Advanced Surfaces by Anchoring Thin Hydrogel Layers of Functional Polymers

Surface design and engineering is a critical tool to improve the interaction of materials with their surroundings. Immobilization of soft hydrogels is one of the attractive strategies to achieve surface modification. The goal of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview of the different strategies used for surface tethering of hydrogel layers via crosslinking immobilization of pre-fabricated functional polymers. In this strategy, crosslinkable polymers are first prepared via various polymerization techniques or post-functionalization of polymers. Afterwards, the crosslinkable polymers are attached or tethered on the surfaces of substrates using a variety of approaches including photo-crosslinking, click reactions, reversible linkages, etc. For each case, the principles of hydrogel tethering have been explained in detail with representative examples.Moreover, the potential applications of the as-modified substrates in specific cases have also been addressed and overviewed.     

Enhanced Reproducibility of Positive Temperature Coefficient Effect of CB/HDPE/PVDF Composites with the Addition of Ionic Liquid

Developing an effective method for improving the reproducibility of positive temperature coefficient(PTC) effect is of great significance for large-scale application of polymer based PTC composites, owing to its contribution to the security and reliability. Herein, we developed a carbon black(CB)/high density polyethylene(HDPE)/poly(vinylidene fluoride)(PVDF) composite with outstanding PTC reproducibility, by incorporating 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide([OMIm][NTf_2]) into the composite. After multiple repeated temperature cycles, the PTC performance of as-prepared material keeps almost unchanged and the varition of resistance at room temperature is less than 7%. Our studies revealed that [OMIm][NTf2] contributes to the improvement of PTC reproducibility in two ways:(i)it acts as an efficient plasticizer for refining the co-continuous phase morphology of HDPE/PVDE blends;(ii) it inhibits the crystallization of PVDF through the dilution effect, leading to more overlaps of the volume shrinkage process of HDPE and PVDF melt which results in the decrease of interface gap between HDPE and PVDF. This study demonstrated that ionic liquids as the multifunctional agents have great potential for improving the reproducibility in the application of the binary polymer based PTC composites.     

轨道对称性匹配:MXene基体上的单原子催化以实现优异的氮还原反应

氨作为一种可被植物直接吸收用以合成其他有机物的重要成分,在化学化工及含氮化合物的生产当中起着至关重要的作用.传统工业生产氨气采用Haber-Bosch工艺,将空气中丰富的氮气转化为氨气,但该工艺需要较高的压强和温度来促进氮气分解,因此会消耗大量能源.近年来,电催化反应发展迅速.在电催化工艺中,通过控制操作电位及电解质便可提高生产效率,降低能源消耗.基于这种策略,各种针对能源环境的催化研究应运而生,如二氧化碳还原、水分解反应等.其中,对于氮还原的催化研究尤其是电催化设计领域研究相对较少.研究发现,在电催化剂中,异构掺杂及原子尺度的调控可以极大地影响催化剂的催化活性.其中,单原子催化(SAC)因其在催化活性和催化选择性上的优势受到广泛关注.MXene是一种二维过渡金属碳化物或氮化物,其优异的化学性能和稳定的表面构型可以对单原子起到良好的锚定与支撑作用,是一种更具潜力的单原子催化基体.本文基于上述思想,利用密度泛函第一性原理等模拟软件,设计并研究了以MXene为基体的28种过渡金属单原子催化体系,计算并分析了各SAC@MXene体系对氮还原反应的催化效果,从限制电势、催化路径、反应机制等方面探索了其催化性能.并对体系进行了态密度、晶体轨道哈密顿量、差分电荷密度等电子结构分析,找到了适用于MXene体系的单原子催化设计原则.通过对限制电势的计算表明,Ni@MXene和Co@MXene体系具有很低的限制电势(-0.13和-0.17 V),说明这些体系在较低的启动电压下即可发生氮还原反应.研究发现了一种新型适用于SAC@MXene氮催化体系的酶促-远端反应机制.电子结构分析得到SAC原子与MXene基体的Ti原子在催化过程中存在一种协同作用.态密度及晶体轨道哈密顿量也显示出SAC原子与MXene基体Ti之间的一种轨道对称性匹配关系,揭示了这种协同作用对催化反应的积极作用.计算的氢析出反应(HER)结果也显示,在相同化学环境下,SAC@MXene体系氮还原反应相对于氢析出反应更易发生.     

吲哚多样化环化合成咔唑衍生物研究进展

咔唑是一类特殊的含氮芳杂环分子,咔唑衍生物理化性质独特、结构多样,在天然产物、药物和功能材料领域有着广阔的应用,其合成方法一直备受关注.从吲哚直接环化到咔唑的合成方法简洁高效,原料廉价易得、产物种类多样.总结了近5年来以2,3-未取代吲哚为原料合成咔唑衍生物的方法,典型环化策略包含以下三种:[2+2′+2′]环化反应、[2+2′+2″]环化反应和[4+2]苯环化反应,探讨了每种方法的特点,并对未来的发展前景进行展望.     

