Editorial: Celebrating the International Year of the Periodic Table: Beyond Mendeleev 150

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EDITORIAL
published: 05 November 2020
doi: 10.3389/fchem.2020.610869
Frontiers in Chemistry | www.frontiersin.org 1November 2020 | Volume 8 | Article 610869
Edited and reviewed by:
Valeria Conte,
University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy
*Correspondence:
Mikhail V. Kurushkin
kurushkin@scamt-itmo.ru
Specialty section:
This article was submitted to
Green and Sustainable Chemistry,
a section of the journal
Frontiers in Chemistry
Received: 27 September 2020
Accepted: 08 October 2020
Published: 05 November 2020
Citation:
Kurushkin MV, Schwarz WHE and
Goodilin E (2020) Editorial: Celebrating
the International Year of the Periodic
Table: Beyond Mendeleev 150.
Front. Chem. 8:610869.
doi: 10.3389/fchem.2020.610869
Editorial: Celebrating the
International Year of the Periodic
Table: Beyond Mendeleev 150
Mikhail V. Kurushkin 1
*, W. H. Eugen Schwarz2and Eugene Goodilin 3
1Chemistry Education Research and Practice Laboratory, SCAMT Institute, ITMO University, Saint Petersburg, Russia,
2Chemistry Department, University of Siegen, Siegen, Germany, 3Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
Keywords: Iypt 2019, periodic table, Mendeleev 150, periodic system, chemical elements
Editorial on the Research Topic
Celebrating the International Year of the Periodic Table: Beyond Mendeleev 150
The Periodic Table of all Chemical Elements has been, for the first time, designed and graphically
displayed as a pervasive natural law by the Russian scientist Dmitri Mendeleev in March 1869,
followed immediately by a large jump in pure and applied chemistry, physics and other natural
sciences, and in education. The Periodic Table of Elements covers most of preceding efforts of other
researches on the same subject; it was convincingly supported by the famous quantitative graphs
of various elemental properties by Julius Lothar Meyer. During the past one and a half centuries,
the Periodic Table has undoubtedly become the true icon of chemistry, having inspired numerous
scientists of various specialities, philosophical thinkers, bel-esprits and bread-and-butter scholars as
well. Thereby it has opened up new exciting horizons for innovative sustainable developments and
improved advances of humankind. Periodic Tables have become an integral part of basic natural
sciences, of all chemical classrooms, and even of popular culture and arts across the globe (Ball,
2019; Chapman, 2019; Düllmann, 2019; Goodilin et al., 2019; Gorbunova et al., 2019; Liddle, 2019;
Poliakoff et al., 2019; Radford, 2019; Rahm et al., 2019; Rampling, 2019; Scerri, 2019; Shaik et al.,
2019).
On this background, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the International Year of
the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements (IYPT 2019) to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the
discovery of the Natural System of Chemical Elements as one of the most important and influential
achievements in modern sciences. This provided an unparalleled opportunity to highlight the
continuous nature of scientific discovery in a peaceful and enlightened world. Advances in research
in many different contexts were triggered by the discovery of the Natural System, yielding good
ground for recognizing the importance of chemistry in cooperation with other basic disciplines in
a world endangered by climate change and unlimited population increase.
The present collection of Research Topics is dedicated to the Natural System of Elements and
its various representations in the form of Periodic Tables, its scientific chemical and physical
foundations, its innovative applications in laboratory research, its cutting-edge findings in chemical
periodicity and elemental groups, in advanced chemical research, physics, chemical engineering,
material science, catalysis, environmental science, photovoltaics, and memristors.
Cao et al. discuss the chemical elements in their review as the “kernel” that is conserved
when substances are altered. Graphical displays of the chemical properties of the elements, in
the form of Periodic Tables, have been designed with the aim of either classifying real chemical
substances or emphasizing formal and aesthetic concepts. The former tables usually incorporate
typical valence electron configurations of bonded atoms in chemical compounds, instead of the
common but chemically atypical ground states of free atoms in physical vacuum; basic chemical

Kurushkin et al. Editorial: Periodic Table Beyond Mendeleev 150
properties like valence numbers, size and energy of the valence
shells with their joint variation over the elements showing
principal and secondary periodicity; peculiar elements at the
top and at the bottom of the Periodic Table. While it is
essential that Periodic Tables display important trends in element
chemistry we might expect unusual chemical behavior in
ambient, near ambient, or unusual conditions. The combination
of experimental data and theoretical insight supports a more
nuanced understanding of the complex periodic trends and the
non-periodic phenomena.
