The role of halogens in Au–S bond cleavage for energy-differentiated catalysis at the single-bond limit

Peihui Li, Songjun Hou, Qingqing Wu, Yijian Chen, Boyu Wang, Haiyang Ren, Jinying Wang, Zhaoyi Zhai, Zhongbo Yu (), Colin J. Lambert (), Chuancheng Jia () and Xuefeng Guo ()
Additional contact information
Peihui Li: Nankai University
Songjun Hou: Lancaster University
Qingqing Wu: Lancaster University
Yijian Chen: Nankai University
Boyu Wang: Nankai University
Haiyang Ren: Nankai University
Jinying Wang: Nankai University
Zhaoyi Zhai: Nankai University
Zhongbo Yu: Nankai University
Colin J. Lambert: Lancaster University
Chuancheng Jia: Nankai University
Xuefeng Guo: Nankai University

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract The transformation from one compound to another involves the breaking and formation of chemical bonds at the single-bond level, especially during catalytic reactions that are of great significance in broad fields such as energy conversion, environmental science, life science and chemical synthesis. The study of the reaction process at the single-bond limit is the key to understanding the catalytic reaction mechanism and further rationally designing catalysts. Here, we develop a method to monitor the catalytic process from the perspective of the single-bond energy using high-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy single-molecule junctions. Experimental and theoretical studies consistently reveal that the attack of a halogen atom on an Au atom can reduce the breaking energy of Au−S bonds, thereby accelerating the bond cleavage reaction and shortening the plateau length during the single-molecule junction breaking. Furthermore, the distinction in catalytic activity between different halogen atoms can be compared as well. This study establishes the intrinsic relationship among the reaction activation energy, the chemical bond breaking energy and the single-molecule junction breaking process, strengthening our mastery of catalytic reactions towards precise chemistry.

Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-43639-8 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-43639-8

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43639-8

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().