Our newest research paper “Yin and Yang Dual Characters of CuOx Clusters for C–C Bond Oxidation Driven by Visible Light” conducted primarily by Tingting Hou was selected as the American Chemical Society (ACS) Editors' Choice for May 10, 2017.

The paper describes a strategy of controlling CuOx clusters distribution on ceria/anatase nanotubes and the catalytic consequence in the model lignin C−C bond cleavage reaction. Highly dispersed CuOx clusters on ceria domains enhance the Ce³⁺ concentration in ceria and thus increase the catalytic activity (Yang character); the decoration of CuOx on the exposed anatase surface suppresses the unwanted oxy-dehydrogenation reaction by shifting the valence band edge of TiO₂ to higher energy (Yin character). Thus CuOx/ceria/A-NT photocatalyst shows high activity in the C−C bond cleavage to benzaldehydes under visible light irradiation.

ACS Editors' Choice^® is a new service designed to feature scientific articles of broad public interest and to make this material widely accessible to both the scholarly community and general public. Articles selected will be based on timely recommendations from the more than 400 Editors of ACS's 44 peer-reviewed journals who themselves are active researchers located around the world. A panel of ACS Publications Managing Editors, who are each PhD-level scientists and are conversant with the current scientific literature and research, will select articles for inclusion in the program.

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