Electronic and Optical Properties of KNbO3,NaNbO3 and K0.5 Na0.5 NbO3 in Paraelectric Cubic Phase：a Comparative First-principles Study

The structural,electronic and optical properties of KNbO 3 (KN),NaNbO3(NN)and K05 Na0.5NbO3(KNN) in paraelectric cubic phase were calculated employing the plane-wave pseudopotential method based on density functional theory (DFT).The calculated electronic structures of the three crystals show similar features in the valence bands and the lower conduction bands.However,the structures in higher conduction bands differ markedly due to the effect of Na and K atoms.The calculated optical properties reveal that the features of optical spectrum at low energy are dominated by the transitions from O2p valence bands to Nb 4d conduction bands and those at high energy are related to the transitions to K 4s4p and/or Na 3s3p states.Moreover,the optical constants of KNN are approximately the average of KN and NN at high energy.Therefore,the optical properties of KNN in high energy region can probably be altered by changing the ratio of Na/K.     

Atomic defects,functional groups and properties in Mxenes

MXenes,a new family of functional two-dimensional(2 D) materials,have shown great potential for an extensive variety of applications within the last decade.Atomic defects and functional groups in MXenes are known to have a tremendous influence on the functional properties.In this review,we focus on recent progress in the characterization of atomic defects and functional group chemistry in MXenes,and how to control them to directly influence various properties(e.g.,electron transport,Li⁺ adsorption,hydrogen evolution reaction(HER) activity,and magnetism) of 2 D MXenes materials.Dynamic structural transformations such as oxidation and growth induced by atomic defects in MXenes are also discussed.The review thus provides perspectives on property optimization through atomic defect engineering,and bottom-up synthesis methods based on defect-assisted homoepitaxial growth of MXenes.     

Microscopic heterogeneity in viscoelastic properties of molecular assembled systems

An important step in understanding molecular assembled systems is to examine the structure and physical properties at various length scales and clarify the correlation between them. However, while the structures of these systems have been extensively studied from nanoscopic to macroscopic scales, their viscoelastic properties have been often limited to bulk rheological measurements. By using optical tweezers and particle tracking, we here show the local viscoelastic properties and their spatial distributions for the following systems: worm-like micelle solution, supramolecular hydrogel and lyotropic liquid crystal, which are formed by self-assembly of amphiphilic molecules in water. We found that all systems studied possessed a spatial heterogeneity in their viscoelastic properties and this was originated from the heterogeneous structures. It is interesting to note that there is the heterogeneity with the characteristic length scale of sub-micrometer or micrometer scale, thereby structures, although the systems are formed by molecules with nanometer size. The findings of these studies should lead to a better understanding of the dynamics of such systems.     

Defect-induced Surface and Interface Reconstruction in Novel Two-dimensional Materials Revealed by Low Voltage Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy

Two-dimensional(2 D) materials attracted substantial attention due to their extraordinary physical properties resulting from the unique atomic thickness. 2 D materials could be considered as material systems with flat surfaces at both sides, while the van der Waals gap is a natural out-of-plane interface between two monolayers. However, defects are inevitably presented and often cause significant surface and interface reconstruction, which modify the physical properties of the materials being investigated. In this review article, we reviewed the effort achieved in probing the defect structures and the reconstruction of surface and interface in novel 2 D materials through aberration corrected low voltage scanning transmission electron microscopy(LVSTEM). The LVSTEM technique enables us to unveil the intrinsic atomic structure of defects atom-by-atom, and even directly visualize the dynamical reconstruction process with single atom precision. The effort in understanding the defect structures and their contributions in the surface and interface reconstructions in 2 D materials shed light on the origin of their novel physical phenomenon, and also pave the way for defect engineering in future potential applications.     

