Amorphous High-Entropy Hydroxides of Tunable Wide Solar Absorption for Solar Water Evaporation

The high-entropy materials have raised much attention in recent years due to their extraordinary performances in mechanical, catalysis, energy storage fields. Herein, a new type of high-entropy hydroxides (e.g., NiFeCoMnAl(OH)_x) that are amorphous and capable of broad solar absorption is reported. A facile one-pot co-precipitation method is employed to synthesize these amorphous high-entropy hydroxides (a-HEHOs) under ambient conditions. The a-HEHOs thus obtained display widely tunable bandgap (e.g., from 2.6 to 1.1 eV) due to their high-entropy and amorphous characteristics, enabling efficient light absorbance and photothermal conversion in the solar regime. Further solar water evaporation measurements show that the a-HEHOs delivered a considerable energy conversion efficiency of 55%, comparable to black titanium oxides that are synthesized using more complex and expensive methods.     

The X-ray Structures of (R)-2,2′-Dimethyl-1,1′-binaphthyl and (±)-2-Bromomethyl-2′-dibromomethyl-1,1′-binaphthyl

Journal of Chemical Crystallography - Molecular structures of (R)-2,2′-dimethyl-1,1′-binaphthyl [monoclinic, a?=?11.24420 (11), b?=?10.56190 (9),...     

A rapid and sensitive bioanalytical LC–MS/MS method for the quantitation of a novel CDK5 inhibitor 20–223 (CP668863) in plasma: Application to in vitro metabolism and plasma protein-binding studies

A rapid, selective, and sensitive liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the quantitation of the novel CDK5 inhibitor ‘20–223' in mouse plasma. Separation of analytes was achieved by a reverse-phase ACE Excel C₁₈ column (1.7 μm, 100 × 2.1 mm) with gradient elution using 0.1% formic acid (FA) in methanol and 0.1% FA as the mobile phase. Analytes were monitored by MS/MS with an electrospray ionization source in the positive multiple reaction monitoring mode. The MS/MS response was linear over the concentration range 0.2–500 ng/mL for 20–223. The within- and between-batch precision were within the acceptable limits as per Food and Drug Administration guidelines. The validated method was successfully applied to plasma protein binding and in vitro metabolism studies. Compound 20–223 was highly bound to mouse plasma proteins (>98% bound). Utilizing mouse S9 fractions, in vitro intrinsic clearance (CL_int) was 24.68 ± 0.99 μL/min/mg protein. A total of 12 phase I and II metabolites were identified with hydroxylation found to be the major metabolic pathway. The validate method required a low sample volume, was linear from 0.2 to 500 ng/mL, and had acceptable accuracy and precision.     

Effect of biaxial strain and hydrostatic pressure on the magnetic properties of bilayer CrI3

Two-dimensional van der Waals magnetic materials are intriguing for applications in the future spintronics devices, so it is crucial to explore strategy to control the magnetic properties. Here, we carried out first-principles calculations and Monte Carlo simulations to investigate the effect of biaxial strain and hydrostatic pressure on the magnetic properties of the bilayer CrI₃. We found that the magnetic anisotropy, intralayer and interlayer exchange interactions, and Curie temperature can be tuned by biaxial strain and hydrostatic pressure. Large compressive biaxial strain may induce a ferromagneticto-antiferromagnetic transition of both CrI₃ layers. The hydrostatic pressure could enhance the intralayer exchange interaction significantly and hence largely boost the Curie temperature. The effect of the biaxial strain and hydrostatic pressure revealed in the bilayer CrI₃ may be generalized to other two-dimensional magnetic materials.     

Highly sensitive and selective detect of p‐arsanilic acid with a new water‐stable europium metal–organic framework

The p‐arsanilic acid (p‐ASA), as an aromatic organoarsenic compounds, had received considerable concerns for their potential toxicity and carcinogenic properties. It was essential to detect p‐ASA with a facile method. In this paper, an europium based fluorescent metal–organic framework (MOF) [Eu₂(clhex)·2H₂O)]·H₂O ( BUC‐69 ) was successfully prepared under hydrothermal conditions with 1,2,3,4,5,6‐cyclohexanehexacarboxylic acid (H₆clhex) as organic linker. BUC‐69 displayed superior fluorescence capability to achieve selective and sensitive detection toward p‐ASA in water, which presented the first example of a MOF‐based sensor to detect p‐ASA. BUC‐69 showed excellent chemical stability in solutions under pH ranging from 4 to 12, which makes it be a potential sensor both in acidity and alkalinity condition. Significantly, BUC‐69 performed well in fluorescent sensing of p‐ASA at a low concentration (10^?6 M) in the simulated wastewater prepared with real lake water, and the results were comparable to the values detected by Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP‐OES). The corresponding mechanism of fluorescent sensing toward p‐ASA with BUC‐69 was proposed and affirmed.     

Unconstrained Direct Optimization of Spacecraft Trajectories Using Many Embedded Lambert Problems

Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications - Direct optimization of many-revolution spacecraft trajectories is performed using an unconstrained formulation with many short-arc, embedded...     

Strategies in boosting photosensitization for biomedical applications

Science China Chemistry -     

Enhancing optomechanical force sensing via precooling and quantum noise cancellation

We theoretically investigate optomechanical force sensing via precooling and quantum noise cancellation in two coupled cavity optomechanical systems.We show that force sensing based on the reduction of noise can be used to dramatically enhance the force sensing and that the precooling process can eifectively improve the quantum noise cancellation.Specifically,we examine the effect of optomechanical cooling and noise reduction on the spectral density of the noise of the force measurement;these processes can significantly enhance the performance of optomechanical force sensing,and setting up the system in the resolved sideband regime can lead to an optimization of the cooling processes in a hybrid system.Such a scheme serves as a promising platform for quantum back-action-evading measurements of the motion and a framework for an optomechanical force sensor.