Probing the Catalytic Activity of Reduced Graphene Oxide Decorated with Au Nanoparticles Triggered by Visible Light

Hybrid materials in which reduced graphene oxide (rGO) is decorated with Au nanoparticles (rGO–Au NPs) were obtained by the in situ reduction of GO and AuCl₄^?_(aq) by ascorbic acid. On laser excitation, rGO could be oxidized as a result of the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) excitation in the Au NPs, which generates activated O₂ through the transfer of SPR‐excited hot electrons to O₂ molecules adsorbed from air. The SPR‐mediated catalytic oxidation of p‐aminothiophenol (PATP) to p,p′‐dimercaptoazobenzene (DMAB) was then employed as a model reaction to probe the effect of rGO as a support for Au NPs on their SPR‐mediated catalytic activities. The increased conversion of PATP to DMAB relative to individual Au NPs indicated that charge‐transfer processes from rGO to Au took place and contributed to improved SPR‐mediated activity. Since the transfer of electrons from Au to adsorbed O₂ molecules is the crucial step for PATP oxidation, in addition to the SPR‐excited hot electrons of Au NPs, the transfer of electrons from rGO to Au contributed to increasing the electron density of Au above the Fermi level and thus the Au‐to‐O₂ charge‐transfer process.     

Advanced Silk Fibroin Biomaterials-Based Microneedles for Healthcare

Microneedles are a promising transdermal drug delivery system that has the advantages of minimal invasiveness, painlessness, and on-demand drug delivery compared with commonly used medical techniques. Natural resources are developed as next-generation materials for microneedles with varying degrees of success. Among them, silk fibroin is a natural polymer obtained from silkworms with good biocompatibility, high hardness, and controllable biodegradability. These properties provide many opportunities for integrating silk fibroin with implantable microneedle systems. In this review, the research progress of silk fibroin microneedles in recent years is summarized, including their materials, processing technology, detection, drug release methods, and applications. Besides, the research and development of silk fibroin in a multidimensional way are analyzed. Finally, it is expected that silk fibroin microneedles will have excellent development prospects in various fields.     

Preparation of N-Aryl Anthranilic Acid Drugs by Modified Ullmann Coupling Reaction in Ionic Liquids

Russian Journal of Organic Chemistry - N-Aryl anthranilic acid drugs have been synthesized by a simple, environmentally friendly, low-cost, and high-yielding modified Ullmann coupling reaction...     

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.     

锌活化Fe/Co/N掺杂的生物质碳基高效氧还原催化剂

为了推动清洁能源-燃料电池的广泛应用, 迫切需要研发成本低、 原料来源广泛的过渡金属基高效氧还原反应(ORR)催化材料, 来替代目前使用的贵金属铂基催化材料. 本文以铁和钴等非贵金属离子作为催化材料的主要活性位点, 通过金属-羧基/羟基螯合键原位预锚定在具有三维(3D)孔道结构、 富含羧基和羟基以及极易在水溶液中形成凝胶网络的海洋生物质材料海藻酸钠上, 经冷冻干燥得到气凝胶; 然后通过高温碳化, 得到活性位点均匀分布在具有多级孔结构的碳骨架中的高活性、 高稳定的Co/Zn/Fe/N@bio-C-2氧还原催化剂材料, 该催化剂包含2种不同的铁基活性材料(Fe₂O₃和Fe)以及2种不同的钴基活性材料(CoO和Co).利用硝酸锌作为活化剂来改善催化材料的孔道结构, 使制备碳材料的总面积从149.3 m²/g增加到325.3 m²/g. 通过一系列对比实验发现, Fe/Co双活性位点与合适比表面积的协同作用使得Co/Zn/Fe/N@bio-C-2获得了最佳的ORR催化活性.其在0.1 mol/L KOH溶液中起始电位达到0.99 V, 半波电位可达0.87 V.     

