Supramolecular polymers fabricated by orthogonal self-assembly based on multiple hydrogen bonding and macrocyclic host–guest interactions

Supramolecular polymers constructed by orthogonal self-assembly based on multiple hydrogen bonding and macrocyclic host-guest interactions have received increasing attention due to their elegant structures,outstanding properties,and potential applications.Hydrogen bonding endows these supramolecular polymers with good adaptability and reversibility,while macrocyclic host-guest interactions give them good selectivity and versatile stimuli-responsiveness.Therefore,functional supramolecular polymers fabricated by these two highly specific,noninterfering interactions in an orthogonal way have shown wide applications in the fields of molecular machines,electronics,soft materials,etc.In this review,we discuss the recent advances of functional supramolecular polymers fabricated by orthogonal self-assembly based on multiple hydroge n bonding and host-guest interactions.In particular,we focus on crown ether-and pillar[n]arene-based supramolecular polymers due to their compatibility with multiple hydrogen bonds in organic solution.The fabrication strategies,interesting properties,and potential applications of these advanced supramolecular materials are mainly concerned.     

Advances of entropy-stabilized homologous compounds for electrochemical energy storage

Recently, high-entropy materials(HEMs) have gained increasing interest in the field of energy storage technology on account of their unique structural characteristics and possibilities for tailoring functional properties. Herein, the development of this class of materials for electrochemical energy storage have been reviewed, especially the fundamental understanding of entropy-dominated phase-stabilization effects and prospective applications are presented. Subsequently, critical comments of HEM...     

Strategies with Functional Materials in Tackling Instability Challenges of Non-aqueous Lithium-Oxygen Batteries

The instabilities of the battery including cathode corrosion/passivation,shuttling effect of the redox mediators,Li anode corrosion,and electrolyte decomposition are major barriers toward the practical implementation of lithium-oxygen(Li-O2)batteries.Functional materials offer great potential in high performance Li-O2 batteries owing to their functional tailorability of chemical modification for alleviating side reactions and improving catalysis activity,well-defined properties for discharge products storage,and fast mass and electron transfer paths.In this review,instability problems of non-aqueous Li-O2 batteries and recent studies related to the functional materials in tackling the instability issues from rational cathode construction,inhibition of redox mediators(RMs)shuttling,anode protection and novel electrolyte design are illustrated.Future research directions to overcome the critical issues are also proposed for this promising battery technology.The instability issues and the related strategies with functional materials based on the comprehensive consideration of all battery components proposed in this review provide the systematic,deep understanding and rational design of functional materials for Li-O2 batteries,which is beneficial to achieving the practical Li-O2 batteries.     

Spectroscopic Properties of Methyl Ketone Bridged Electrochromic Materials: a Quantum Chemical and Experimental Study

Tuning accurately the color of electrochromic materials has been considered as a crucial step to achieve successful electrochromic display. In this paper, the effect of substitution on the color of methyl ketone bridged electrochromic materials has been investigated systematically by experimental and TDDFT methods. By screening 15 functional and 11 basis sets, a statistical method based on M052 X data is developed to estimate the maximum absorption wavelengths(λ_(max)) of electrochromic materials, based on analyzing λ_(max) of 18 molecules. For methyl ketone bridged electrochromic materials, the color from yellow to green and λ_(max) from 400 to 690 nm can be adjusted by electron-withdrawing functional group on Ar2 and electron-donating functional group on Ar1. This work not only exhibits the suitable method to predict the maximum absorption wavelength and color of electrochromic materials, but also inspires and accelerates further development of electrochromic materials for future displays.     

Functional porous carbon-based composite electrode materials for lithium secondary batteries

The synthetic routes of porous carbons and the applications of the functional porous carbon-based composite electrode materials for lithium secondary batteries are reviewed. The synthetic methods have made great breakthroughs to control the pore size and volume, wall thickness, surface area, and connectivity of porous carbons, which result in the development of functional porous carbon-based composite electrode materials. The effects of porous carbons on the electrochemical properties are further discussed. The porous carbons as ideal matrixes to incorporate active materials make a great improvement on the electrochemical properties because of high surface area and pore volume, excellent electronic conductivity, and strong adsorption capacity. Large numbers of the composite electrode materials have been used for the devices of electrochemical energy conversion and storage, such as lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), Li-S batteries, and Li-O2 batteries. It is believed that functional porous carbon-based composite electrode materials will continuously contribute to the field of lithium secondary batteries.     

