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    Stabilizing a three-center single-electron metal–metal bond in a fullerene cage
    (Cambridge : RSC, 2021) Jin, Fei; Xin, Jinpeng; Guan, Runnan; Xie, Xiao-Ming; Chen, Muqing; Zhang, Qianyan; Popov, Alexey A.; Xie, Su-Yuan; Yang, Shangfeng
    Trimetallic carbide clusterfullerenes (TCCFs) encapsulating a quinary M3C2 cluster represent a special family of endohedral fullerenes with an open-shell electronic configuration. Herein, a novel TCCF based on a medium-sized rare earth metal, dysprosium (Dy), is synthesized for the first time. The molecular structure of Dy3C2@Ih(7)-C80 determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction shows that the encapsulated Dy3C2 cluster adopts a bat ray configuration, in which the acetylide unit C2 is elevated above the Dy3 plane by ∼1.66 Å, while Dy–Dy distances are ∼3.4 Å. DFT computational analysis of the electronic structure reveals that the endohedral cluster has an unusual formal charge distribution of (Dy3)8+(C2)2−@C806− and features an unprecedented three-center single-electron Dy–Dy–Dy bond, which has never been reported for lanthanide compounds. Moreover, this electronic structure is different from that of the analogous Sc3C2@Ih(7)-C80 with a (Sc3)9+(C2)3−@C806− charge distribution and no metal–metal bonding.
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    Emulsion soft templating of carbide-derived carbon nanospheres with controllable porosity for capacitive electrochemical energy storage
    (Cambridge : Royal Society of Chemistry, 2015) Oschatz, Martin; Zeiger, Marco; Jaeckel, Nicolas; Strubel, Patrick; Borchardt, Lars; Reinhold, Romy; Nickel, Winfried; Eckert, Jürgen; Presser, Volker; Kaskel, Stefan
    A new approach to produce carbide-derived carbon nanospheres of 20-200 nm in diameter based on a novel soft-templating technique is presented. Platinum catalysis is used for the cross-linking of liquid (allylhydrido)polycarbosilane polymer chains with para-divinylbenzene within oil-in-water miniemulsions. Quantitative implementation of the pre-ceramic polymer can be achieved allowing precise control over the resulting materials. After pyrolysis and high-temperature chlorine treatment, resulting particles offer ideal spherical shape, very high specific surface area (up to 2347 m^2/g^-1), and large micro/mesopore volume (up to 1.67 cm^3/g^-1). The internal pore structure of the nanospheres is controllable by the composition of the oil phase within the miniemulsions. The materials are highly suitable for electrochemical double-layer capacitors with high specific capacitances in aqueous 1 M Na2SO4 solution (110 F/g^-1) and organic 1 M tetraethylammonium tetrafluoroborate in acetonitrile (130 F/g^-1).