Biomass-based renewable hydrocarbon fuel is a complex mix that contains many oxygenating substances, in particular phenolics, which leads to adverse consequences such as reduced engine energy performance and increased toxic gas emissions.
The stable 48-metal Ln36Co12 clusters show an effective water oxidation activity under weak acidic conditions because of the synergistic effect between lanthanide and transition metals in O–O bond formation.
Scaling relations on the basis of accurate DFT results are a useful tool for analyzing size-dependent properties of transition metal clusters and adsorption complexes on such systems.