Aqueous‐Solution Route to Zinc Telluride Films for Application to CO2 Reduction

As a photocathode for CO₂ reduction, zinc‐blende zinc telluride (ZnTe) was directly formed on a Zn/ZnO nanowire substrate by a simple dissolution–recrystallization mechanism without any surfactant. With the most negative conduction‐band edge among p‐type semiconductors, this new photocatalyst showed efficient and stable CO formation in photoelectrochemical CO₂ reduction at ?0.2–?0.7 V versus RHE without a sacrificial reagent.     

An Aluminophosphate Molecular Sieve with 36 Crystallographically Distinct Tetrahedral Sites

The structure of the new medium‐pore aluminophosphate molecular sieve PST‐6 is determined by the combined use of rotation electron diffraction tomography, synchrotron X‐ray powder diffraction, and computer modeling. PST‐6 was prepared by calcination of another new aluminophosphate material with an unknown structure synthesized using diethylamine as a structure‐directing agent, which is thought to contain bridging hydroxy groups. PST‐6 has 36 crystallographically distinct tetrahedral sites in the asymmetric unit and is thus crystallographically the most complex zeolitic structure ever solved.     

PET Imaging of Bacterial Infections with Fluorine‐18‐Labeled Maltohexaose

A positron emission tomography (PET) tracer composed of ¹⁸F‐labeled maltohexaose (MH¹⁸F) can image bacteria in vivo with a sensitivity and specificity that are orders of magnitude higher than those of fluorodeoxyglucose (¹⁸FDG). MH¹⁸F can detect early‐stage infections composed of as few as 10⁵ E. coli colony‐forming units (CFUs), and can identify drug resistance in bacteria in vivo. MH¹⁸F has the potential to improve the diagnosis of bacterial infections given its unique combination of high specificity and sensitivity for bacteria.     

Surface-Plasmonic-Field-Induced Photoredox Catalysis and Mediated Electron Transfer for Washing-Free DNA Detection

Distance-dependent electromagnetic radiation and electron transfer have been commonly employed in washing-free fluorescence and electrochemical bioassays, respectively. In this study, we combined the two distance-dependent phenomena for sensitive washing-free DNA detection. A distance-dependent surface plasmonic field induces rapid photoredox catalysis of surface-bound catalytic labels, and distance-dependent mediated electron transfer allows for rapid electron transfer from the surface-bound labels to the electrode. An optimal system consists of a chemically reversible acceptor (Ru(NH₃)₆³⁺), a chemically reversible photoredox catalyst (eosin Y), and a chemically irreversible donor (triethanolamine). Side reactions with O₂ do not significantly decrease the efficiency of photoredox catalysis. Energy transfer quenching between the electrode and the label can be lowered by increasing the distance between them. Washing-free DNA detection had a detection limit of approximately 0.3 nm in buffer and 0.4 nm in serum without a washing step.     

Stress variations during polarization of iron thin film electrode in pH 8.4 borate buffer solution

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - The stress variations during polarization of iron thin film electrode in pH 8.4 borate buffer solution have been measured by a cantilever bending...     

Hierarchical Self‐Assembly of Poly‐Pseudorotaxanes into Artificial Microtubules

Hierarchical self‐assembly of building blocks over multiple length scales is ubiquitous in living organisms. Microtubules are one of the principal cellular components formed by hierarchical self‐assembly of nanometer‐sized tubulin heterodimers into protofilaments, which then associate to form micron‐length‐scale, multi‐stranded tubes. This peculiar biological process is now mimicked with a fully synthetic molecule, which forms a 1:1 host‐guest complex with cucurbit[7]uril as a globular building block, and then polymerizes into linear poly‐pseudorotaxanes that associate laterally with each other in a self‐shape‐complementary manner to form a tubular structure with a length over tens of micrometers. Molecular dynamic simulations suggest that the tubular assembly consists of eight poly‐pseudorotaxanes that wind together to form a 4.5 nm wide multi‐stranded tubule.     

γ‐Glutamylcysteine‐ and Cysteinylglycine‐Directed Growth of Chiral Gold Nanoparticles and their Crystallographic Analysis

Chiral optical metamaterials with delicate structures are in high demand in various fields because of their strong light–matter interactions. Recently, a scalable strategy for the synthesis of chiral plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) using amino acids and peptides has been reported. Reported herein, 3D chiral gold NPs were synthesized using dipeptide γ‐Glu‐Cys and Cys‐Gly and analyzed crystallographically. The γ‐Glu‐Cys‐directed NPs present a cube‐like outline with a protruding chiral wing. In comparison, the NPs synthesized with Cys‐Gly exhibited a rhombic dodecahedron‐like outline with curved edges and elliptical cavities on each face. Morphology analysis of intermediates indicated that γ‐Glu‐Cys generated an intermediate concave hexoctahedron morphology, while Cys‐Gly formed a concave rhombic dodecahedron. NPs synthesized with Cys‐Gly are named 432 helicoid V because of their unique morphology and growth pathway.     

Effect of Thermal Treatment on Preshaped Ionic Polymer Metal Composite (IPMC) Actuators

A new method to fabricate ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) actuators with a 3-dimensional preshaped form by a simple thermal treatment process is demonstrated. The effects of the thermal treatment process on the properties of the actuator are analyzed and the characteristics of the actuator, such as stiffness, displacement and resonance, generating force, and repeated motions, are compared with those of unheated IPMC actuators. The experimental results show that thermal-treated IPMC actuators have improved generating force as well as preshaping of the 3-dimensional form.     

Metrological orientation-confirmation of Si(h h k) using scanning tunneling microscopy

For the periodicity-modulation of the Si(h h k) template between (0 0 1) and (1 1 1), it is necessary to prepare the surface with any orientation within this range, most especially for fabricating useful one-dimensional nanostructures. Especially, when there are no strong X-ray signals using the standard Cu K-α source in the vicinity of any arbitrarily chosen (H H K), it turns out that the line-profile analysis on the topographic image of scanning tunneling microscopy can be a unique way for confirming the orientation of the prepared surface. Though there are a number of small-width facets on the reconstructed surface, if any of well-defined facets, such as (1 1 1), (3 3 7), (1 1 2), and (3 3 5), are included in these facets it is possible to determine the orientation using the weighted-average method.