Carbohydrate-derived porous carbon materials: An ideal platform for green organic synthesis

Porous carbon materials have attracted much attention in the field of organic synthesis in recent years,due to their tunable properties, excellent catalytic activity and stability. Biomass-based carbohydrates emerge as an ideal precursor for the generation of these materials owing to their renewability, low cost,non-toxicity and high content of functional groups. Thus, carbon materials prepared from carbohydrates is of considerable importance for the sustainable development of organic chemistry....     

Synthesis,Characterization and DFT Calculation of a New Silver(I) Iodid Templated by Conjugated Cation:(ipq)_4Ag_4I_8

1 INTRODUCTION The construction and characterizations of low dimensional inorganic/organic hybrid materials have increasingly attracted the interest of chemists duo to their unusual topologies and relevance in a wide range of applications in materials science including transport, magnetic materials, catalysts, and lumi- nescent materials[1]. Among the various families of hybrid functional materials, the family of metal halides is an important one. As a branch of the metal halides, silver(…     

Preparation,morphology, size quantization effect and photocatalytic properties of CdS Q-nanocrystals

Intercommunity of lots of molecules and perturbation of few molecules have been shown in bulk materials because the intermolecular force is very much smaller than that of intramolecules. So, macroscopic solid theories have been applied to investigating their properties. On the other hand, microscopic quantum mechanical theory (or molecular orbital theory) has enabled the study of single molecule. However, it becomes much more complicated to the study on the small-parti- cle species representin…     

Recent strategies to improve moisture stability in metal halide perovskites materials and devices

At present,the stability of the new generation of solar cells based on hybrid perovskites is the bottleneck for their practical applications.Photochemical effects,high temperature,ultraviolet light,humidity and other known or still unknown factors might cause reduction of effectiveness or even irreversible loss of materials properties due to decomposition of functional layers within perovskite solar cells(PSCs).These factors alone have a serious impact on each component of the device,while their combinations lead to much more complicated effects and consequences.This review focuses on the stability of PSCs and the degradation of the device in a humid environment.We assess the instability factors and deep-seated principles of evolution of the device structure in a humidity environment with the emphasis on the influence on their interrelations.The related solutions are reviewed from the perspective of the encapsulation,perovskite active layer,carrier transport layer and electrodes.Combined with the latest research,we believe that the waterproof strategy of PSCs requires either tight encapsulation or thorough modifications in the device itself.Therefore,it is important to develop feasible strategies to improve the overall device stability over humid according to the target characteristics of various devices.     

STUDY OF ACTIVE MATERIALS FOR THE RARE EARTH ION SELECTIVE ELECTRODES

The research work on preparation process of active materials of the rare earth ion selective electrodes and the valence of the electrode membrane were reported. The active materials were characterized by infrared spectrum, elemental analysis and XPS.We had studied the rare earth ion selective electrodes in which the active materials consist of functional polymers[1-3]. In this paper, the research work on preparation process and the valence of the electrode membrane were reported, which has not been seen in literature yet.     

