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    Manganese-catalyzed selective C–H activation and deuteration by means of a catalytic transient directing group strategy
    (London : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), 2021) Kopf, Sara; Neumann, Helfried; Beller, Matthias
    A novel manganese-catalyzed C-H activation methodology for selective hydrogen isotope exchange of benzaldehydes is presented. Using D2O as a cheap and convenient source of deuterium, the reaction proceeds with excellent functional group tolerance. Highortho-selectivity is achieved in the presence of catalytic amounts of specific amines, whichin situform a transient directing group. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2021.
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    The Other Dimension—Tuning Hole Extraction via Nanorod Width
    (Basel : MDPI, 2022) Rosner, Tal; Pavlopoulos, Nicholas G.; Shoyhet, Hagit; Micheel, Mathias; Wächtler, Maria; Adir, Noam; Amirav, Lilac
    Solar-to-hydrogen generation is a promising approach to generate clean and renewable fuel. Nanohybrid structures such as CdSe@CdS-Pt nanorods were found favorable for this task (attaining 100% photon-to-hydrogen production efficiency); yet the rods cannot support overall water splitting. The key limitation seems to be the rate of hole extraction from the semiconductor, jeopardizing both activity and stability. It is suggested that hole extraction might be improved via tuning the rod’s dimensions, specifically the width of the CdS shell around the CdSe seed in which the holes reside. In this contribution, we successfully attain atomic-scale control over the width of CdSe@CdS nanorods, which enables us to verify this hypothesis and explore the intricate influence of shell diameter over hole quenching and photocatalytic activity towards H2 production. A non-monotonic effect of the rod’s diameter is revealed, and the underlying mechanism for this observation is discussed, alongside implications towards the future design of nanoscale photocatalysts.
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    Studies on Stress Corrosion Cracking of Vit 105 Bulk Metallic Glass
    (Lausanne : Frontiers Media S.A., 2020) Gebert, A.; Geissler, D.; Pilz, S.; Uhlemann, M.; Davani, F.A.; Hilke, S.; Rösner, H.; Wilde, G.
    The project “Stress Corrosion Cracking of Zr-based Bulk Metallic Glasses” (SCC of Zr-BMGs) within PP1594 mainly dealt with mechanical–corrosive interactions and failure of this class of metastable materials. It focused on one of the most application-relevant zirconium (Zr)-BMG, Vit(reloy) 105, with composition Zr52.5Cu17.9Ni14.6Al10Ti5 (at.%). Even though this BMG is known as an extraordinary glass former, the metallurgical processing is still a critical issue. In contrast to conventional processing, i.e., arc melting of master alloy ingots from single constituents, a different route using binary pre-alloys for the master alloys production was applied and led to superior mechanical properties upon mechanical testing under tensile and three-point-bending (3PB) conditions in air. As a reference and for a detailed understanding of failure, fracture, and cracking of Zr-based BMG in air, notched specimen 3PB experiments with in situ microscopic observation were done and the still controversial interpretation of the mechanical behavior of BMG in the framework of fracture mechanics was addressed. The specimen from the in situ 3PB tests served for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) investigations on the structural nature of shear bands in BMG on the atomistic scale. Altogether, complete crack paths could be observed and analyzed, and based on this, details of the shear band-driven crack growth are described. While in first SCC studies using a newly developed setup full cross section (3PB) bars were investigated, in recent in situ experiments, notched specimens were tested in 0.01 M NaCl, yielding strong evidence for a catastrophic failure due to hydrogen embrittlement (HE). The known susceptibility to pitting corrosion in halide-containing environments is only the initial stage for failure under SCC conditions. Once pitting is initiated, the local electrode potential is severely reduced. Further, the hydrolysis reaction of oxidized Zr4+ to zirconyl ions ZrO2+ during local BMG dissolution produces H+ and, thus, a local acidic environment that enables proton reduction and hydrogen absorption in the stressed BMG region. The peculiar failure and fracture surface characteristics as well as the proven local reduction of the pH value in the vicinity of the notch during in situ experiments clearly account for the proposed HE-SCC failure mechanism.