S T R U C T U R E O F M A T E R I A L S

S C I E N T I F I C H I G H L I G H T S

1 4 8 H I G H L I G H T S 2 0 2 1 I

PRINCIPAL PUBLICATION AND AUTHORS

Paired Copper Monomers in Zeolite Omega: The Active Site for Methane-to-Methanol Conversion, A.J. Knorpp (a), A.B. Pinar (b), C. Baerlocher (a), L.B. McCusker (c), N. Casati (d), M.A. Newton (a), S. Checchia (e), J. Meyet (a), D. Palagin (b), J.A. van Bokhoven (a,b), Angew. Chem. 60, 5854-5858 (2021); https:/doi.org/10.1002/ange.202014030 (a) Institute for Chemistry and Bioengineering, ETH Zurich (Switzerland) (b) Catalysis and Sustainable Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institut, Villigen (Switzerland) (c) Department of Materials, ETH Zurich, Zurich (Switzerland) (d) Laboratory for Synchrotron Radiation Condensed Matter, Paul Scherrer Institut, Villigen (Switzerland) (e) ESRF

REFERENCES

[1] M.H. Groothaert et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 127, 1394- 1395 (2005). [2] Z.R. Jovanovic et al., J. Catal. 385, 238-245 (2020). [3] A.J. Knorpp et al., ChemCatChem 10, 5593- 5596 (2018).

Prevention of Li-ion battery thermal runaway

Catastrophic failures of lithium-ion batteries by thermal runaway have highlighted the need to better understand battery safety. High-speed X-ray

imaging showed that metal-coated polymer current collectors tested in commercial cells demonstrated 100% thermal runaway prevention under mechanical abuse conditions, whereas standard commercial metallic current collectors consistently underwent failure.

Fig. 132: a) Nail penetration of a standard commercial metal CC cell.

b) Failure mitigation mechanism of Al-PCC + Cu PCC cell during nail penetration; SEM insets of the PCC

cross-sections illustrate the ca. 8-µm polymer substrate core and

ca. 0.5-µm metal film coating.

between the paired coppers according to the various X-ray synchrotron techniques, as well as theoretical results for density functional theory (DFT) and molecular dynamic simulations, all in agreement with each other. The confined environment of the 8-membered ring of zeolite omega allows these two monomeric copper species to be stabilised at approximately 2.9-3.5 Å from each other.

These quantitative and spatial descriptions of the active site in zeolite omega for methane-to-methanol conversion provide a structural and conformational blueprint that can act as a foundation for future rational design and synthesis of more targeted and effective materials, even beyond zeolites, for the direct conversion of methane to methanol.