两例相同混合配体构筑的Pb(Ⅱ)/Ag(I)配位聚合物及其荧光性质

多齿配体2-咪唑乙酸(Hima)、4,4'-连吡啶分别与金属盐Pb(NO₃)₂和AgNO₃反应,得到[Pb₂(4,4'-bipy)(ima)(NO₃)₃]_n(1, 3D framework)和[Ag₄(4, 4'-bipy)₃(ima)₂(NO₃)₂(H₂O)₂]_n(2, 3D framework)两个配位聚合物。根据配位聚合物的结构特点,研究了这两个配位聚合物荧光性质等物理化学性能。配位聚合物1在最大激发波长(λ_ex=346 nm)激发下,荧光的最大发射波长为552 nm,配位聚合物2在最大激发波长(λ_ex=369 nm)激发下,荧光的最大发射波长为444 nm。这可能是由于金属和配体之间发生了电荷转移(LMCT)。     

Demonstration of joule-level chirped pulse amplification based on tiled Ti:sapphire amplifier

A novel tiled Ti:sapphire(Ti:S)amplifier was experimentally demonstrated with>1 J amplified chirped pulse output.Two Ti:S crystals having dimensions of 14 mm×14 mm×25 mm were tiled as the gain medium in a four-pass amplifier.Maximum output energy of 1.18 J was obtained with 2.75 J pump energy.The energy conversion efficiency of the tiled Ti:S amplifier was comparable with a single Ti:S amplifier.The laser pulse having the maximum peak power of 28 TW was obtained after the compressor.Moreover,the influence of the beam gap on the far field was discussed.This novel tiled Ti:S amplifier technique can provide a potential way for 100 PW or EW lasers in the future.     

CRISPR-Cas12a System for Biosensing and Gene Regulation

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) is a promising technology in the biological world. As one of the CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins, Cas12a is an RNA-guided nuclease in the type V CRISPR-Cas system, which has been a robust tool for gene editing. In addition, due to the discovery of target-binding-induced indiscriminate single-stranded DNase activity of Cas12a, CRISPR-Cas12a also exhibits great promise in biosensing. This minireview not only gives a brief introduction to the mechanism of CRISPR-Cas12a but also highlights the recent developments and applications in biosensing and gene regulation. Finally, future prospects of the CRISPR-Cas12a system are also discussed. We expect this minireview will inspire innovative work on the CRISPR-Cas12a system by making full use of its features and advantages.     

Recent Advances of Freestanding Cathodes for Li-S Batteries

Lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) with high energy density and low cost have been recognized as one of the most promising next-generation energy storage systems. Although it has taken decades of development, the practical application of LSBs has been hindered by several inherent obstacles, particularly the severe shuttle effect and sluggish reaction kinetics in the sulfur cathode. Various strategies have been proposed to address these problems via rational design of electrode materials and configurations. Freestanding sulfur cathode could be a promising strategy to improve the sulfur mass loading at the cathode level and energy density of LSBs. This minireview will briefly summary the recent advances in freestanding cathodes for LSBs. The advantages and disadvantages of various freestanding cathodes are discussed and the prospects for the development of flexible cathodes are envisioned.     

Investigating the kinetics of liquid-free,OSDA-free ZSM-5 zeolite synthesis from iron ore tailings

In this study, ZSM-5, which is a Mobil-type five-type zeolite with well-defined crystal morphology, is successfully synthesized via a seed-assisted, liquid-free method that uses iron ore tailings as a silica source. The ZSM-5 crystallization kinetics at 423, 433, and 443 K and different synthesis times are investigated to identify the nucleation and crystallization mechanisms of the synthesized ZSM-5 zeolites, and results suggest that the crystallization kinetics follow a Kolmogorov-Johnson-Mehl-Avrami-type behavior. The activation energies for the induction and transition periods are 112.38 and 58.35 kJ mol⁻¹, respectively. Furthermore, the Avrami exponent indicates three-dimensional crystal growth from both sporadic and instantaneous nucleation mechanisms. A comparison of our results with previous reports of the ZSM-5 crystallization mechanism demonstrates that the seed crystals play a significant role in nucleation and crystal growth. Finally, seed surface crystallization and new nuclei crystallization dual mechanism has been proposed to describe the crystallization process of ZSM-5.     

