Direct diazotization of graphite nanoplatelets with melamine and their favorable application in epoxy resins

The ease of undesirable agglomeration and a low efficiency are two problems that restrict the application of graphite nanoplatelets (GNPs) in epoxy resins (EP). Herein, a new strategy with melamine (MEL) as the precursor to functionalize GNPs chemically, which form a bonding layer that is compatible with epoxy matrix, is reported. The MEL fragments with secondary amine groups were grafted uniformly on the GNPs surface by covalent junctions to exploit the diazonium chemistry. This behavior led to a better dispersion and a stronger interaction with the epoxy matrix and resulted in an enhanced glass transition temperature and bending strength, compared with the pure EP. When only 1 wt% functionalized GNPs (f‐GNPs) was used, the Tg of the modified EP raised of about 15°C compared with pure EP, and the bending strength increased by approximately 39%. The dielectric constant of the EP with f‐GNPs was impacted slightly, and the dielectric loss decreased. At 10⁵ Hz, the dielectric loss of the EP with 1 wt% f‐GNPs decreased by approximately 11% compared with pure EP. Therefore, diazotization modification of the GNPs is a useful approach to improve the compatibility in nanoparticle networks.     

Melting evolution and diffusion behavior of vanadium nanoparticles

Molecular dynamics calculations have been performed to study the melting evolution, atomic diffusion and vibrational behavior of bcc metal vanadium nanoparticles with the number of atoms ranging from 537 to 28475 (diameters around 2–9 nm). The interactions between atoms are described using an analytic embedded-atom method. The obtained results reveal that the melting temperatures of nanoparticles are inversely proportional to the reciprocal of the nanoparticle size, and are in good agreement with the predictions of the thermodynamic liquid-drop model. The melting process can be described as occurring in two stages, firstly the stepwise premelting of the surface layer with a thickness of 2–3 times the perfect lattice constant, and then the abrupt overall melting of the whole cluster. The heats of fusion of nanoparticles are also inversely proportional to the reciprocal of the nanoparticle size. The diffusion is mainly localized to the surface layer at low temperatures and increases with the reduction of nanoparticle size, with the temperature being held constant. The radial mean square vibration amplitude (RMSVA) is developed to study the anharmonic effect on surface shells.     

Au-Nanoparticle-Array/Aligned-Ag-Nanowire-Based Flexible Dual Plasmonic Substrate for Sensitive Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Detection

The fabrication of flexible surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates for sensitive detection on uneven or irregular surfaces is challenging. In this study, a flexible dual plasmonic SERS (FDPS) substrate rationally constructed using Au nanoparticle (AuNP) arrays/aligned Ag nanowires (AgNWs) and elastic polyurethane (PU) is demonstrated. It exhibits high sensitivity (detection limit of 10⁻⁸ m for melamine and 10⁻¹⁰ m for malachite green) and excellent reproducibility. The well-designed structure of AuNP arrays/aligned AgNWs fabricated using block copolymer self-assembly and oil–water–air interfacial self-assembly successfully enhances the electromagnetic field through plasmonic coupling. In addition, the FDPS substrate retains a high SERS sensitivity after exposure to air at room temperature for 30 days because of the high stability of AuNP arrays and antioxidation characteristic of the PU covered on the aligned AgNWs. Even after undergoing stretching, bending, and twisting for 100 cycles, the FDPS substrate maintains a stable SERS activity owing to the introduction of the elastic PU. This study demonstrates a potential application of SERS detection under practical conditions for irregular surfaces and may be helpful in the development of flexible sensors.     

BF3-catalyzed oxidative tandem annulation-aromatization of naphthols with terminal aryl alkenes

A metal-free oxidative arene/alkene annulation-aromatization has been realized, which enables efficient synthesis of 2-arylnaphtho[2,1-b]furans from readily available terminal aryl alkenes and 2-naphthols. Mechanistic study suggests that this reaction proceeds via free-radical initiated tandem cyclization, dehydrogenative rearomatization and aromatization.     

A pyrene-based dual chemosensor for colorimetric detection of Cu2+ and fluorescent detection of Fe3+

A pyrene based chemosensor was designed and synthesized. The pyrene fluorophore was connected with a pyridine unit through a Schiff base structure to give the sensor (L). L was tested with a variety of metal ions and exhibited high colorimetric selectivities for Cu²⁺ and Fe³⁺ over other ions. Upon binding with Cu²⁺ or Fe³⁺, L showed an obvious optical color change from colorless to pink for Cu²⁺ or orange for Fe³⁺ over a wide pH range from 3 to 12. Moreover, the fluorescence of L at 370 nm decreased sharply after bonding with Fe³⁺, while other metal ions including Cu²⁺ had no apparent interference. Thus, using such single chemosensor, Cu²⁺ and Fe³⁺ can be detected independently with high selectivity and sensitivity. The limits of detection toward Cu²⁺ and Fe³⁺ were 8.5 and 2.0 μM, respectively. DFT calculation results also proved the formation of stable coordination complexes and the phenomenon of fluorescence quenching by Fe³⁺. Furthermore, L was also successfully used as a bioimaging reagent for detection of Fe³⁺ in living cells.     