Nanoscale 3D ordered polymer networks

Structures having nanoscale 3 D geometries are valuable as multifunctional materials, where multi-continuous microphases can synergistically influence mechanical, optical, transport and other properties. Such very high interface surface to volume ratio structures occur in a variety of materials including natural materials such as butter fly wings and sea urchin exoskeletons and in synthetic self-assembled structures such as surfactant/water systems and block polymers. Quantitative morphological characterization of such complex geometric structures is quite challenging. Unit cell sizes range from 10–300 nm with corresponding feature sizes on the 2–50 nm scale. Since these nanoscale network structures are bicontinuous, when one constituent is removed, the structure is still self supporting. Removal of one component produces a nanoporous material that may be in-filled with another component, or the surfaces of the nanopores can be coated with ultra-thin layers by atomic layer deposition to offer multifunctional capabilities. Due to the ability to individually tailor the properties of the network(s) and matrix,for example, to create strong dielectric or impedance contrast, such spatially periodic structures are excellent for the interference of waves(electromagnetic for photonic applications and acoustic for phononic applications) that can lead to bandgaps and hence the control of wave propagation in the material. This mini-review will focus on networks formed by bottom up self assembly of block polymers. In addition to structural issues, we emphasize the special physical properties related to bi-or tri-continuous networks.     

Microplasma electrochemistry (MIPEC) strategy for accelerating the synthesis of metal organic frameworks at room temperature

Metal organic frameworks(MOFs) are a kind of promising materials in many applications,while the fast and controllable synthesis of MOFs is still challenging.Here,taking HKUST-1 as illustration,a microplasma electrochemistry(MIPEC) strategy was developed to accelerate the synthesis process of MOFs with micro-plasma acting as cathode.Treating the HKUST-1 precursor solution with micro-plasma cathode could not only transfer the electrons into the solution leading to the deprotonation effect,but also generate radical species to trigger and accelerate the nucleation and growth of MOFs at the plasmaliquid interface.Thus,uniform and nanosize MOFs could be prepared within minutes.The obtained MOFs show similar excellent uranium adsorption properties compared with those obtained by other method,with a highly adsorption capability of uranium with 550 mg/g in minutes.The novel MIPEC strategy developed in this work provides an alternative for controllable synthesis of MOFs,and especially has potential application in accelerating traditional organic synthesis.     

The development of hollow multishelled structure: from the innovation of synthetic method to the discovery of new characteristics

Hollow multishelled structure(HoMS)is one of the most promising multifunctional structures.The high complexity of its structure makes the general and controllable synthesis of HoMS rather challenging.By integration of multidisciplinary knowledge,a great achievement in HoMSs has been obtained in the past decade.Especially,the developed sequential templating approach has significantly boomed the progress of HoMS in composition and structure diversity and application area.The implementation of the temporal-spatial ordering in HoMS makes it indispensable in solving the key scientific problems in energy conversion,catalysis and drug delivery areas.Further development in HoMSs with novel intricate structures will bring new understandings.In this review,we systematically introduce the development history of HoMSs,summarize the inspiration inherited from the previous research on hollow structures,and discuss the milestones in the development of HoMSs,with a focus on the sequential templating approach for HoMS fabrication,attractive temporal-spatial ordering property and dynamic smart behavior for advanced applications.We hope to reveal the inherent relationship between the precise synthesis of HoMS and its highly tunable compositional and structural characteristics,and point out its future direction to boost HoMS area further.     

Determination of Sulpiride by Linear Sweep Stripping Voltammetry at a Mercury Electrode

This paper reports the electrochemical properties of sulpiride at a mercury electrode,especially its adsorptive characteristic,Sulpiride dissolved in a supporting electrolyte of a McIlvaine buffer at pH 6.8 represents a sensitive and well defined reduction wave by linear sweep stripping voltammetry.This method is based on the pre-concentration and the reduction of sulpiride at a hung mercury drop electrode.The reduction peak potential is -1.72V(vs.Ag-AgCl) and the peak current is proportional to the concentration of sulpiride in the range of 0.1-0.6 μg/mL.The detection limit is 0.0250μg/mL obtained under the experimental conditions selected in this work.The electrochemical properties of this system were investigated.and the proposed method was applied to the determination of sulpiride in pharmaceutical tablets with satisfactory results,It was compared well with the UV spectrophotometric method,showing a superior sensitivity.     

A Simple Approach to Control the Growth of Non-spherical Gold Nanoparticles

A simple method to prepare the non-spherical gold particles was developed. The result solution included trigonal, truncated trigonal, hexagonal layers, and a pseudo-pentagonal shaped gold nanocrystals. The key factor is to control the relative rates of nucleation and cluster growth in this method. These attributes make seeding growth method as a useful tool in the fabrication of colloidal metal materials. A longitudinal plasmon resonance of 866 nm was observed, which is in the near-IR spectral regions (600-1000 nm). The excellent optical properties as near-IR labels are used to develop highly sensitive analvsis method.     

