Complexation of radionuclide <Superscript>152+154</Superscript>Eu(III) with alumina-bound fulvic acid studied by batch and time-resolved laser fluorescence spectroscopy

To contribute to the understanding of Eu(III) interaction preperties on hydrous alumina particles in the absence and presence of fulvic acid (FA), the complexation properties of Eu(III) with hydrous alumina, FA and FA-alumina hybrids are studied by batch and time-resolved laser fluorescence spectroscopy (TRLFS) techniques. The continuous increase in the fluorescence lifetime of Eu-alumina and Eu-FA with increasing pH indicates that the complexation is accompanied by decreasing number of hydration water in the first coordination sphere of Eu(III). Eu(III) is adsorbed onto alumina particles as outer-sphere surface complexes of ≡(Al?O)?Eu· (OH)· 7H₂O and ≡(Al?O)?Eu· 6H₂O at low pH values, and as inner-sphere surface complexes as ≡(Al?O)₂?Eu⁺· 4H₂O at high pH. In FA solution, Eu(III) forms complexes with FA as (COO)₂Eu⁺(H₂O) _x and the hydration water number in the first coordination sphere decreases with pH increasing. The formation of ≡COO?Eu?(O?Al≡)· 4H₂O is observed on FA-alumina hybrids, suggesting the formation of strong inner-sphere surface complexes in the presence of FA. The surface complexes are also characterized by their emission spectra [the ratio of emission intensities of ⁵ D ₀→⁷ F ₁ (λ=594 nm) and ⁵ D ₀→⁷ F ₂ (λ=619 nm) transitions] and their fluorescence lifetime. The findings is important to understand the contribution of FA in the complexation properties of Eu(III) on FA-alumina hybrids that the clarification of the environmental behavior of humic substances is necessary to understand fully the behavior of Eu(III), or its analogue trivalent lanthanide and actinide ions in natural environment.     

Inorganic electrochromic materials based on tungsten oxide and nickel oxide nanostructures

Electrochromic devices, which dynamically change color under applied potentials, are widely studied for use in energy-efficient smart windows. The operation of electrochromic materials and devices involves the gain or loss of electrons and simultaneous insertion/extraction of ions with opposite charges to balance the internal electric fields. The performance is therefore limited by kinetics of charge transport in the electrochromic materials as well as ion migration in the electrolyte, materials and at their interfaces. Nanostructured electrochromic materials have an extremely short charge transport distance facilitating charge transport in electrochromic devices and large specific surface area for interaction with electrolytes, and thus may provide fast charge and ions transport, high electrochemical activities and remarkable enhancement of electrochromic properties. The recent progress in application of nanostructures, including nanoparticles, 1D and 2D nanostructures, in metal oxide electrochromic materials and devices is reviewed. A perspective on the development trends in electrochromic materials and devices is also proposed.     

Template synthesis of imine-based covalent organic framework core-shell structure and hollow sphere: a case of COF<Subscript>TTA-DHTA</Subscript>

Controllably synthesizing well-dispersed covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with uniform both morphology and size is still a challenge. Herein, we report the template-directed synthesis of COF_TTA-DHTA-based core-shell hybrids under solvothermal conditions by using amino-functionalized SiO₂ microspheres as templates coupled with stepwise addition of initial monomer molecules. The modified amino groups on the surfaces of SiO₂ templates play an important role in the formation of well-defined NH₂-f-SiO₂@COF_TTA-DHTA core-shell hybrids. COF_TTA-DHTA hollow spheres can be obtained by etching SiO₂ cores of NH₂-f-SiO₂@COF_TTA-DHTA. Both the NH₂-f-SiO₂@COF_TTA-DHTA and COF_TTA-DHTA hollow spheres possess the well-defined morphology, high crystallinity and porosity, excellent dispersion property and high chemical stability. The template synthesis method demonstrated in this work provides a general method for the shape-controlled synthesis of COF-based materials, which is important for the further applications in the fields such as energy storage, drug delivery and catalysis.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Tetra</Emphasis>-armed conjugated microporous polymers for gas adsorption and photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Two novel tetra-armed conjugated microporous polymers with different geometries have been designed and synthesized via Suzuki-Miyaura cross coupling polycondensation. Both polymers are stable in various organic solvents tested and are thermally stable. The pyrene-containing polymer of PrPy with the rigid pyrene unit shows a higher Brunauer-Emmet-Teller specific surface area of 1219 m² g^?1 than the tetraphenylethylene-containing polymer of PrTPE (770 m² g^?1), which leads to a high CO₂ uptake ability of 3.89 mmol g^?1 at 1.13 bar/273 K and a H₂ uptake ability of 1.69 wt% at 1.13 bar/77 K. The photocatalytic hydrogen production experiments revealed that PrPy also shows a better photocatalytic performance than PrTPE due to the higher conjugation degree and planar structure, the broader UV-visible (UV-Vis) absorption, the lower photoluminescence lifetime, and the higher specific surface area.     

