On October 2, the paper titled “Directing Isomerization Reactions of Cumulenes with Electric Fields” (DOI:10.1038/s41467-019-12487-w) was published online in the journal of Nature Communications, by Zou Qi as the co-corresponding author, who is an associate professor of the College of Environmental and Chemical Engineering. The research was jointly completed by the research groups led by Professor Latha Venkataraman and Professor Colin Nuckolls of Columbia University, and the research group of SUEP. It is the first time that SUEP’s professor has published a paper in this journal as a corresponding author.
This study demonstrates unambiguously that electric field catalysis can be achieved in a solution environment using STM techniques where large catalytic electric fields can be created between the STM tip and substrate, while also enabling the detection of the reactants/products in situ through single-molecule conductance measurements. This is an important step to promote the large-scale development of electrostatic-field catalytic reaction and at the same time show its extremely broad application prospect.
The research work was supported by “SUEP’s Star” International College Cultivation Project, and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Materials Protection and Advanced Materials in Electric Power.