Probing nanocolumnar silver nanoparticle/zinc oxide hierarchical assemblies with advanced surface plasmon resonance and their enhanced photocatalytic performance for formaldehyde removal

Recent advances in photocatalysis focus on the development of materials with hierarchical structure and on the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) phenomenon exhibited by metal nanoparticles (NPs). In this work, both are combined in a material where size‐controllable Ag‐NPs are uniformly loaded onto the hierarchical microporous and mesoporous and nanocolumnar structures of ZnO, resulting in Ag‐NP/ZnO nanocomposites. The embedded Ag‐NPs slightly decrease the hydrophobicity of fibrous ZnO, improve its wettability, and increase the absorption of formaldehyde (H₂CO) onto the photocatalyst, all of this resulting in excellent photodegradation of formaldehyde in aqueous solution. Besides, we found that Ag‐NPs with optimal size not only accelerate the charge transfer to the surface of ZnO, but also strengthen the SPR effect in the intercolumnar channels of fibrous ZnO particles combining with high concentration of photo‐generated radical species. The micro‐to‐mesoporous ZnO is like a nanoarray packed Ag‐NPs. With Ag‐NPs of diameter 2.5 < ? < 6.5 nm, ZnO exhibits the most superior photodegradation rate constant value of 0.0239 min^?1 with total formaldehyde removal of 97%. This work presents a new feasible approach involving highly sophisticated Ag‐NP/ZnO architecture combining the SPR effect and hierarchically ordered structures, which results in high photocatalytic activity for formaldehyde photodegradation.     

Ill-posedness of the Camassa–Holm and related equations in the critical space

We prove norm inflation and hence ill-posedness for a class of shallow water wave equations, such as the Camassa–Holm equation, Degasperis–Procesi equation and Novikov equation etc., in the critical Sobolev space $H^{3/2}$ and even in the Besov space $B_{p,r}^{1+1/p}$ for $p\in [1,\infty ],r\in (1,\infty ]$. Our results cover both real-line and torus cases (only real-line case for Novikov), solving an open problem left in the previous works ([5], [14], [16]).     

Dispirocycles: Platforms for the Construction of High-Performance Host Materials for Phosphorescent Organic Light-Emitting Diodes

Spirocyclic compounds such as 9,9′-spirobifluorene (SBF) are becoming more and more attractive for use as host materials in organic optoelectronic devices. Herein, two dispirocycles, namely, dispiro[fluorene-9,9′-anthracene-10′,9′′-fluorene] and 10,10′′-diphenyl-10H,10′′H-dispiro[acridine-9,9′-anthracene-10′,9′′-acridine], were used for the construction of host materials 1 – 4 . The attached triphenylamino group determines the thermal, photophysical, electrochemical, and charge-transport properties, and therefore they have different electroluminescent performances. The device based on dispiro[fluorene-9,9′-anthracene-10′,9′′-fluorene] ( 2 ) and 10,10′′-diphenyl-10H,10′′H-dispiro[acridine-9,9′-anthracene-10′,9′′-acridine] ( 3 ) molecular platforms exhibited external quantum efficiencies of greater than 21 % with a very high power efficiency (≈100 lm W⁻¹). These results demonstrate the potential of extending the application of dispirocyclic molecular platforms with inherent rigidity for developing highly efficient host materials for organic light-emitting diodes.     

A nickel oxide nanoflakes/reduced graphene oxide composite and its high-performance lithium-storage properties

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Since conventional graphite-based anode possesses a low capacity, seeking for high-capacity anode candidates becomes significant for constructing emerging...     

Automated chemical resonance generation and structure filtration for kinetic modeling

This work discusses efficient and automated methods for constructing a set of representative resonance structures for arbitrary chemical species, including radicals and biradicals, consisting of the elements H, C, O, N, and S. Determining the representative reactive structures of chemical species is crucial for identification of reactive sites and consequently applying the correct reaction templates to generate the set of important reactions during automated chemical kinetic model generation. We describe a fundamental set of resonance pathway types, accounting for simple resonating structures, as well as global approaches for polycyclic aromatic species. Automatically discovering potential localized structures along with filtration to identify the representative structures was shown to be robust and relatively fast. The algorithms discussed here were recently implemented in the Reaction Mechanism Generator (RMG) software. The final structures proposed by this method were found to be in reasonable agreement with quantum chemical computation results of localized structure contributions to the resonance hybrid.     

Self‐emulsion polymerization of amphiphilic monomers—a green route to synthesis of polymeric nanoscaffolds

Self‐emulsion polymerization (SEP), a green route developed by us for the polymerization of amphiphilic monomers, does not require any emulsifier or an organic solvent except that the water‐soluble initiators such as 2,2′‐azobis[2‐(2‐imidazolin‐2‐yl)propane]dihydrochloride (VA‐044) and potassium persulfate (KPS) are only used. We report here the polymer nanoscaffolds from a number of amphiphilic monomers, which can be used for in situ encapsulation of a variety of nanoparticles. As a demonstration of the efficacy of these nanoscaffolds, the synthesis of a biocompatible hybrid nanoparticle (nanohybrid), prepared by encapsulating Fe₃O₄ magnetic nanoparticle (Fe₃O₄ MNPs) in poly(2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate) in water, for MRI application is presented. The nanohybrid prepared following the SEP in the form of an emulsion does not involve the use of any stabilizing agent, crosslinker, polymeric emulsifier, or surfactant. This water‐soluble, spherical, and stable nanohybrid containing Fe₃O₄ MNPs of average size 10 ± 2 nm has a zeta potential value of ?41.89 mV under physiological conditions. Magnetic measurement confirmed that the nanohybrid shows typical magnetic behavior having a saturation magnetization (Ms) value of 32.3 emu/g and a transverse relaxivity (r2) value of 29.97 mM^?1 s^?1, which signifies that it can be used as a T2 contrast agent in MRI. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2019     

Lone-Pair Enhanced Birefringence in an Alkaline-Earth Metal Tin(II) Phosphate BaSn2(PO4)2

The first alkaline-earth metal tin(II) phosphate, BaSn₂(PO₄)₂, has been discovered, which consists of layered structures constructed from strictly alternating [SnO₃]⁴⁻ and [PO₄]³⁻ moieties. This compound is expected to have a large birefringence with Δn≈0.071 at 1064 nm, owing to the presence of stereochemically active lone pair metal cations.     

3D Organic–Inorganic Perovskite Ferroelastic Materials with Two Ferroelastic Phases: [Et3P(CH2)2F][Mn(dca)3] and [Et3P(CH2)2Cl][Mn(dca)3]

Organic–inorganic hybrid perovskite-type multiferroics have attracted considerable research interest owing to their fundamental scientific significance and promising technological applications in sensors and multiple-state memories. The recent achievements with divalent metal dicyanamide compounds revealed such malleable frameworks as a unique platform for developing novel functional materials. Herein, two 3D organic–inorganic hybrid perovskites [Et₃P(CH₂)₂F][Mn(dca)₃] ( 1 ) and [Et₃P(CH₂)₂Cl][Mn(dca)₃] ( 2 ) (dca=dicyanamide, N(CN)₂⁻) are presented. Accompanying the sequential phase transitions, they display a broad range of intriguing physical properties, including above room temperature ferroelastic behavior, switchable dielectricity, and low-temperature antiferromagnetic ordering (T_c=2.4 K for both 1 and 2 ). It is also worth noting that the spontaneous strain value of 1 is far beyond that of 2 in the first ferroelastic phase, as a result of the precise halogen substitution. From the point view of molecular design, this work should inspire further exploration of multifunctional molecular materials with desirable properties.