Benzothiadiazole-based Conjugated Polymers for Organic Solar Cells

Benzothiadiazole(BT) is an electron-deficient unit with fused aromatic core, which can be used to construct conjugated polymers for application in organic solar cells(OSCs). In the past twenty years, huge numbers of conjugated polymers based on BT unit have been developed,focusing on the backbone engineering(such as by using different copolymerized building blocks), side chain engineering(such as by using linear or branch side units), using heteroatoms(such as F, O and S atoms, and CN group), etc. These modifications enable BT-polymers to exhibit distinct absorption spectra(with onset varied from 600 nm to 1000 nm), different frontier energy levels and crystallinities. As a consequence, BT-polymers have gained much attention in recent years, and can be simultaneously used as electron donor and electron acceptor in OSCs, providing the power conversion efficiencies(PCEs) over 18% and 14% in non-fullerene and all-polymer OSCs. In this article, we provide an overview of BTpolymers for OSCs, from donor to acceptor, via selecting some typical BT-polymers in different periods. We hope that the summary in this article can invoke the interest to study the BT-polymers toward high performance OSCs, especially with thick active layers that can be potentially used in large-area devices.     

Phenoxazine-based supramolecular tetrahedron as biomimetic lectin for glucosamine recognition

The design and synthesis of a phenoxazine-based metal-organic tetrahedro n(Zn_4L_4) as biomimetic lectin for selectively recognition of glucosamine(GlcN) was reported.Different from the free phenoxazinebased ligand(L),Zn_4L_4 displayed the highest fluorescent intensity enhancement efficiency toward GlcN over other related natural mono-and disaccharides.Fluorescence titration demonstrated a 1:1 stoichiometric host-guest complex was formed with an association constant about 4.03 × 10~4 L/mol.~1H NMR spectroscopic studies confirmed this selectivity resulted from the multiple hydrogen bonding interactions formed between GlcN and Zn_4L_4.The present results suggested that rational arrangement of recognition sites in the confined space of metal-organic cage is crucial for the selectivity toward target guests.     

Zwitterionic comb-like lipid polymers encapsulating linalool for increasing the fragrance retention time

Fragrances are widely used in cosmetics,apparel and detergents.However,the rapid evaporation of the aro ma shortens the useful life of the aromatic product.Therefore,improving the fragrance retention time of aromatic products and prolonging the service life of aromatic products are the key scientific problems that need to be solved in current aromatic products.In this study,zwitterionic comb-like lipid polymers were synthesized to encapsulate the fragrance molecule linalool.The results showed that the zwitterionic comb lipid molecules were capable of encapsulating more linalool than linear lipid molecules.At the same time,the zwitterionic comb-like lipid molecules also limited the slow release rate of the aroma,thereby increasing the fragrance retention time of the nano-fragrance.     

Surface-assembled highly flexible Na_3(VOPO_4)_2F nanocube cathode for high-rate binder-free Na-ion batteries

Flexible Na-ion storage cathodes are still very few due to the challenge in achieving both reliable mechanical flexibility and excellent electrochemical performances.Herein,a new type of flexible Na_3(VOPO_4)_2F cathode with nanocubes tightly assembled on carbon cloth is fabricated by a facile solvothe rmal method for the first time.The cathode is able to exhibit superior rate capability and stable cycling performa nce up to 1000 cycles,due to the surface-assembling of crystalline nanocubes on carbon fibers.In addition,it shows good mechanical flexibility,nearly no capacity decay is observed after continuous bending of 500 times.With this novel cathode and a directly-grown Na_2Ti_2O_5 anode,a fully binde r-free Na-ion battery is assembled.It can deliver a high wo rking voltage and increased gravimetric energy/power densities(maximum values:220.2 Wh/kg;5674,7 W/kg),and can power a LED indicator at bending angles fro m 0° to 180°.     

Recent advances in the improvement of g-C3N4 based photocatalytic materials

g-C₃N₄ have been widely used in the fields of photocatalytic hydrogen production,photocatalytic degradation of dyes and oxidative degradation of toxic gases due to their excellent performance.It has attracted extensive attention in recent years due to its highly efficient photocatalytic capacity of hydrogen generation,water oxidation,carbon dioxide reduction and degradation of organic pollutants.Because of the abundant carbon and nitrogen composition of the earth,large-scale production and industrial applications of this material are possible.The modification of this material makes its performance more excellent so that this new material can obtain a steady stream of vitality.These outstanding works have become important materials and milestones on the road to mankind's photocatalytic hydrogen production.This review will begin with the basic idea of designing,synthesizing and improving g-C₃N₄ based photocatalytic materials,and introduce the latest development of g-C₃N₄ photocatalysts in hydrogen production from four aspects of controlling the carbon/nitrogen ratio,morphology,element doping and heterojunction structure of g-C₃N₄ materials.     

Cationic and temperature-sensitive liposomes loaded with eugenol for the application to silk

Silk has been widely used in the clothing industry due to their soft and smooth features, good biocompatibility, good heat dissipation, warmth and ultraviolet resistance. The application of fragrance to silk can significantly improve the performance of silk. However, there are two key scientific problems that need to be solved: slowing down the release rate of fragrances and increasing the scent lasting time of silk. In this study, cationic and temperature-sensitive liposomes were designed and prepared to encapsulate eugenol. These fragrance-loaded liposomes significantly slowed down the release rate of the fragrance and controlled the release rate of the fragrance in a thermo-sensitive manner. The liposomes adhered to the silk through electrostatic adsorption interaction. The positive charge on the fragrance-loaded liposomes neutralized much negative charge on silk and thereby increasing the adhesion efficiency.