卟啉-碳纳米管复合物研究进展

碳纳米管是具有一维纳米结构的新型纳米材料,具有许多独特的物理、化学性质.卟啉对可见光具有强烈吸收,其大π共轭体系使其具有良好的电子给予能力,可作为人工光合作用体系的光捕捉单元.将具有电子接受能力的碳纳米管与卟啉结合起来,通过卟啉对碳纳米管进行共价和非共价修饰,可以改善碳纳米管在溶剂中的溶解分散性能,同时实现卟啉和碳纳米管之间有效的电子传递,形成具有独特光电和光学性质卟啉-碳纳米管复合物.该类物质具备良好的应用前景,是碳纳米管和卟啉研究中的热点.就近年来该类复合物的构筑方法及性质研究等方面的进展进行了综述.     

Near-infrared emission bands of Er-doped YAP and LSO crystals

The ground state absorption (GSA), photoluminescence (PL) and photoluminescence excitation (PLE) spectra for Er(1.0 at%):YAP and Er(0.5 at%):LSO were measured at room temperature. Based on the GSA spectra, the radiative transition rates and luminescence branch ratios of erbium ions were determined by the Judd-Ofelt (J-O) method. In the range of 1400-1700 nm Er(1.0 at%):YAP has intense absorption at 1509 nm (0.96×10⁻²⁰ cm²), which is almost two times larger than the peak absorption of Er(0.5 at%):LSO. From the PL and PLE spectra, four intense emission bands around 850 nm (⁴S_3/2→⁴I_13/2), 980 nm (⁴I_11/2→⁴I_15/2), 1230 nm (⁴S_3/2→⁴I_11/2) and 1520 nm (⁴I_13/2→⁴I_15/2) were observed. The stimulated emission cross-sections of the four bands were calculated by the Fuchtbauer-Ladenberg (F-L) equation. The results suggest that Er(1.0 at%):YAP has potential to realize laser oscillation at 858 nm because of the relatively large simulated emission cross-section (1.76×10⁻²⁰ cm²). The temperature dependences of the PL spectra for the two crystals were also investigated in the range of 290-12 K. The ∼1520 nm emission presents continuous increase with temperature, while the emissions around 850, 1230 and 980 nm firstly increase with temperature, then reach their own largest values at the transition temperatures (about 100 K), and finally decrease with temperature. These results were well interpreted by the temperature dependence of multi-phonon process.     

Capacity for non-Kolmogorov turbulent optical links with beam wander and pointing errors

The performance of optical wireless communication links depends strongly on the atmospheric conditions and the parameters of the link such as the propagation distance, the operation wavelength, jitter variance, attenuation coefficient and effective beam spot radius at the receiver. The analytical expression for the evaluation of the average capacity of optical wireless communication systems is derived, using the gamma-gamma distribution in the non-Kolmogorov atmosphere turbulence. The impact of atmospheric attenuation, beam wander and pointing errors on the average of the optical wireless communication link is investigated. It is shown that the capacity has a fluctuation curve, when power law α increases, and the power law α of minimum point in fluctuation curve is bigger as the non-Kolmogorov turbulence strength is stronger.     

Surface self-diffusion behavior of individual tungsten adatoms on rhombohedral clusters

The diffusion of single tungsten adatoms on the surfaces of rhombohedral clusters is studied by means of molecular dynamics and the embedded atom method. The energy barriers for the adatom diffusing across and along the step edge between a {110} facet and a neighboring {110} facet are calculated using the nudged elastic band method. We notice that the tungsten adatom diffusion across the step edge has a much higher barrier than that for face-centered cubic metal clusters. The result shows that diffusion from the {110} facet to a neighboring {110} facet could not take place at low temperatures. In addition, the calculated energy barrier for an adatom diffusing along the step edge is lower than that for an adatom on the flat (110) surface. The results show that the adatom could diffuse easily along the step edge, and could be trapped by the facet corner. Taking all of this evidence together, we infer that the {110} facet starts to grow from the facet corner, and then along the step edge, and finally toward the {110} facet center. So the tungsten rhombohedron can grow epitaxially along the {110} facet one facet at a time and the rhombohedron should be the stable structure for both large and small tungsten clusters.     

接触力优化设计的熵正则化方法

包含单侧接触的机械和结构系统中,接触面间的局部接触力很大时,容易导致结构局部磨损和破坏。利用结构优化的手段极小化接触面上的最大接触力是调整接触面上接触力分布的一个有效途径。然而在数学上,目标函数的不可微和约束中的接触条件导致该结构优化问题属于非光滑和非凸优化问题,因而常用优化算法的优化结果是不可靠的。为此,本文提出接触力优化的一个熵正则化模型,并利用基于正则化过程的序列二次结构优化算法求解。所提的方法在数值上避免了处理不可微问题,而且正则化参数的调整还有助于获得更小的局部最优解。以离散结构为例的数值算例验证了本文的模型和算法。