Preface: Mechanics of soft materials and flexible structures

Acta Mechanica Sinica -     

Study on propagation efficiency and fidelity of subthreshold signal in feed-forward hybrid neural network under electromagnetic radiation

Nonlinear Dynamics - The hybrid neural model provides a computationally effective and biophysics-based neuron behavior model, which maintains its simplicity by incorporating the dynamics...     

Bromine doped g-C3N4 with enhanced photocatalytic reduction in U(VI)

Research on Chemical Intermediates - In the process of uranium mining and smelting, large quantities of low-concentration uranium-containing wastewater have been produced. It is an ideal solution...     

新型多孔材料用作色谱手性固定相

手性固定相是色谱法分离分析手性化合物的关键。近年来,随着材料科学的迅速发展,越来越多的新型手性材料被作为色谱固定相用于手性分离分析。本文综述了近5年来液相色谱、气相色谱和毛细管电色谱领域的新型手性固定相的研究进展,重点总结了基于手性多孔材料的新型手性固定相研究,最后对手性固定相的研究进行了总结与展望。     

One-pot,one-step,and selective terpolymerization of ethylene oxide,propylene oxide,and COS to copoly(thioether)s with tunable thermal properties

Facile construction of sulfur-rich polymers using readily available raw chemicals is an area aggressively pursued but challenging. Herein we use common feedstocks of ethylene oxide (EO), propylene oxide (PO), and carbonyl sulfide (COS) to synthesize copoly(thioether)s which are traditionally produced from unpleasant and difficult to store episulfides. In this protocol, the EO/COS coupling selectively generates a pure poly(ethylene sulfide) (PES) with melting temperature (T_m) values up to 172°C and high yields up to 98%. The EO/PO/COS terpolymerization leads to the incorporation of soft poly(propylene sulfide) (PPS) and hard PES segments together, affording a random PES-co-PPS copoly(thioether) with the complete consumption of EO and PO. Additionally, by simply varying the EO/PO feeding ratio, the obtained copoly(thioether)s possess tunable thermal properties, T_m values in the range of 76–144°C, and excellent solubility. These copolymerizations are conducted in one-pot/one-step at industrially favored reaction temperatures of 100–120°C using catalysts of common organic bases, suggesting a facile and practical manner. Especially, the copoly(thioether) exhibits high refractive indices up to 1.68 owing to its high sulfur content, suggesting a broad application prospect in optical materials.     

Solar light-driven photocatalytic production of hypochlorous acid over Pt/WO3 in seawater for marine antifouling

The hypochlorous acid (HCIO) was synthesized from seawater by the Pt/WO₃ photocatalyst under visible-light irradiation. The effect of WO₃ morphology and Pt loading on the performance of the composite photocatalyst for the production of HCIO has been studied in detail. The study found that among the series of materials, hollow WO₃ microspheres with a diameter of about 3 μm loaded with 1.0 wt% Pt have the best HCIO production performance. Over it, 14.52 μM of HClO (1.24 mg/L of free chlorine) was accumulated in 0.5 M NaCl solution after 2 h of visible-light photoirradiation. What is more, the concentration of HClO can reach 4.34 μM (0.354 mg/L free chlorine) in natural seawater for 1 h using this Pt/WO₃ photocatalyst. Under visible-light irradiation, the Pt/WO₃ photocatalyst has a good broad-spectrum antibacterial activity and the activity of inhibiting marine fouling algae. The Pt/WO₃ photocatalyst has high stability and reusability. All these characteristics are conducive to the application in the field of marine antifouling. Moreover, the photocatalytic reaction mechanism was evaluated by studying the photoelectrochemical properties of Pt/WO₃/FTO. This research provides a new strategy for replacing the traditional electrolytic marine antifouling system with the visible-light-catalyzed HClO production system.

     

Monitoring the Thiol/Thiophenol Molecule-Modulated Plasmon-Mediated Silver Oxidation with Dark-Field Optical Microscopy

Surface plasmon can trigger or accelerate many photochemical reactions, especially useful in energy and environmental industries. Recently, molecular adsorption has proven effective in modulating plasmon-mediated photochemistry, however the realized chemical reactions are limited and the underlying mechanism is still unclear. Herein, by using in situ dark-field optical microscopy, the plasmon-mediated oxidative etching of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs), a typical hot-hole-driven reaction, is monitored continuously and quantitatively. The presence of thiol or thiophenol molecules is found essential in the silver oxidation. In addition, the rate of silver oxidation is modulated by the choice of different thiol or thiophenol molecules. Compared with the molecules having electron donating groups, the ones having electron accepting groups accelerate the silver oxidation dramatically. The thiol/thiophenol modulation is attributed to the modulation of the charge separation between the Ag NPs and the adsorbed thiol or thiophenol molecules. This work demonstrates the great potential of molecular adsorption in modulating the plasmon-mediated photochemistry, which will pave a new way for developing highly efficient plasmonic photocatalysts.     

Y掺杂WS2二维材料的第一性原理研究

WS₂由于其优异的物理和光电性质引起了广泛关注。本研究基于第一性原理计算方法,探索了本征单层WS₂及不同浓度W原子替位钇(Y)掺杂WS₂的电子结构和光学特性。结果表明本征单层WS₂为带隙1.814 eV的直接带隙半导体。进行4%浓度(原子数分数)的Y原子掺杂后,带隙减小为1.508 eV,依旧保持着直接带隙的特性,随着Y掺杂浓度的不断增大,掺杂WS₂带隙进一步减小,当浓度达到25%时,能带结构转变为0.658 eV的间接带隙,WS₂表现出磁性。适量浓度的掺杂可以提高材料的导电性能,且掺杂浓度增大时,体系依旧保持着透明性并且在红外光和可见光区对光子的吸收能力、材料的介电性能都有着显著提高。本文为WS₂二维材料相关光电器件的研究提供了理论依据。     

Vibration suppression of a geometrically nonlinear beam with boundary inertial nonlinear energy sinks

Nonlinear Dynamics - As a simplified model of structures of many kinds, the Euler Bernoulli beam has proved useful for studying vibration suppression. In order to meet engineering design...     

Effect of temperature on the interactions between cellulose and lignin via molecular dynamics simulations

Cellulose - Heating is essential in various biomass pre-treatments and thermal conversion processes. It is of practical significance to study the characteristics of cellulose-lignin and...