DFT Study of Charge Effect on the Odd-even Oscillatory Behavior in Stabilities for Gold Clusters

The comparative study of charge effect on the size-dependence stabilities of gold clusters Aunz(n = 2~12, z = 0/±1) in gas phase is performed at the M06-L/Lanl2 dz level. The lowest-energy structures charged by –1, 0 and +1 are optimized. The result shows that the geometries of the clusters with over 7 atoms tend to be cake-like. From the two- to three-dimensional geometries, the oscillatory behaviors are exhibited in the structural and electronic properties with the most pronounced in energy gap. The amplitude for the positive clusters is bigger than both the neutral and negative clusters. The neutral clusters with even number of even-coordinated atoms are more stable than the neighbors with odd number of even-coordinated atoms, as is completely reversed for the charged clusters. The oscillatory behaviors for the charged clusters are opposite to that for the neutral clusters, as is attributed to the electron-paired effect.     

复杂中空结构材料的构筑及能源应用

随着能源问题的日益突显,开发新型多功能材料以满足能源存储与转换应用的需求变得尤为重要.在众多功能材料中,复杂中空结构材料由于其独特的结构和物理化学特性而备受关注.本文综合评述了复杂中空结构材料的普适性构筑方法(硬模板法、软模板法、自模板法、次序模板法和选择性刻蚀法)及在能源方面的应用(锂/钠/钾离子电池、锂硫电池、超级电容器、电催化、光催化及染料敏化电池等).最后,对复杂空心结构研究领域存在的问题及未来的发展方向进行了展望.     

Hollow boron nitride (BN) nanocages and BN-nanocage-encapsulated nanocrystals

Hollow boron nitride (BN) nanocages (nanospheres, image on the left) and BN-nanocage-encapsulated GaN nanocrystals (right) have been synthesized by using a homemade B-N-O precursors. The as-prepared BN hollow nanocages have typically spherical morphologies with diameters ranging from 30 to 200 nm. The nanocages have crystalline structures. Peanutlike nanocages with double walls have also been observed; their internal space is divided into seperated compartments by the internal walls. The method is extended to sheathe nanocrystals with BN nanocages; BN-shell/GaN-core nanostructures have been successfully fabriacted. The method may be generally applicable to the fabrication BN-sheathed nanocrystals.     

Emulsion and Foam Templating—Promising Routes to Tailor‐Made Porous Polymers

Emulsions, foams, and foamed emulsions have been used successfully as templates for the synthesis of macroporous polymers. Based on this knowledge this Minireview presents strategies to use, optimise, and upscale these templating methods to synthesise tailor‐made porous polymers. The uniqueness of such polymers lies in the ability to tailor their structures and, therefore, their properties. However, systematic studies on structure–property relations are lacking mainly because the templating scientific community is “split into two”: the polydisperse and monodisperse camps. Thus, it is time to build a bridge between the camps, that is, to synthesise porous polymers with very different structures from the same precursors to determine the relationship between the structure and the properties.     

Metallic double shell hollow nanocages: the challenges of their synthetic techniques

Hollow metallic nanoparticles have been attracting the attention of many researchers in the past five years due to their new properties and potential applications. The unique structure of the hollow nanoparticles; presence of two surfaces (internal and external), and the presence of both cavities and pores in the wall surfaces of these nanoparticles are responsible for their unique properties and applications. Here the galvanic replacement technique is used to prepare nanocages made of gold, platinum, and palladium. In addition, hollow double shell nanoparticles are made of two metal shells like Au-Pt, Pt-Au, Au-Pd, Pd-Au, Pd-Pt, and Pt-Pd. Silver nanocubes are used as templates during the synthesis of hollow nanoparticles with single metal shell or double shell nanocages. Most of the problems that could affect the synthesis of solid Silver nanocubes used as template as well as the double shell nanocages and their possible solutions are discussed in a detail. The sizes and shapes of the single-shell and double-shell nanocages were characterized by a regular and high-resolution TEM. A SEM mapping technique is also used to image the surface atoms for the double shell hollow nanoparticles in order to determine the thickness of the two metal shells. In addition, optical studies are used to monitor the effect of the dielectric properties of the other metals on the plasmonic properties of the gold nanoshell in these mixed nanoparticles.     