The miracle role of lattice imperfections in benzene alkylation with methanol over mordenite

Mordenite (MOR) has demonstrated potential as a catalyst for alkylation due to high variability, intrinsic porosity, and outstanding stability. However, the contact probability of benzene and methanol has been limited by typical layered structures of MOR and there is no connection between layers. Here, we report the preparedness of H-MOR via a sequential post-treatment method based on a commercial MOR. H-MOR sample had appeared lattice imperfections inferred from characterization means. The samples were tested with benezene methylation reaction. Results show that the high conversion of benzene and the high selectivity of toluene were obtained from the miracle role of lattice imperfections in the H-MOR sample. Sequentially, based on the study of all catalyst structure and physical properties, a plausible reaction mechanism for the selectivity of the desired toluene was proposed.     

Synthesizing Red Fluorescent Carbon Dots from Rigid Polycyclic Conjugated Molecules: Dual-Mode Sensing and Bioimaging in Biochemical Applications

Red fluorescent carbon dots (R-CDs) are special desirable for biochemical analysis due to good biological compatibility and deep penetration; however, they remain as bottlenecks due to difficulties in expanding the sp² domain, especially those are fused from rigid polycyclic conjugated molecules (RPCMs) with heteroatom substituents due to huge steric hindrance and heteroatom blockage toward graphic lattice. Here, an RPCM with heteroatom substituents, 1,5-diamino-4,8-dihydroxyanthraquinone (DDAQ), based self-doped R-CDs with PL emission at 635 nm is reported. Further investigations reveal that the expanding, hybrid sp² domain with indanthrone tannin structure from DDAQ is mainly responsible for the obtained red fluorescence of R-CDs. Taking advantage of optical properties, R-CDs are considered to construct a colorimetric/fluorescent dual mode sensing array for quantifying trace levels of Fe³⁺ and glyphosate based on the static quenching, and a biomarker for cell imaging. The CD-based sensors exhibit outstanding recovery, high selectivity, and sensitivity, also facilitated dual-mode detection with the naked-eye. The R-CDs have low cytotoxicity, good cell membrane penetration for rapid cell entry, and high resolution, demonstrating their potential for biolabeling and bioanalytic applications.     

Green synthesis of palladium nanoparticles using broth of Cinnamomum camphora leaf

The development of dependable, environmentally benign processes for the synthesis of nanoscale materials is an important aspect of nanotechnology. In the present study, we report one-pot biogenic fabrication of palladium nanoparticles by a simple procedure using broth of Cinnamomum camphora leaf without extra surfactant, capping agent, and/or template. The mean size of palladium nanoparticles, ranging from 3.2 to 6.0 nm, could be facilely controlled by merely varying the initial concentration of the palladium ions. The polyols components and the heterocyclic components were believed to be responsible for the reduction of palladium ions and the stabilization of palladium nanoparticles, respectively.     

Aurophilic Interactions in the Self‐Assembly of Gold Nanoclusters into Nanoribbons with Enhanced Luminescence

Aurophilic interactions (Au^I???Au^I) are crucial in directing the supramolecular self‐assembly of many gold(I) compounds; however, this intriguing chemistry has been rarely explored for the self‐assembly of nanoscale building blocks. Herein, we report on studies on aurophilic interactions in the structure‐directed self‐assembly of ultrasmall gold nanoparticles or nanoclusters (NCs, <2 nm) using [Au₂₅(SR)₁₈]^? (SR=thiolate ligand) as a model cluster. The self‐assembly of NCs is initiated by surface‐motif reconstruction of [Au₂₅(SR)₁₈]^? from short SR‐[Au^I‐SR]₂ units to long SR‐[Au^I‐SR]_x (x>2) staples accompanied by structure modification of the intrinsic Au₁₃ kernel. Such motif reconstruction increases the content of Au^I species in the protecting shell of Au NCs, providing the structural basis for directed aurophilic interactions, which promote the self‐assembly of Au NCs into well‐defined nanoribbons in solution. More interestingly, the compact structure and effective aurophilic interactions in the nanoribbons significantly enhance the luminescence intensity of Au NCs with an absolute quantum yield of 6.2 % at room temperature.