Fabrication of Predominantly Mn4+‐Doped TiO2 Nanoparticles under Equilibrium Conditions and Their Application as Visible‐Light Photocatalyts

The chemical state of a transition‐metal dopant in TiO₂ can intrinsically determine the performance of the doped material in applications such as photocatalysis and photovoltaics. In this study, manganese‐doped TiO₂ is fabricated by a near‐equilibrium process, in which the TiO₂ precursor powder precipitates from a hydrothermally obtained transparent mother solution. The doping level and subsequent thermal treatment influence the morphology and crystallization of the TiO₂ samples. FTIR spectroscopy and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses indicate that the manganese dopant is substitutionally incorporated by replacing Ti⁴⁺ cations. The absorption band edge can be gradually shifted to 1.8 eV by increasing the nominal manganese content to 10 at %. Manganese atoms doped into the titanium lattice are associated with the dominant 4+ valence oxidation state, which introduces two curved, intermediate bands within the band gap and results in a significant enhancement in photoabsorption and the quantity of photogenerated hydroxyl radicals. Additionally, the high photocatalytic performance of manganese‐doped TiO₂ is also attributed to the low oxygen content, owing to the equilibrium fabrication conditions. This work provides an important strategy to control the chemical and defect states of dopants by using an equilibrium fabrication process.     

[2,5‐Bis(2,2′‐bipyridyl‐6‐yl)‐3,4‐diazahexa‐2,4‐diene]dichloridomanganese(II): from a mononuclear compound to a three‐dimensional supramolecular framework through C—H...Cl hydrogen bonds and π–π stacking interactions

The title compound, [MnCl₂(C₂₄H₂₀N₆)], has been synthesized and characterized based on the multifunctional ligand 2,5‐bis(2,2′‐bipyridyl‐6‐yl)‐3,4‐diazahexa‐2,4‐diene (L). The Mn^II centre is five‐coordinate with an approximately square‐pyramidal geometry. The L ligand acts as a tridendate chelating ligand. The mononuclear molecules are bridged into a one‐dimensional chain by two C—H...Cl hydrogen bonds. These chains are assembled into a two‐dimensional layer through π–π stacking interactions between adjacent uncoordinated bipyridyl groups. Furthermore, a three‐dimensional supramolecular framework is attained through π–π stacking interactions between adjacent coordinated bipyridyl groups.     

Formation of Hexagonally Packed Hollow Hoops and Morphology Transition in RAFT Ethanol Dispersion Polymerization

Similar to the traditional self‐assembly strategy, polymerization induced self‐assembly and reorganization (PISR) can produce a myriad of polymeric morphologies through morphology transitions. Besides the chain length ratio (R) of the hydrophobic to the hydrophilic blocks, the chain mobility in the intermediate nano‐objects, which is a requisite for morphology transition, is a determining factor in the formation of the final morphology. Although various morphologies have been fabricated, hexagonally packed hollow hoops (HHHs) with highly ordered internal structure have not, to the best of our knowledge, been prepared by PISR. In this article, the fabrication of HHHs through morphology transition from large compound vesicles to HHHs is reported. HHHs with highly regular internal structure may have significance in theoretical research and practical applications of nanomaterials.

     

Surface hydrophobization of cotton via laccase-mediated polydopamine deposition and dodecyl gallate grafting

Natural fibers containing components with phenolic hydroxyl groups, such as jute, wool, and silk, can be directly modified by laccase-catalyzed grafting. However, cellulosic fibers like cotton cannot be functionalized in this manner. In this work, we developed a facile two-step method to graft polymers on cotton fabric via laccase catalysis. First, polydopamine (PDA) coating was deposited on the surface of the cotton fabrics via catalysis of laccase/2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO) system. Then, the newly formed PDA coating acted as the secondary reaction platform for subsequent laccase-mediated grafting of hydrophobic monomer dodecyl gallate (DG). The oxidation of dopamine (DA) catalyzed with the laccase/TEMPO system was investigated using UV–visible (UV–vis) spectroscopy. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results verified that the PDA was coated on the surface of cotton fibers. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra indicated that the PDA-coated cotton was successfully grafted with DG (DG-PDA-cotton). According to the weighting method, the grafting percentage was about 1.06%. The hydrophobicity of the DG-PDA-cotton fabrics was greatly improved with a contact angle of 133°. Also, the grafted cotton fabrics show repellency of water-soluble stains like coffee, milk, and tea. This study provides a new strategy for surface modification of cotton by laccase-mediated grafting, which offers the references for the green fabrication of cotton fabrics with improved functionalization.     

