and solid (catalyst) three-phase interface, requires the 2D molybdenum sulfide catalyst to own not only excellent intrinsic activity, but also a suitable surface and interface structure. In order to catalyze this process with high efficiency, it needs multisale modulation and optimization of structural and electronic properties in 2D molybdenum sulfide, but still remains as a great challenge.
　　On the basis of previous studies towards surface and interface modulation of 2D catalytic materials, associate Prof. DENG Dehui and Prof. BAO Xinhe etc. from Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics have successfully achieved the multiscale structural and electronic control of 2D molybdenum sulfide atomic crystal. The optimized catalyst shows a superior catalytic activity and durability for electrocatalytic HER in acidic medium, and this work has been recently published in Nature Communications (Nat. Commun., 2017, 8, 14430; DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14430).
　　 
　　Multiscale structural and electronic control of molybdenum disulfide foam for highly efficient hydrogen production (Image by JIANG Xiumei and DENG Jiao)
　　The research group innovated the preparation strategy, and developed a “bottom-up” chemical method to synthesize the uniform mesoporous MoS2 foam assisted by the SiO2 nanospheres as hard template. Various analysis approaches indicated this structure can realize a triple-scale modulation: (1) the macro-scale: uniform mesopores facilitate the transport of reactant (H3O+) and product (H2), and increase the accessibility of active sites; (2) the nano-scale: oriented vertical growth of MoS2 nanosheets around the mesopores increase the number of edges as the active sites; (3) the atom-scale: on the basis of previous study by introducing single-atom into the MoS2 2D framework (Energy Environ. Sci., 2015, 8, 1594), further doping transition metal Co atoms into the 2D plane substitutinga part of Mo atoms can efficiently modify the electronic structure of surface S atoms, and thereby trigger their intrinsic catalytic activities. In addition, experiments combined with DFT calculations indicated MoS2 with moderate Co atoms doping content possesses the optimal activity. The 3D MoS2 catalyst with the multiscale modulation demonstrated a high electrocatalytic HER performance, showing a potential to replace the noble metal catalyst. The strategy through a multiscale structural and electronic control, introduced in the present work, opens a new opportunity for the rational design of MoS2 in the catalytic study and application, and the involved concept can be extended to other energy-related process or other 2D materials.
　　This work is supported by Ministry of Science and Technology of China, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials (2011-iChEM) . (Text and Image by JIANG Xiumei and DENG Jiao)
　　Dr. LU Xinyi
　　Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
　　457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian, 116023, China,
　　Tel: 86-411-84379201
　　E-mail: luxinyi@dicp.ac.cn 

　　The research group led by Prof. FU Qiang and Prof. BAO Xinhe from Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinse Academy of Sciences has performed systematic researches in surface chemistry and catalysis confined under two-dimensional materials. Recently, they have been invited to write a review paper in Chemical Society Review, which has been recently published with the title of “Surface chemistry and catalysis confined under two-dimensional materials” (Chem. Soc. Rev., 2017, 46, 1842-1874).
　　The newly emerging two-dimensional materials such as graphene and h-BN have attracted increasing attentions in physics, chemistry, and material science communities because of their unique atomic structure and electronic properties. The research team in the State Key Lab of Catalysis has done some pioneering works on surface chemistry confined under two-dimensional materials. They observed molecule intercalation of graphene and h-BN layers supported on metal surfaces (J Phys Chem C 2009, 113, 8296-8301; Angew Chem Int Ed 2012, 2012, 51, 4856-4859). Furthermore, enhanced surface reactions were reported on metal surfaces covered by the graphene or h-BN overlayers due to confinement effect of the 2D covers (PNAS 2014, 111, 17023-17028; Nano Lett 2015, 15, 3616-3623； Nat Nanotechnol 2016, 11, 218-230). Accordingly a concept of “Chemistry under 2D Cover” has been suggested. In this review, it has been demonstrated that surface chemistry and catalysis are strongly modulated by the 2D covers, resulting in weakened molecule adsorption and enhanced surface reactions. The confinement effect of the 2D cover leads to new chemistry in a small space, such as “catalysis under cover” and “electrochemistry under cover”. These new concepts enable us to design advanced nanocatalysts encapsulated with 2D material shells which may present improved performance in many important processes of heterogeneous catalysis, electrochemistry, and energy conversion (ACS Catal 2016, 6, 6814-6822).
　　These works are supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Basic Research Program of China, Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials (2011. iChEM).(Text and Image by NING Yanxiao)
　　