Aggregation-Induced Synergism by Hydrophobic-Driven Self-Assembly of Amphiphilic Oligonucleotides

The evident contradiction between high local-concentration-based substrate reactivity and free-diffusion-based high reaction efficiency remains one of the important challenges in chemistry. Herein, we propose an efficient aggregation-induced synergism through the hydrophobic-driven self-assembly of amphiphilic oligonucleotides to generate high local concentration whereas retaining high reaction efficiency through hydrophobic-based aggregation, which is important for constructing efficient DNA nanomachines for ultrasensitive applications. MicroRNA-155, used as a model, triggered strand displacement amplification of the DNA monomers on the periphery of the 3D DNA nanomachine and generated an amplified fluorescent response for its sensitive assay. The local concentration of substrates was increased by a factor of at least 9.0×10⁵ through hydrophobic-interaction-based self-assembly in comparison with the traditional homogeneous reaction system, achieving high local-concentration-based reactivity and free-diffusion-based enhanced reaction efficiency. As expected, the aggregation-induced synergism by hydrophobic-driven self-assembly of amphiphilic oligonucleotides created excellent properties to generate a 3D DNA nanomachine with potential as an assay for microRNA-155 in cells. Most importantly, this approach can be easily expanded for the bioassay of various biomarkers, such as nucleotides, proteins, and cells, offering a new avenue for simple and efficient applications in bioanalysis and clinical diagnosis.     

An Efficient and Stable MoS2/Zn0.5Cd0.5S Nanocatalyst for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution by water splitting is highly important for the application of hydrogen energy and the replacement of fossil fuel by solar energy, which needs the development of efficient catalysts with long-term catalytic stability under light irradiation in aqueous solution. Herein, Zn_0.5Cd_0.5S solid solution was synthesized by a metal–organic framework-templated strategy and then loaded with MoS₂ by a hydrothermal method to fabricate a MoS₂/Zn_0.5Cd_0.5S heterojunction for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. The composition of MoS₂/Zn_0.5Cd_0.5S was fine-tuned to obtain the optimized 5 wt % MoS₂/Zn_0.5Cd_0.5S heterojunction, which showed a superior hydrogen evolution rate of 23.80 mmol h⁻¹ g⁻¹ and steady photocatalytic stability over 25 h. The photocatalytic performance is due to the appropriate composition and the formation of an intimate interface between MoS₂ and Zn_0.5Cd_0.5S, which endows the photocatalyst with high light-harvesting ability and effective separation of photogenerated carriers.     

3D Electron Diffraction Unravels the New Zeolite ECNU-23 from the “Pure” Powder Sample of ECNU-21

A novel crystalline high-silica zeolite with 12×8-membered ring (R) channel system is prepared with the aid of the 3D electron diffraction (3D ED) technique. A crystal with the same topology as one of the predicted daughter structures of CIT-13 germanosilicate, named ECNU-23 (East China Normal University 23) was coincidentally detected by the 3D ED investigation during the structure characterization of the “pure” powder sample of existing one-dimension (1D) 10-R ECNU-21. By controlling the alkaline-assisted hydrolysis under moderate conditions, we purified the phase of ECNU-23 by selectively breaking and removing the chemically weak Ge(Si)-O-Ge and metastable Si-O-Si bonds. Its structure was determined based on the 3D ED data, and confirmed by high-resolution TEM images and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) data. The aluminosilicate Al-ECNU-23 shows unique catalytic properties in the isomerization/ disproportionation of m-xylene as solid-acid catalyst.     

(NH4)Bi2(IO3)2F5: An Unusual Ammonium-Containing Metal Iodate Fluoride Showing Strong Second Harmonic Generation Response and Thermochromic Behavior

An ammonium-containing metal iodate fluoride compound, (NH₄)Bi₂(IO₃)₂F₅, featuring a two-dimensional double-layered framework constructed by [BiO₂F₅]⁶⁻ and [BiO₄F₄]⁹⁻ polyhedra, as well as [IO₃]⁻ groups, was successfully synthesized. The well-ordered alignment of these SHG-active units leads to an extraordinary strong SHG response of 9.2 times that of KDP. Moreover, this compound possesses a large birefringence (Δn=0.0690 at 589.3 nm), a wide energy band gap (E_g=3.88 eV), and a high laser damage threshold (LDT; 40.2×AgGaS₂). In particular, thermochromic behavior was observed for the first time in this type of compound. Such multifunctional crystals will expand the application of nonlinear optical materials.