The enhancing effect of modification by epichlorohydrin on the catalytic activity of Fe₃O₄ microspheres in the title reaction was theoretically and experimentally confirmed.

Intermetallic compounds (IMCs) with fixed chemical composition and ordered crystallographic arrangement are highly desirable platforms for elucidating the precise correlation between structures and performances in catalysis. However, diffusing a metal atom into a lattice of another metal to form a controllably regular metal occupancy remains a huge challenge. Herein, we develop a general and tractable solvothermal method to synthesize the Bi-Pd IMCs family, including Bi₂Pd, BiPd, Bi₃Pd₅, Bi₂Pd₅, Bi₃Pd₈ and BiPd₃. By employing electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction as a model reaction, we deeply elucidated the interplay between Bi-Pd IMCs and key intermediates. Specific surface atomic arrangements endow Bi-Pd IMCs different relative surface binding affinities and adsorption configuration for *OCHO, *COOH and *H intermediate, thus exhibiting substantially selective generation of formate (Bi₂Pd), CO (BiPd₃) and H₂ (Bi₂Pd₅). This work provides a comprehensive understanding of the specific structure-performance correlation of IMCs, which serves as a valuable paradigm for precisely modulating catalyst material structures.

The in situ modification of Fe₃O₄ by aluminium introduced new active sites besides the primary iron sites. Their synergistic effect contributes to much better catalytic activity of Al-promoted Fe₃O₄ in the title reaction.

As one of the most common ferrous (Fe²⁺)-containing oxide minerals in the Earth’s crust, ilmenite (FeTiO₃) is a potential low-cost heterogeneous Fenton-like catalyst for organic wastewater treatment via catalytic wet peroxide oxidation (CWPO). However, it suffers from low activity and long induction time. Herein anisotropic FeTiO₃/C nanocomposite with rich Fe²⁺ ions on large surface area of 159.0 m² g⁻¹ (surface Fe/Ti and Fe²⁺/Fe³⁺ ratios were respectively 2.1 and 2.0) was prepared via cetyltrimethylammonium (CTA⁺)-assisted sol-gel synthesis. CTA⁺ modulated the growth of FeTiO₃ nanoparticles with more exposed metallic sites by preferential adsorption on its (104) plane via electrostatic attraction, provided the carbon source and facilitated the generation of more Fe²⁺ ions at the interface of FeTiO₃/C via carbothermal reduction of FeTiO₃. FeTiO₃/C efficiently catalyzed CWPO removal of six aromatic pollutants with different charges (25 mg L⁻¹ each) at 25 ^oC and pH 3.0 without an induction period owing to rich Fe²⁺ content on neutral surface (pH_pzc ~3.3)—three dye solutions completely decolorized in 1 h and three antibiotics degraded by >90% in 3 h. Reusability of FeTiO₃/C was demonstrated with cationic rhodamine B and anionic orange G dyes in five consecutive runs. Scavenging tests and spin-trapping EPR spectra confirmed the generation of dominant ·OH and minor O₂^•− species for organic degradation via catalytic decomposition of H₂O₂ on FeTiO₃/C as a heterogeneous Fenton-like catalyst.