Synergistic Activities in the Ullmann Coupling of Chloroarenes at Ambient Temperature by Pd‐Supported Calcined Ferrocenated La2O3

Novel palladium‐doped nanoparticles have been explored to serve as the first metal oxide‐derived heterogeneous catalyst for Ullmann reaction of chloroarenes under mild condition (34 °C). This heterogeneous catalyst exhibited high catalytic activity towards the Ullmann homocoupling of chloroarenes into a series of useful symmetrically biaryl products with good to excellent yields in the presence of ethanol and NaOH, thereby leading to green and economical Ullmann reaction. The produced nanoparticles were successfully characterized by various techniques including PXRD, XPS, HRTEM, SEM‐EDS, BET, TGA techniques, elemental mapping analysis and ICP‐OES. Interestingly, based on characterization and experimental data, a reasonable mechanism has been proposed. Also, the formation of aryl methyl ketone as a by‐product has been further confirmed by isotopic labelling experiments that the acetyl moiety is derived from ethanol. Moreover, the catalyst was stable and could be easily reused up to 5 times under atmospheric air without suffering significant loss in catalytic activity.     

Irreversible Structural Changes of Copper Hexacyanoferrate Used as a Cathode in Zn-Ion Batteries

The structural changes of copper hexacyanoferrate (CuHCF), a Prussian blue analogue, which occur when used as a cathode in an aqueous Zn-ion battery, are investigated using electron microscopy techniques. The evolution of Zn_xCu_1−xHCF phases possessing wire and cubic morphologies from initial CuHCF nanoparticles are monitored after hundreds of cycles. Irreversible introduction of Zn ions to CuHCF is revealed locally using scanning transmission electron microscopy. A substitution mechanism is proposed to explain the increasing Zn content within the cathode material while simultaneously the Cu content is lowered during Zn-ion battery cycling. The present study demonstrates that the irreversible introduction of Zn ions is responsible for the decreasing Zn ion capacity of the CuHCF cathode in high electrolyte concentration.     

Hexagonal La2O3 Nanocrystals Chemically Coupled with Nitrogen-Doped Porous Carbon as Efficient Catalysts for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction

The construction of nano-scale hybrid materials with a smart interfacial structure, established by using rare earth oxides and carbon as building blocks, is essential for the development of economical and efficient catalysts for oxygen reduction reactions (ORRs). In this work, hexagonal La₂O₃ nanocrystals on a nitrogen-doped porous carbon (NPC) derived from crop radish, served as building bricks, are prepared by chemical precipitation and then calcination at elevated temperatures. The obtained La₂O₃/NPC hybrid exhibits a very high ORR activity with a half-wave potential of 0.90 V, exceeding that of commercial Pt/C (0.83 V). Both DFT theoretical and experimental results have verified that the significantly enhanced catalytic performance is ascribed to the formation of the C−O−La covalent bonds between carbon and La₂O₃. Through the covalent bonds, electrons can transfer from the carbon to La₂O₃ and occupy the unfilled e_g orbital of the La₂O₃ phase. This results in the accelerated adsorption of active oxygen and the facilitated desorption of the surface hydroxides (OH_ad⁻), thereby promoting the ORR over the catalyst.     

Voltammetric and spectroscopic studies of water/formamide ratios in the production of the cerium (III) hexacyanoferrate (II) nanoparticles

The present study describes the simple and fast preparation of Cerium (III) hexacyanoferrate (II) (CeHCF) solid nanoparticles at three different water/formamide (%) ratios used as solvent (v/v) (100:0, 80:20, 0:100). CeHCF nanoparticles (Nps) were characterized by fourier transform infrared pectroscopy (FTIR), x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), zeta potential and cyclic voltammetry (CV). Electrodes modified with CeHCF presented a well-defined redox pair with formal potential (E^o′) of approximately 0.29 V (vs. Ag/AgCl(sat) attributed to the Fe^{2 +}/Fe³⁺ redox pair in the presence of cerium (III)). The Nps in the three systems investigates, presents a random size distribution to different surface, where most were distributed between 20 and 160 nm. Considering the three investigated systems, only CeHCF-1 (100:0) was sensitive to L-dopamine, presenting a linear signal region as a function of L-dopamine concentrations, with a limit of detection (LD) of 0.125 mmol L⁻¹, limit of quantification (LQ) of 0.419 mmol L⁻¹ and amperometric sensitivity (S) of 148.16 μA mmol L⁻¹.     

Combined DFT and wave function theory approach to excited states of lanthanide luminescent materials: A case study of LaF3:Ce3+

Lanthanide luminescent materials play key roles in modern society, but their first-principles treatment remains a great challenge due to complex manifold of electronic excited states and the difficulty in performing excited state structural relaxations that is necessary to model luminescent properties. Herein, we propose a practical approach that combines embedded cluster model (ECM) based multi-configurational wave function theory (WFT) and occupancy constrained density-functional theory plus the Hubbard U correction (OC-DFT + U) to treat lanthanide doped luminescent materials, using LaF₃:Ce³⁺, a typical scintillator with low symmetry, as a case study. We show that the combined approach yields accurate absorption energies with an error on the order of 200 cm⁻¹, but the emission energies are significantly underestimated, the origin of which is further clarified by vibrationally resolved absorption and emission spectra calculation. This work demonstrates the possibility of combining ECM-based wave function theory and periodic DFT into a comprehensive computational scheme for lanthanide luminescent materials and highlights the limitations of the current implementation of OC-DFT + U for excited state structural optimization.     

