Highly recyclable and efficient electrocatalytic synthesis of adipic acid catalyzed by ultra-alkali-resistant [Ni₃₆] nanocages in MOF.
- 1Frontiers Science Center for New Organic Matter, Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (MOE), College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China.
- 2School of Medicine, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China.
- 3Ganjiang Innovation Academy, Jiangxi Institute of Rare Earths, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ganzhou 341000, China.
Abstract
As a pivotal industrial chemical, adipic acid (AA) is synthesizable through the electrocatalytic oxidation of cyclohexanol under ambient conditions, utilizing electrons as a clean oxidant. This approach circumvents the energy-intensive and environmentally detrimental nature of conventional petrochemical processes, thereby offering a sustainable alternative for AA production. However, existing electrocatalysts are often plagued by instability in alkaline media, and their structure-activity relationships remain poorly understood. Here, we report a novel [Ni₃₆] nanocage-based metal-organic framework ([Ni₉]-MOF) synthesized via a bottom-up strategy from discrete [Ni₉]-clusters, exhibiting excellent stability under both strong alkaline (8 M NaOH) and acidic (1 M HCl) conditions. [Ni₉]-MOF demonstrates superior AA production (0.1239 mmol h⁻¹ cm⁻² at 1.61 V), and maintains this high activity over 25 cycles with negligible loss, surpassing all prior high-performance catalysts in durability. Mechanistic studies reveal a three-step oxidation pathway via cyclohexanone, 2-hydroxycyclohexanone and 6-hydroxyadipic acid. Density functional theory calculations indicate the MOF framework enhances the charge density at the active [Ni₉] site, accelerating reaction kinetics. This work not only provides a rational design strategy for constructing highly stable MOFs, but also presents the first MOF-based electrocatalyst for AA synthesis, opening new avenues for sustainable chemical production under mild conditions.
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BibTeX
@article{liang2026highly,
title = {{Highly recyclable and efficient electrocatalytic synthesis of adipic acid catalyzed by ultra-alkali-resistant [Ni₃₆] nanocages in MOF.}},
author = {Ze-Long Liang and Rui Li and Zhen-Ting Wang and Jia-Can Lv and Xin-Min Ai and Qi Li and Ying-Ying Yu and Yang-Xi Wang and Fang-Ting Zhu and Qi-Fan Wang and Hang Xu and Bin Zhao},
journal = {National science review},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1093/nsr/nwag427},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42898770},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Highly recyclable and efficient electrocatalytic synthesis of adipic acid catalyzed by ultra-alkali-resistant [Ni₃₆] nanocages in MOF.
AU - Ze-Long Liang
AU - Rui Li
AU - Zhen-Ting Wang
AU - Jia-Can Lv
AU - Xin-Min Ai
AU - Qi Li
AU - Ying-Ying Yu
AU - Yang-Xi Wang
AU - Fang-Ting Zhu
AU - Qi-Fan Wang
AU - Hang Xu
AU - Bin Zhao
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/11
JO - National science review
DO - 10.1093/nsr/nwag427
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42898770
AB - As a pivotal industrial chemical, adipic acid (AA) is synthesizable through the electrocatalytic oxidation of cyclohexanol under ambient conditions, utilizing electrons as a clean oxidant. This approach circumvents the energy-intensive and environmentally detrimental nature of conventional petrochemical processes, thereby offering a sustainable alternative for AA production. However, existing electrocatalysts are often plagued by instability in alkaline media, and their structure-activity relationships remain poorly understood. Here, we report a novel [Ni₃₆] nanocage-based metal-organic framework ([Ni₉]-MOF) synthesized via a bottom-up strategy from discrete [Ni₉]-clusters, exhibiting excellent stability under both strong alkaline (8 M NaOH) and acidic (1 M HCl) conditions. [Ni₉]-MOF demonstrates superior AA production (0.1239 mmol h⁻¹ cm⁻² at 1.61 V), and maintains this high activity over 25 cycles with negligible loss, surpassing all prior high-performance catalysts in durability. Mechanistic studies reveal a three-step oxidation pathway via cyclohexanone, 2-hydroxycyclohexanone and 6-hydroxyadipic acid. Density functional theory calculations indicate the MOF framework enhances the charge density at the active [Ni₉] site, accelerating reaction kinetics. This work not only provides a rational design strategy for constructing highly stable MOFs, but also presents the first MOF-based electrocatalyst for AA synthesis, opening new avenues for sustainable chemical production under mild conditions.
SN - 2095-5138
SN - 2053-714X
ER -