General Formation of Macro-/Mesoporous Nanoshells from Interfacial Assembly of Irregular Mesostructured Nanounits

Mesoporous core–shell nanostructures with controllable ultra-large open channels in their nanoshells are of great interest. However, soft template-directed cooperative assembly to mesoporous nanoshells with highly accessible pores larger than 30 nm, or even above 50 nm into macroporous range, remains a significant challenge. Herein we report a general approach for precisely tailored coating of hierarchically macro-/mesoporous polymer and carbon shells, possessing highly accessible radial channels with extremely wide pore size distribution from ca. 10 nm to ca. 200 nm, on diverse functional materials. This strategy creates opportunities to tailor the interfacial assembly of irregular mesostructured nanounits on core materials and generate various core–shell nanomaterials with controllable pore architectures. The obtained Fe,N-doped macro-/mesoporous carbon nanoshells show enhanced electrochemical performance for the oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline condition.     

Sustained and Controlled Release of Volatile Precursors for Chemical Vapor Deposition of Graphene at Atmospheric Pressure

Precursors and catalysts play vital roles in chemical reactions. Considerable efforts have been devoted to the investigation of catalysts for graphene growth by chemical vapor deposition in recent years. However, there has been little research on precursors because of a lack of innovation in term of creating a controllable feeding method. Herein, we present a novel sustained and controlled release approach, and develop a convenient, safe, and potentially scalable feeding system with the assistance of matrix materials and a simple portable feeder. As a result, a highly volatile liquid precursor can be fed accurately to grow large-area, uniform graphene films with optimal properties. This feeding approach will further benefit the synthesis of other two-dimensional materials from various precursors.     

Periodic Solutions of Third-order Differential Equations with Finite Delay in Vector-valued Functional Spaces

In this paper, we study the well-posedness of the third-order differential equation with finite delay(P_3): αu'"(t) + u"(t) = Au(t) + Bu'(t) + Fut +f(t)(t ∈ T := [0,2π]) with periodic boundary conditions u(0) = u(2π), u'(0) = u"(2π),u"(0)=u"(2π) in periodic Lebesgue-Bochner spaces Lp(T;X) and periodic Besov spaces B_(p,q)~s(T;X), where A and B are closed linear operators on a Banach space X satisfying D(A) ∩ D(B) ≠ {0}, α≠ 0 is a fixed constant and F is a bounded linear operator from Lp([-2π, 0]; X)(resp. Bp,qs([-2π, 0]; X)) into X, ut is given by ut(s) = u(t + s) when s ∈ [-2π,0]. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the Lp-well-posedness(resp. B_(p,q)~s-well-posedness)of(P_3) are given in the above two function spaces. We also give concrete examples that our abstract results may be applied.     

Well‐posedness of fractional integro‐differential equations in vector‐valued functional spaces

We study the well‐posedness of the fractional differential equations with infinite delay on Lebesgue–Bochner spaces and Besov spaces , where A and B are closed linear operators on a Banach space X satisfying ,  and . Under suitable assumptions on the kernels a and b, we completely characterize the well‐posedness of in the above vector‐valued function spaces on by using known operator‐valued Fourier multiplier theorems. We also give concrete examples where our abstract results may be applied.     

Metal-Mediated Directional Capping of Rod-Packing Metal–Organic Frameworks

Two new rod-packing metal–organic frameworks (RPMOF) are constructed by regulating the in situ formation of the capping agent. In CPM-s7, carboxylate linkers extend 1D manganese-oxide chains in four additional directions, forming 3D RPMOF. The substitution of Mn²⁺ with a stronger Lewis acidic Co²⁺, leads to an acceleration of the hydrolysis-prone sulfonate linker, resulting in presence of sulfate ions to reduce two out of the four carboxylate-extending directions, and thus forming a new 2D rod-packing CPM-s8. Density functional theory calculations and magnetization measurements reveal ferrimagnetic ordering of CPM-s8, signifying the potential of exploring 2D RPMOF for effective low-dimensional magnetic materials.     