Effect of ZnO on sintering and microwave dielectric properties of 0.5CaTiO3-0.5 (Li0.5La0.5) TiO3 ceramics

The novel calcium titanate-lithium lanthanum titanate doped with zinc oxide (0.10, 0.30, and 0.50 mol. %) ceramic samples were prepared by solid-state reaction route. The phase formation, microstructure, densification, and microwave dielectric properties were investigated. It was found that the doping with zinc oxide led to a decrease in sintering temperature by 25 ^oC as compared with pure calcium titanate lithium lanthanum titanate due to the liquid phase effect. Also, the calcium titanate lithium lanthanum titanate (10ZCTLLT&30ZCTLLT)) doped with lower zinc oxide (0.10 and 0.30 mol. %) led to higher densification parameter. This was followed by increasing the zinc oxide doping up to (0.50 mol. %) which resulted in a decrease in densification and microwave dielectric properties which may be attributed to increase in porosity and grain growth upon the evaporation of zinc and oxygen vacancy. This led to the increase in dielectric loss (≈10 × 10^?4) value with 50ZCTLLT. Hence, the best result of microwave dielectric characteristics was obtained for 0.5CaTiO₃–0.5(Li_0.5La_0.5)TiO₃ with (0.10 and 0.30 mol. % ZnO) 10ZCTLLT and 30ZCTLLT ceramic samples sintered at 1175 ^oC/2h, with low dielectric constant (ε_r) = 4.4–10.5, very low dielectric loss = 1.07-2.23 × 10^?4 and high quality factor (Q x ?) ≈59-55 × 10⁴ at 8 GHz. Consequently, they can be used not only in wireless satellite communications technology but also can be used in the fifth-generation telecommunication 5G technology construction.     

Vibrational Properties of LaNb0.8M0.2O4-δ (M=As,Sb, V,and Ta)

LaNb_0.8M_0.2O_4-δ (where M=As, Sb, V, and Ta) oxides with pentavalent elements of different ionic sizes were synthesized by a solid-state reaction method. The vibrational properties of these oxides have been investigated. These studies revealed that the substituent element influences both Debye temperature value as well as the Raman active vibrational modes. Additionally, the low-temperature vibrational properties of LaNb_0.8Sb_0.2O_4-δ have been determined to show the phase transition occurrence at 260 K which is lower than previously reported.     

镧对金银花中重金属及药效成分含量的影响

以金银花为试材,研究了叶面喷施稀土镧对金银花中重金属及药效成分含量的影响。结果显示以过氧化物酶活性和叶绿素含量为指标,确定以30 mg·L-1的甘氨酸镧水溶液叶面喷施效果较好。30 mg·L-1的甘氨酸镧水溶液处理的金银花中,Cd,Cu和As含量与对照相比明显下降,同时药效成分绿原酸和木犀草苷的含量分别增加了9.14%和43.86%。与药典标准相比,重金属含量和药效成分含量都明显优于2010版药典标准。结果表明:适宜浓度稀土镧对金银花吸收重金属元素有抑制作用,并且能促进其药效成分的合成,进而提高金银花的品质。     

铁氰化钴修饰石墨烯平面电极对过氧化氢的传感作用

利用高分子支撑法将气相沉积(CVD)石墨烯从铜基底上转移到聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯(PET)基底上,制备出石墨烯平面电极(GPE), 通过循环伏安法将铁氰化钴(CoHCF)纳米颗沉积到GPE上,得到铁氰化钴修饰石墨烯平面电极(CoHCF/GPE).研究表明,此电极对过氧化氢具有良好的传感作用,从而构建一种新型无酶过氧化氢传感器.此传感器在过氧化氢浓度为5.0-1200 μmol/L范围内,响应电流与浓度呈现良好的线性关系,检出限为7.1 nmol/L (S/N=3),响应时间约为2 s,具有稳定性好、抗干扰能力强、制备简单等优点.     

二烷基二硫代磷酸镧与硼酸酯的协同减摩抗磨作用机理

用四球摩擦磨损试验机考察了油溶性二烷基二硫代磷酸镧(LaDDP)和有机硼酸酯(OB)的减摩抗磨性能，探讨了LaDPP与有机硼酸酯的协同减摩抗磨作用及其协同摩擦化学反应机理；采用X射线光电子能谱仪和俄歇电子能谱仪对比分析了磨斑表面典型元素组成、化学状态和深度分布。结果表明，LaDDP和有机硼酸酯具有优良的减摩抗磨性能，且二者具有优异的协同减摩抗磨作用，其主要原因在于稀土元素镧促进了有机硼酸酯的分解及硼的渗透，生成了由La、La2O3、B2O3、FeS、硫酸盐和磷酸盐等组成的边界润滑膜，形成了镧与硼的渗透层。