　　The research group led by Prof. FU Qiang and Prof. BAO Xinhe from Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinse Academy of Sciences has performed systematic researches in surface chemistry and catalysis confined under two-dimensional materials. Recently, they have been invited to write a review paper in Chemical Society Review, which has been recently published with the title of “Surface chemistry and catalysis confined under two-dimensional materials” (Chem. Soc. Rev., 2017, 46, 1842-1874).
　　The newly emerging two-dimensional materials such as graphene and h-BN have attracted increasing attentions in physics, chemistry, and material science communities because of their unique atomic structure and electronic properties. The research team in the State Key Lab of Catalysis has done some pioneering works on surface chemistry confined under two-dimensional materials. They observed molecule intercalation of graphene and h-BN layers supported on metal surfaces (J Phys Chem C 2009, 113, 8296-8301; Angew Chem Int Ed 2012, 2012, 51, 4856-4859). Furthermore, enhanced surface reactions were reported on metal surfaces covered by the graphene or h-BN overlayers due to confinement effect of the 2D covers (PNAS 2014, 111, 17023-17028; Nano Lett 2015, 15, 3616-3623； Nat Nanotechnol 2016, 11, 218-230). Accordingly a concept of “Chemistry under 2D Cover” has been suggested. In this review, it has been demonstrated that surface chemistry and catalysis are strongly modulated by the 2D covers, resulting in weakened molecule adsorption and enhanced surface reactions. The confinement effect of the 2D cover leads to new chemistry in a small space, such as “catalysis under cover” and “electrochemistry under cover”. These new concepts enable us to design advanced nanocatalysts encapsulated with 2D material shells which may present improved performance in many important processes of heterogeneous catalysis, electrochemistry, and energy conversion (ACS Catal 2016, 6, 6814-6822).
　　These works are supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Basic Research Program of China, Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials (2011. iChEM).(Text and Image by NING Yanxiao)
　　

　　The 7th Asia-Pacific Catalysis Conference (APCAT-7) was held in Bombay, India in Jan. 17-21, 2017. About 500 participants from over 30 countries and regions attended this conference. The main topics included photocatalysis, nanocatalysis, biomass conversion, green chemistry, industrial catalysis, organic synthesis, and so on. It issued 3 plenary lectures, 17 keynote talks, 48 invited talks and 170 oral presentations. Eight participants from our institute (DICP) made an extensive communication with scientists from other countries. Prof. Can Li attended this conference as the president of the Academic Committee and gave a plenary lecture titled “Charge separation in photocatalysts for artificial photosynthesis”. Meanwhile, 4 oral presentations of DICP were selected as “the best oral presentation”.
　　 
　　The Asia-Pacific Catalysis Conference is parallel with the North-American or European Catalysis Conferences. Its establishment and development is highly correlated with the contribution of the scientists from DICP. Originally, it evolved from China-Japan-USA Catalysis Conference and held every two years. Prof. Xiexian Guo is one of the three initiators of the conference; the other two was Prof. Tamaru Kenji from Tokyo University and Prof. Alex Bell from University of California, Berkeley. It began to be named as the Asia-Pacific Catalysis Conference (APCAT) since 1997. In 2003, the APCAT-3 was organized by DICP. As one of the sponsors, Prof. Can Li established the catalysis committee of the Asia-Pacific region to promote the communication, cooperation and development of catalysis in the Asia-Pacific region. In 2013, Prof. Can Li was selected as the president of the committee to attend and host the APCAT-7 held this year in Bombay, India. The APCAT committee decided that the next conference (APCAT-8) will be held in 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand. (By LIU Xiaoyan)
　　

　　Br2/Br- redox couple has the advantage of higher electrode potential and lower cost, thus the bromine-based flow batteries have attracted lots of attention. However, the relatively low reactivity of Br2/Br- and crossover of Br2 are the key challenges limiting the application of bromine-based flow batteries.
　　Energy Storage Division led by Prof. ZHANG Huamin and Prof. LI Xianfeng in Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics has made significant progress in electrode materials of bromine-based flow batteries. This group proposed the idea of using "pore size exclusion" to entrapping Br2 complex, for the first time. The cage-like porous carbon with super high activity to Br2/Br- and Br2 complex entrapping capability was designed and applied in zinc bromine flow battery.
　　Figure. Principle of cage-like porous carbon applied in bromine-based batteries (Image by WANG Chenhui)
　　In this work, cage-like porous carbon material is designed, whose pore size on the shell is between Br- and Br2 complex. And the Br- can freely enter into the cage and be oxidized to Br2, which easily combines with complexing agent and further be entrapped in the cage due to the pore size exclusion. In this way, the crossover problem is efficiently suppressed and the zinc bromine flow battery assembled with the cage-like porous carbon achieves the coulombic efficiency of 98% and energy efficiency of 81% at 80 mA/cm2. This work has put forward a new idea for the design of the electrode material for the bromine-based flow batteries.(Text and Image by WANG Chenhui)
　　Dr. LU Xinyi
　　Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
　　457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian, 116023, China,
　　Tel: 86-411-84379201
　　E-mail: luxinyi@dicp.ac.cn