Elastic-inertial separation of microparticle in a gradually contracted microchannel

Separation of microparticle in viscoelastic fluid is highly required in the field of biology and clinical medicine. For instance, the separation of the target cell from blood is an important prerequisite step for the drug screening and design. The microfluidic device is an efficient way to achieve the separation of the microparticle in the viscoelastic fluid. However, the existing microfluidic methods often have some limitations, including the requirement of the long channel length, the labeling process, and the low throughput. In this work, based on the elastic-inertial effect in the viscoelastic fluid, a new separation method is proposed where a gradually contracted microchannel is designed to efficiently adjust the forces exerted on the particle, eventually achieving the high-efficiency separation of different sized particles in a short channel length and at a high throughput. In addition, the separation of WBCs and RBCs is also validated in the present device. The effect of the flow rate, the fluid property, and the channel geometry on the particle separation is systematically investigated by the experiment. With the advantage of small footprint, simple structure, high throughput, and high efficiency, the present microfluidic device could be utilized in the biological and clinical fields, such as the cell analysis and disease diagnosis.     

Diffusiophoresis in suspensions of highly charged soft particles

Diffusiophoresis phenomenon of aoft particles suspended in binary electrolyte solutions is explored theoretically in this study based on the spherical cell model, focusing on the chemiphoresis component in absence of diffusion potential. Both the electrostatic and hydrodynamic aspects of the boundary confinement, or steric effect, due to the presence of neighboring particles are examined extensively under various electrokinetic conditions. Significant local extrema are found in mobility profiles expressed as functions of the Debye length in general, synchronized with the strength of the motion-inducing double layer polarization. Moreover, a seemingly peculiar phenomenon is observed that the soft particles may move faster in more concentrated suspensions. The competition between the simultaneous enhancement of the motion-inducing electric driving force and the motion-retarding hydrodynamic drag force from the boundary confinement effect of the neighboring particles is found to be responsible for it. The above findings are also demonstrated experimentally in a very recent study on the diffusiophoretic motion of soft particles through porous collagen hydrogels. The results presented here are useful in various practical applications of soft particles like drug delivery.     

热力学数据对1, 3-丁二烯燃烧特性的影响

基于G4方法, 计算了1,^{3-丁二烯框架燃烧反应机理中102个物种的热力学数据, 并考察了振动非谐性、 频率校正因子以及受阻内转动对结果的影响. 结果表明, 考虑振动非谐性或采用不同的频率校正因子, 对热力学数据的影响不大; 考虑内转动后, 对热力学数据有较大影响. 而且考虑内转动后, 得到的热力学数据与实验热力学数据吻合得更好. 用所得热力学数据模拟了1,3-丁二烯的绝热燃烧温度以及点火延迟时间, 结果显示, 要得到可靠的绝热火焰温度, 对小分子(如CO和CO₂等)的热力学数据需要采用实验结果. 将用所得热力学数据模拟得到的点火延迟时间, 与机理本身的热力学数据所得点火延迟时间进行对比, 二者差别显著, 表明所得热力学数据主要通过改变一些反应的逆反应速率常数来影响点火延迟时间. 进一步确定了用所得热力学数据对点火延迟时间有显著影响的一些物种.}     