As an example of the rich chemistry of elements and
its pronounced influence on fundamental properties and
structural correlations for modern materials, Belich et al.
compare several revolutionary materials based on the perovskite
type of crystal lattices including the legendary families of
high-temperature superconductive cuprates, of colossal
magnetoresistive manganites and of hybrid lead halides for
a new generation of solar cells. The authors demonstrate that
the widely spread crystal lattices of perovskites represent a
natural flexible platform for chemical design of various advanced
functional materials with unique features. An interplay between
chemical bonding, defects and crystal chemistry peculiarities
makes the perovskite structure a “lego designer” utilizing the
natural features of the chemical elements.
Several authors presented their ideas advancing important
classes of materials and nanomaterials from the C, Si,
Ti, Sn, Pb family of group IV elements of the classical
form of the Periodic Table. Navrotskaya et al. describes
deeply modified 1D carbon nanomaterials, focusing on hybrid
nanomaterials with unique mechanical, electrical, thermal,
and optical characteristics. Among them, hybrids based on
filamentous forms of carbon, such as carbon nanotubes and
carbon nanofibers, in combination with inorganic nanoparticles
attract particular attention. Due to the structure and morphology,
charge, and energy transfer processes lead to synergistic effects
that allow the use of less material with higher productivity
including their ecological applications.
Morozova et al. discuss an important class of silicon
nanomaterials—quantum dots. The authors noted that widely
known silicon quantum dots (SiQDs), semiconductor Si
nanoparticles ranging from 1 to 10 nm, still hold a great
applicative potential for optoelectronic devices and fluorescent
bio-marking agents. Their much higher biocompatibility, as
compared to conventional toxic Group II-VI and III-V metal-
based quantum dots, makes their practical applications even
more attractive to prevent environmental pollution and to avoid
damage of living organisms.
Oxide derivatives of silicon composes a special class of glass
materials. In particular, Shakhgildyan et al. shared a perspective
of how glass is the only material that could represent almost
all elements of the Periodic Table inside itself, showing the
effect of the Periodic Law on properties of the final material.
The authors reproduced for the first time the Periodic Table in
birefringence colors in the bulk of silica glass using a direct laser
writing technique.
Highly important and technologically relevant oligosiloxanes
are discussed by Rabanzo-Castillo et al.. In particular, the
utility of (C6F5)3B(OH2) as a catalyst for the simple and
environmentally benign synthesis of oligosiloxanes directly
from hydrosilanes, is discussed. The authors note that this
protocol offers several advantages compared to other methods
of synthesizing siloxanes, such as mild reaction conditions, low
catalyst loading, and a short reaction time with high yields
and purity, although such reactions have a rather complicated
mechanism. With the hydrosilane (R3SiH) as the sole starting
material, the fate of the reaction largely depends on the
creation of silanol (R3SiOH) from R3SiH as these two undergo
dehydrocoupling to yield a disiloxane product. Generation of the
silanol is based on a modified Piers-Rubinsztajn reaction. Once
the silanol has been produced, the mechanism involves a series of
competitive reactions with multiple catalytically relevant species
involving water, silane, and silanol interacting with the Lewis
acid, and the favored reaction cycle depends on the concentration
of various species in solution.
Rodionov et al. describe improved access to expected
applications of titania and its derivatives for photocatalytic
systems. The authors present new preparation routes, final
structural and functional properties of layered hybrid derivatives
of titania as an efficient photocatalyst for hydrogen production
from aqueous alcohol solution. The hybrid photocatalyst
H2Nd2Ti3O10×BuNH2was synthesized by a solid-state ceramic
method followed by protonation, intercalation of methylamine
and subsequent substitution by n-butylamine. While the
non-intercalated Pt-loaded H2Nd2Ti3O10 showed a maximum
quantum efficiency of only 2% in the 220–340 nm range, the
efficiency for hybrid samples reached 23–52%. This effect may be
associated with the significant expansion of the interlayer space,
which is considered as a separate reaction zone.