Biomineralization as an inspiration for materials chemistry

Living organisms are well known for building a wide range of specially designed organic-inorganic hybrid materials such as bone, teeth, and shells, which are highly sophisticated in terms of their adaptation to function. This has inspired physicists, chemists, and materials scientists to mimic such structures and their properties. In this Review we describe how strategies used by nature to build and tune the properties of biominerals have been applied to the synthesis of materials for biomedical, industrial, and technological purposes. Bio-inspired approaches such as molecular templating, supramolecular templating, organized surfaces, and phage display as well as methods to replicate the structure and function of biominerals are discussed. We also show that the application of in situ techniques to study and visualize the bio-inspired materials is of paramount importance to understand, control, and optimize their preparation. Biominerals are synthesized in aqueous media under ambient conditions, and these approaches can lead to materials with a reduced ecological footprint than can traditional methods.     

Micro- and nanopatterned star poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) materials prepared by UV-based imprint lithography

A UV-based imprint lithography method is used for the direct surface structuring of hydrogel-based biomaterials, which are prepared from a family of tailor-made star poly(ethylene glycol) formulations. Bulk star poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrogels are fabricated by cross-linking acrylate-functionalized star PEG macromolecules. Cross-linking is achieved by radical reactions initiated by UV irradiation. This UV-curable star PEG formulation allows templating of mold structures to yield a stable, stand-alone, elastomeric replica of the mold. In particular, when a secondary, soft mold is used that consists of a perfluorinated elastomer with inherent excellent release properties, nanometer-sized features (down to 100 nm) can be imprinted without specialized equipment. The applied UV-based imprint lithography is a fast and simple technique to employ for the direct topographic structuring of bulk PEG-based biomaterials. The UV-based imprinting into the star PEG prepolymer by means of a perfluorinated, soft mold can be carried out on the bench top, while nanoscale resolution is demonstrated.     

Effect of concentrations of silver(I) and gold(III) initial compounds on the properties of AgAu bimetal nanocages

Results of studying kinetics of formation of hollow bimetal nanoparticles (nanocages) based on silver and gold that are obtained by the three-stage synthesis are presented. The factors defining sizes, structure, composition, and optical properties of nanocages were revealed by means of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy.     

DFT Study of Adsorption of Diazinon,Hinosan, Chlorpyrifos and Parathion Pesticides on the Surface of B36N36 Nanocage and Its Fe Doped Derivatives as New Adsorbents

In this work, we used density functional theory with the Tkatchenko and Scheffler method to investigate the adsorption of diazinon, hinosan, chlorpyrifos, and parathion organophosphorus pesticides on the surface of B₃₆N₃₆ nanocage and its Fe doped derivatives. The assessments revealed that van der Waals interaction is a key factor in organophosphate adsorption on the surface of these nanocages as well as overlapping. The results of Fukui indices and atomic partial charges calculations indicated that these pesticides and nanocages act as nucleophile and electrophile, respectively, and the adsorption sites of all four organophosphates on these nanocages are thiophosphate groups, as well as the aromatic ring in diazinon, and the nitro group in parathion. In addition, the calculated adsorption energies yielded the best result for diazinon, and the best Fe doped B₃₆N₃₆ derivative for adsorbing organophosphates in aqueous solution is the one in which Fe atom is located in the boron position of the square ring of B₃₆N₃₆.     

Supramolecular Transcription of Guanosine Monophosphate into Mesostructured Silica

There is large interest in replicating biological supramolecular structures in inorganic materials that are capable of mimicking biological properties. The use of 5‐guanosine monophosphate in the presence of Na⁺ and K⁺ ions as a supramolecular template for the synthesis of well‐ordered mesostructured materials is reported here. Mesostructured particles with the confined template exhibit high structural order at both meso‐ and atomic scales, with a lower structural symmetry in the columnar mesophase. Although a chiral space group can not be deduced from X‐ray diffraction, analysis by electron microscopy and circular dichroism confirms a chiral stacking arrangement along the c‐axis. Guanosine monophosphate based mesophases thus illustrate the possibility for specific molecular imprinting of mesoporous materials by genetic material and the potential for higher definition in molecular recognition.     

Controlling the chirality of DNA nanocages

Playing DNA Twister: By using asymmetric DNA building blocks, self-assembled DNA nanocages that are chiral on the nanoscale have been designed. The resulting DNA nanocages have been characterized with a variety of methods. Such chiral control could be useful for tuning the photonic/optical properties of DNA-templated nanostructures.