Lanthanide-organic frameworks based on terphenyl-tetracarboxylate ligands: syntheses,structures, optical properties and selective sensing of nitro explosives

Three isostructural three-dimensional(3D) lanthanide-based metal-organic frameworks [Ln_2L(H_2L)(NMP)_2].H_2O(Ln=Sm(1), Eu(2), Gd(3); H_4L=1,1′:4′,1″-terphenyl-2′,4,4″,5′-tetracarboxylic acid; NMP=N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone) have been synthesized and structurally characterized. In 1–3, two Ln3+ ions are doubly-bridged by two oxygen atoms of two carboxylate groups to form the dinuclear Ln_2(OCOO–)_2 unit. Each Ln_2(OCOO–)_2 unit links with four H_2L~(2-) ligands and four L4. ligands to lead to the 3D framework,which can be rationalized as a new trinodal 4,4,8-connected(44.62)(45.6)(412.616) topological network by considering the dinuclear Ln_2(OCOO–)_2 units as 8-connected nodes and L~4./H_2L~(2-) ligands as planar 4-connected nodes, respectively. 1 and 3 exhibit blue emission originated from the ligand with the emission maximum at 384 nm, while 2 shows intense characteristic red emission of Eu~(3+) ions and weak ligand-centered emission. Moreover, 2 has fluorescent quenching response towards the aromatic nitro compounds, especially for the 3,4-dinitrotoluene(3,4-DNT) with the linear Stern-Volmer relationship in the concentration range of 0–1 mM and the quenching constant(Ksv) of 2.084×10~3 M~(-1).     

Interaction of radionuclides with natural and manmade materials using XAFS technique

The X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) technology has exhibited a very unique application in the study of sorption mechanism, chemical species and microstructures of radionuclides at the natural solid-water interfaces. In this review, the interaction mechanism of radionuclides with clay minerals and nanomaterials under different environmental conditions are summarized from the XAFS spectroscopy analysis. The coordination number and the bond distances of radionuclides, the oxidation-reduction reactions, the influence of humic substances and microorganisms on the species and structures of radionuclides at molecule level are reviewed and compared. This review is helpful to understand the interactions of radionuclides with oxides, natural clay minerals and nanomaterials, which is also crucial to evaluate the physicochemical behaviors of radionuclides in the natural environment.     

Biosynthetic approach to modeling and understanding metalloproteins using unnatural amino acids

Metalloproteins have inspired chemists for many years to synthesize artificial catalysts that mimic native enzymes.As a complementary approach to studying native enzymes or making synthetic models,biosynthetic approach using small and stable proteins to model native enzymes has offered advantages of incorporating non-covalent secondary sphere interactions under physiological conditions.However,most biosynthetic models are restricted to natural amino acids.To overcome this limitation,incorporating unnatural amino acids into the biosynthetic models has shown promises.In this review,we summarize first synthetic,semisynthetic and biological methods of incorporates unnatural amino acids(UAAs)into proteins,followed by progress made in incorporating UAAs into both native metalloproteins and their biosynthetic models to fine-tune functional properties beyond native enzymes or their variants containing natural amino acids,such as reduction potentials of azurin,O_2 reduction rates and percentages of product formation of HCO models in Mb,the rate of radical transport in ribonucleotide reductase(RNR)and the proton and electron transfer pathways in photosystemⅡ(PSⅡ).We also discuss how this endeavour has allowed systematic investigations of precise roles of conserved residues in metalloproteins,such as Metl21 in azurin,Tyr244 that is cross-linked to one of the three His ligands to CuB in HCO,Tyr122,356,730 and 731 in RNR and TyrZ in PSⅡ.These examples have demonstrated that incorporating UAAs has provided a new dimension in our efforts to mimic native enzymes and in providing deeper insights into structural features responsible high enzymatic activity and reaction mechanisms,making it possible to design highly efficient artificial catalysts with similar or even higher activity than native enzymes.     

Conjugated polymers containing B←N unit as electron acceptors for all-polymer solar cells

Polymer electron acceptors are the key materials in all-polymer solar cells(all-PSCs).In this review,we focused on introducing the principle of boron-nitrogen coordination bond(B←N),and summarizing our recent research on polymer electron acceptors containing B←N unit for efficient all-PSC devices.Two approaches have been reported to design polymer electron acceptors using B←N unit.One is to replace a C-C unit by a B←N unit in conjugated polymers to transform a polymer electron donor to a polymer electron acceptor.The other approach is to construct novel electron-deficient building block based on B←N unit for polymer electron acceptors.The polymer electron acceptors containing B←N unit showed tunable lowest unoccupied molecular orbital(LUMO) energy levels and exhibited excellent all-PSC device performance with power conversion efficiency of exceeding6%.These results indicate that organic boron chemistry is a new toolbox to develop functional polymer materials for optoelectronic device applications.     

Nanostructured heterogeneous catalysts for electrochemical reduction of CO2

Electrochemical reduction of CO₂ provides a sustainable solution to address the intermittent renewable electricity storage while recycling CO₂ to produce fuels and chemicals. Highly efficient catalytic materials and reaction systems are required to drive this process economically. This Review highlights the new trends in advancing the electrochemical reduction of CO₂ by developing and designing nanostructured heterogeneous catalysts. The activity, selectivity and reaction mechanism are significantly affected by the nano effects in nanostructured heterogeneous catalysts. In the future, energy efficiency and current density in electrochemical reduction of CO₂ need to be further improved to meet the requirements for practical applications.     

Efficient visible-light photocatalysts by constructing dispersive energy band with anisotropic p and s-p hybridization states

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