In addition, Voytovich et al. compare titanates and
their role as photocatalytic splitting systems with a similar
series of hybrid niobates HCa2Nb3O10×RNH2, containing
intercalated n-alkylamines (R =Me, Et, Pr, Bu, Hx, Oc).
Special attention was also paid to the feasible improvement
of the photocatalytic activity of the samples via their
modification with Pt nanoparticles as a cocatalyst. Thus,
modification of layered perovskite-like oxides by organic
substances appears to be an effective strategy to manage their
photocatalytic activity, which may be applied to other related
photocatalytic materials.
Illarionov et al. review state-of-the-art memristive titania as
one of the most widely used materials in resistive switching
applications, including random-access memory, neuromorphic
computing, biohybrid interfaces, and sensors. The functional
memristive properties of titanium dioxide thin films are
drastically dependent on their processing methods, including
synthesis, fabrication, and post-fabrication treatment, and thus
the authors provide an overview of the major application
domains of TiO2-based memristive devices.
In their mini-review, Petrov and Tarasov summarize the
existing data on the unique properties of reactionary polyiodide
melts (RPM) used for the development of the novel type of
technologies of scalable production of a new generation of
solar cells based on hybrid halloplumbate perovskites. The
authors discuss the potential of RPM for the fabrication of
Frontiers in Chemistry | www.frontiersin.org 2November 2020 | Volume 8 | Article 610869

Kurushkin et al. Editorial: Periodic Table Beyond Mendeleev 150
hybrid perovskite films and describe the role of polyhalides the
degradation of perovskite solar cells.
Another potential candidate for photovoltaics based of
halostannates is presented in the article of Umedov et al..
Structure and properties of inorganic perovskite Cs2SnI6
demonstrate its potential as a light-harvester or electron-
hole transport material. The authors report the way of light
tuning of absorption and transport properties of cesium
iodostannate(IV) Cs2SnI6via partial heterovalent substitution
of tin for indium. Light absorption and optical bandgaps of
such materials have been investigated by UV-VIS absorption
and photoluminescent spectroscopies. Low-temperature electron
paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy was used to study the kind
of the paramagnetic centers in these materials.
A further domain of articles in this Collection is closely
connected with f-elements. A quite original mini-review of
radiochemistry experts Romanchuk et al. disclose some most
important mainstream problems in radio-ecology. The review
briefly but comprehensively analyzes the highly complicated
chemistry of the actinides and their applications and utilization.
Among them, uranium and plutonium are the most important,
as they are used in the nuclear fuel cycle and nuclear weapon
production, and thus the review is focused on the latest
experimental, modeling and case study achievements in the
investigation of plutonium and uranium migration in the
environment, which include the speciation of these elements and
the chemical reactions that control their migration pathways.
Visentin et al. presented the current status of gaseous
transport studies of singly-charged lanthanide and actinide
ions in the light of potential applications to superheavy ions.
The correlation of the ion-neutral interaction potential and
mobility variations with the spatial parameters of the electron
distributions in the bare ions is explored through the ionic
radii concept. While the qualitative trends found for interaction
potentials and mobilities render them appealing for superheavy
ion research, lack of experimental data and limitations of the
scalar relativistic ab initio approaches in use make further efforts
necessary to bring the transport measurements into the inventory
of techniques operating in the “one atom at a time” mode.
Finally, Elkina and Kurushkin authored a comprehensive
mini-review on the history, the different syntheses, and possibly
all known applications of artificial element promethium. The
mini-review is expected to be the definitive starting point for
anyone interested in learning about the only chemical element
in the lanthanide series that has no stable isotopes.
Overall, the Collection summarizes various new achievements
and trends in the chemistry of elements over the Periodic System
and is certainly useful for chemists and practical researchers in
materials science as well as sustainable chemistry.
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
All authors listed have made a substantial, direct and intellectual
contribution to the work, and approved it for publication.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank all authors who participated in this collection of
articles, as well as all the reviewers for their relevant contributions
to the Research Topics.
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Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the
absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a
potential conflict of interest.
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