溶剂热合成可调控氧空位的Bi2MoO6纳米晶及其光催化氧化制喹啉和抗生素降解

近年来,半导体光催化在环境净化和有机合成领域的研究引起了广泛的重视.其中,在有机合成领域中,光催化技术已经应用在醇类、环己烷以及芳香族化合物的选择性氧化研究.而另一类具有特殊结构的有机物——N-杂环芳烃,在药物化学和材料科学中具有重要意义.而传统用于合成N-杂化芳烃的脱氢催化氧化反应通常需要高温高压的苛刻环境,传统方法通常还需要使用贵金属催化剂,这也增加了N-杂化芳烃的合成成本;另外,如果合成是均相催化过程,则催化剂难以实现回收利用.因此,开发室温常压条件下的非贵金属多相光催化技术具有巨大的应用前景.本文以能够被可见光驱动的钼酸铋半导体为催化剂,利用氧缺陷策略来提升钼酸铋的光催化氧化性能.不同于传统氧缺陷制备方法(氢气还原热处理、离子掺杂等),本文采用一种低成本的乙二醛辅助溶剂热的方法合成具有可调控的含氧空位Bi₂MoO₆催化剂(OVBMO).通过X射线粉末衍射(XRD)、扫描电镜、透射电镜、紫外可见漫反射吸收光谱、氮气物理吸附脱附、X射线光电子能谱(XPS)、电子自旋共振光谱、光致发光光谱及电化学测试等技术对制备的OVBMO材料进行了物理化学性质及能带研究.XPS,XRD,Raman和FT-IR结果表明,氧空位存在于[Bi₂O₂]²⁺和MoO₆八面体的层间.紫外可见漫反射结果表明,随着氧空位的引入,Bi₂MoO₆的光吸收范围扩大,带隙变窄.结合莫特肖特基和VBXPS分析获得OVBMO的能带位置,发现氧空位的存在不仅会导致禁带中出现缺陷带能级,还会导致价带顶位置上移,促进光生空穴的迁移.PL和电化学结果表明,氧空位的存在使得载流子浓度、载流子的分离能力与界面电荷迁移能力都有较大提升,这是因为氧空位引入的缺陷能级可以浅势捕获电子,抑制光催化剂中的电子与空穴的复合,改变化学反应的速率.同时,氧空位有助于捕获分子氧,分子氧与捕获的光生电子发生反应,产生更多的超氧自由基(·O₂)和空穴(h⁺),从而极大地提升光催化剂的氧化性能.因此,OVBMO在1,2,3,4-四氢喹啉脱氢氧化产生喹啉及系列抗生素(环丙沙星、四环素、盐酸土霉素)的降解反应中,表现出较好的光催化氧化性能.结合多种表征分析,本文还进一步阐明了OVBMO催化剂将1,2,3,4-四氢喹啉脱氢氧化为喹啉的自由基参与的多相催化反应机理.     

A new 3D supramolecular Zn(II) compound: Crystal structure and important role in treatment of pulpitis

An innovative thermostable 2-D layered Zn(II) compound, chemical terms are written as [Zn(3-pysa)₂(H₂O)₂]_n (1, 3-Hpysa = 3-pyridinesulfonic acid), has been generated from the solvothermal reactions of 3-Hpysa and Zn(NO₃)₂·6H₂O. Its single crystal analysis was implemented via the single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis together with the powder X-ray diffraction, elemental analysis and thermogravimetric analysis. The crystal framework is of monoclinic P2₁/n space group and its crystal cell figures: a = 7.7499(5), b = 10.9923(6), c = 8.3430(5) Å, α = 90, β = 96.924(6), γ = 90°, V = 705.55(7) ų, Z = 4. The 2D layers were finally combined to a 3-D supramolecular conformation through intermolecular H-bonds existing between coordinated H₂O molecules and sulfonate oxygen atoms from adjacent layer. Its practical role in pulpitis treatment was estimated and the relevant mechanism was studied in the meantime.     

Microgels as drug carriers for sonopharmacology

The ultrasound-induced cleavage of covalent and non-covalent bonds to activate drugs (sonopharmacology) is a promising concept to gain control over the action of active pharmaceutical ingredients by an external trigger. Previously, linear polymer architectures bearing drug payloads were exploited for drug release by using the principles of polymer mechanochemistry. In this work, the carrier design is altered by the polymer topology to improve the ultrasound-triggered release of covalently anchored drugs from polymer scaffolds. We use microgels crosslinked by mechanoresponsive disulfides and copolymerized with Diels-Alder adducts of furylated payload molecules and acetylenedicarboxylate. Force-induced thiol formation induces a Michael-type addition liberating the payload from the microgels. The use of microgels significantly reduces sonication times compared to linear polymer chains and shields the cargo efficiently from non-triggered activation using ultrasound that produces inertial cavitation at a frequency of 20 kHz as model condition.