• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Monday, August 4, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Chemistry

Newly discovered sheets of nanoscale “cubes” make excellent catalysts

by
July 31, 2024
in Chemistry
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

Tokyo, Japan – Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have created sheets of transition metal chalcogenide “cubes” connected by chlorine atoms. While sheets of atoms have been widely studied e.g. graphene, the team’s work breaks new ground by using clusters instead. The team succeeded in forming nanoribbons inside carbon nanotubes for structural characterization, while also forming microscale sheets of cubes which could be exfoliated and probed. These were shown to be an excellent catalyst for generating hydrogen.

New nanosheet of cubic clusters, realized in this work.

Credit: Tokyo Metropolitan University

Tokyo, Japan – Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have created sheets of transition metal chalcogenide “cubes” connected by chlorine atoms. While sheets of atoms have been widely studied e.g. graphene, the team’s work breaks new ground by using clusters instead. The team succeeded in forming nanoribbons inside carbon nanotubes for structural characterization, while also forming microscale sheets of cubes which could be exfoliated and probed. These were shown to be an excellent catalyst for generating hydrogen.

Two-dimensional materials are a breakthrough in nanotechnology, realizing materials with exotic electronic and physical properties which are specific to their sheet-like nature. While graphene is well known, there has also been a lot of focus on transition metal chalcogenides (TMCs), composed of a transition metal and a group 16 element like sulfur or selenium. For example, nanosheets of TMCs have been shown to be able to emit light and show excellent performance as transistors.

But while advances are being made at a great pace, in most cases, it has been about getting atoms to form the right crystalline structure in sheet-like geometries. A team of researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University led by Assistant Professor Yusuke Nakanishi was inspired to try a different approach: is it possible to use TMC clusters instead, and arrange them into two-dimensional patterns? This new route to assembling nanosheets would yield a whole different class of nanomaterials.

The team focused their efforts on cubic “superatomic” clusters of molybdenum and sulfur. They grew their material from a vapor of molybdenum (V) chloride and sulfur in the nanoscale confines of carbon nanotubes. The nanoribbons that are grown are well isolated and can be clearly imaged using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). They confirmed that their material consisted of isolated molybdenum sulfide “cubes” connected by chlorine atoms, distinct from cubic structures found in bulk materials.

But for the material to be useful in applications, it needs to be made in larger dimensions. In the same experiment, the team found a flaky material coating the inside of their glass reaction tube. By separating the solid from the walls, they discovered that it was made up of relatively large microscale flakes composed of the same superatomic clusters arranged in a hexagonal pattern. While the team have only begun to explore the potential of their new material, they have already shown theoretically that the same structure under tiny stresses could emit light. They also found that it might be an effective catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), most commonly seen when hydrogen is generated as a current passes through water. Compared with molybdenum disulfide, itself a promising catalytic material, the new layered material showed significantly higher current at lower voltages when probed, indicating greater efficiency.

While there’s more to come, their new approach to assembling nanosheets promises a whole range of new rationally designed materials with exciting new functions.

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grants from MEXT (Grant Numbers JP23H01807, JP24H00044, JP24K17708, JP24H01189, JP24H00478, JP22H05478, JP23H00277, JP21H05235, JP21K14484, JP21H05233, JP21H05232, JP21H05234, JP22H00283 and JP22H04957), and the PRESTO (Grant Number JPMJPR23H5), CREST (Grant Numbers JPMJCR20B1 and JPMJCR23A4), ACT-X (grant No. JPMJAX23DH), and FOREST (JPMJFR203K and JPMJFR213X) Programs from the JST.

#
Some of the figures have been adopted from the original paper, and modified.
 



Journal

Advanced Materials

DOI

10.1002/adma.202404249

Article Title

Superatomic layer of cubic Mo4S4 clusters connected by Cl cross-linking

Article Publication Date

25-Jul-2024

Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Metal–Sulfur Sites Boost MOF Hydrogenation Catalysis

Metal–Sulfur Sites Boost MOF Hydrogenation Catalysis

August 3, 2025
Bright Excitons Enable Optical Spin State Control

Bright Excitons Enable Optical Spin State Control

August 3, 2025

Flame Synthesis Creates Custom High-Entropy Metal Nanomaterials

August 2, 2025

Innovative Acid-Base Bifunctional Catalyst Enhances Production of Essential Lithium-Ion Battery Material

August 1, 2025

POPULAR NEWS

  • Blind to the Burn

    Overlooked Dangers: Debunking Common Myths About Skin Cancer Risk in the U.S.

    60 shares
    Share 24 Tweet 15
  • Neuropsychiatric Risks Linked to COVID-19 Revealed

    53 shares
    Share 21 Tweet 13
  • Dr. Miriam Merad Honored with French Knighthood for Groundbreaking Contributions to Science and Medicine

    46 shares
    Share 18 Tweet 12
  • Predicting Colorectal Cancer Using Lifestyle Factors

    39 shares
    Share 16 Tweet 10

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Post-Cancer Suicide Risk: Japan Study Insights

Broadband Quantum Sensing Enables 10-km Passive Drone Detection

Microglia Chromatin States Reveal Alzheimer’s Spatial Patterns

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.