In-situ cation exchange enhances room temperature phosphorescence of a family of metal-organic frameworks

The rational designability and chemical tunability of metal-organic frameworks(MOFs)are enabling tributes to efficaciously enhance their room temperature phosphorescence(RTP)performance.A family of stable anionic MOFs,[Zn₂(4,5-ImDC)₂]M₂(NKU-132,M=(CH₃)₂NH₂or(CH₂CH₃)₂NH₂),featuring significant RTP have been synthesized.By rational cation selection and in-situ replacement from dimethylammonium to diethylammonium,the phosphorescence lifetime is increased from 30.88 to126.3 ms,along with less sensitivity to air.This work provides an anti-quenching and lifetime tuning example for RTP-MOFmaterials via facile host-guest chemistry.     

Computational Insights into the Charge Relaying Properties of β‐Turn Peptides in Protein Charge Transfers

Density functional theory calculations suggest that β‐turn peptide segments can act as a novel dual‐relay elements to facilitate long‐range charge hopping transport in proteins, with the N terminus relaying electron hopping transfer and the C terminus relaying hole hopping migration. The electron‐ or hole‐binding ability of such a β‐turn is subject to the conformations of oligopeptides and lengths of its linking strands. On the one hand, strand extension at the C‐terminal end of a β‐turn considerably enhances the electron‐binding of the β‐turn N terminus, due to its unique electropositivity in the macro‐dipole, but does not enhance hole‐forming of the β‐turn C terminus because of competition from other sites within the β‐strand. On the other hand, strand extension at the N terminal end of the β‐turn greatly enhances hole‐binding of the β‐turn C terminus, due to its distinct electronegativity in the macro‐dipole, but does not considerably enhance electron‐binding ability of the N terminus because of the shared responsibility of other sites in the β‐strand. Thus, in the β‐hairpin structures, electron‐ or hole‐binding abilities of both termini of the β‐turn motif degenerate compared with those of the two hook structures, due to the decreased macro‐dipole polarity caused by the extending the two terminal strands. In general, the high polarity of a macro‐dipole always plays a principal role in determining charge‐relay properties through modifying the components and energies of the highest occupied and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals of the β‐turn motif, whereas local dipoles with low polarity only play a cooperative assisting role. Further exploration is needed to identify other factors that influence relay properties in these protein motifs.     

Nanostructured copper‐coated solid‐phase microextraction fiber for gas chromatographic analysis of dibutyl phthalate and diethylhexyl phthalate environmental estrogens

A novel nanostructured copper‐based solid‐phase microextraction fiber was developed and applied for determining the two most common types of phthalate environmental estrogens (dibutyl phthalate and diethylhexyl phthalate) in aqueous samples, coupled to gas chromatography with flame ionization detection. The copper film was coated onto a stainless‐steel wire via an electroless plating process, which involved a surface activation process to improve the surface properties of the fiber. Several parameters affecting extraction efficiency such as extraction time, extraction temperature, ionic strength, desorption temperature, and desorption time were optimized by a factor‐by‐factor procedure to obtain the highest extraction efficiency. The as‐established method showed wide linear ranges (0.05–250 μg/L). Precision of single fiber repeatability was <7.0%, and fiber‐to‐fiber repeatability was <10%. Limits of detection were 0.01 μg/L. The proposed method exhibited better or comparable extraction performance compared with commercial and other lab‐made fibers, and excellent thermal stability and durability. The proposed method was applied successfully for the determination of model analytes in plastic soaking water.     

Resistance characterizations of equiarboreal graphs

A weighted (unweighted) graph $G$ is called equiarboreal if the sum of weights (the number) of spanning trees containing a given edge in $G$ is independent of the choice of edge. In this paper, we give some resistance characterizations of equiarboreal weighted and unweighted graphs, and obtain the necessary and sufficient conditions for $k$-subdivision graphs, iterated double graphs, line graphs of regular graphs and duals of planar graphs to be equiarboreal. Applying these results, we obtain new infinite families of equiarboreal graphs, including iterated double graphs of 1-walk-regular graphs, line graphs of triangle-free 2-walk-regular graphs, and duals of equiarboreal planar graphs.