Mechanical properties and curing kinetics of epoxy resins cured by various amino-terminated polyethers

<正>A high performance thermosetting epoxy resin crosslinkable at room temperature was obtained via directly moulding diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A(DGEBA) and flexibleα,ω-bisamino(n-alkylene)phenyl terminated poly(ethylene glycol).The influences of the n-alkylene inserted in aminophenyl of flexible amino-terminated polythers(ATPE) on the mechanical properties,fractographs and curing kinetics of the ATPE-DGEBA cured products were studied.The results show that the insertion of n-alkylene group into the aminophenyl group of the ATPE,on one hand,can significantly increase the strain relaxation rate and decrease glass transition temperature of the ATPE-DGEBA cured products,resulting in slight decrease of the Young's modulus and tensile strength,and significant increase of the toughness and elongation of the ATPE-DGEBA cured products.On the other hand,it can remarkably enhance the reactivity of amine with epoxy,much accelerating the curing rate of the ATPE-DGEBA systems.The activation energy of DGEBA cured by BAPTPE,BAMPTPE and BAEPTPE was 53.1,28.5 and 25.4 kJ·mol~(-1),respectively.The as-obtained ATPE-DGEBA cured products are homogeneous, transparent,and show excellent mechanical properties including tensile strength and toughness.Thus they are promising to have important applications in structure adhesives,casting bulk materials,functional coatings,cryogenic engineering, damping and sound absorbing materials.     

Preface

Organic solids are organic and polymeric materials with special functionalities that stem from our increasing ability to manipulate and tune the properties of organic and polymeric materials (e.g. optoelectronic properties). We achieve this through the systematic variation of their molecular components, to allow for molecular-level control of the solid-state structure via arrangement of the functional molecular components into a defined solid architecture.     

Carbon-Supported Silver Catalysts for CO Selective Oxidation in Excess Hydrogen

Carbon materials were used as supports for Ag catalysts that are prepared using the conventional wet impregnation method, and their catalytic properties for CO selective oxidation in excess hydrogen at temperatures below 483 K were tested. A variety of techniques, e.g. N2 adsorption, XPS, TPD, UV-Vis DRS, TEM and SEM, were used to determine the influence of physical and chemical properties of the carbon on the properties of Ag catalyst. It was found that defects on the carbon surface served as nucleation sites for silver ions, while functional groups on carbon surface induced their reduction to the metallic form. The formation of silver particles on carbon was governed by homogeneous and/or heterogeneous nucleation during the impregnation and subsequent activation processes. The best catalytic performance was obtained with a Ag/carbon black catalyst with a uniform size distribution of silver nanoparticles (about 12 nm), moderate BET surface area (with a mesoporous structure), and a limited amount of carbon-oxygen groups. The research indicates that carbon materials are potentially good supports for silver catalysts for preferential oxidation of CO in excess hydrogen.     

Carbon quantum dots for advanced electrocatalysis

Zero-dimensional(0D)carbon quantum dots(CQDs),as a nanocarbon material in the carbon family,have garnered increasing attention in recent years due to their outstanding features of low cost,nontoxicity,large surface area,high electrical conductivity,and rich surface functional groups.By virtue of their rapid electron transfer and large surface area,CQDs also emerge as promising functional materials for the applications in energy-conversion sectors through electrocatalysis.Besides,the rich functional groups on the surface of CQDs offer abundant anchoring sites and active sites for the engineering of multicomponent and high-performance composite materials.More importantly,the heteroatom in the CQDs could effectively tailor the charge distribution to promote the electron transfer via internal interactions,which is crucial to the enhancement of electrocatalytic performance.Herein,an overview about recent progress in preparing CQDs-based composites and employing them as promising electrode materials to promote the catalytic activity and stability for electrocatalysis is provided.The introduced CQDs could enhance the conductivity,modify the morphology and crystal phase,optimize the electronic structure,and provide more active centers and defect sites of composites.After establishing a deep understanding of the relationship between CQDs and electrocatalytic performances,the issues and challenges for the development of CQDs-based composites are discussed.     

Bowl-shaped conjugated polycycles

The conjugated polycycles show excellent optical and electrical properties that are suitable for application in various organic electronics.While most of attentions have been paid to polycycles having planar π-conjugated system,the curved polycycles seem amazing due to their unique physical and chemical features.The non-planar conjugated polycycles have been created with the geometries of bracelet,saddle,bowl,Mobius band,helicenes,etc.Among them,the bowl-shaped one is of growing interest owing to the multidiscipline applications such as synthetic intermediates for end-cap of carbon nanotube,coordination with metal ions,encapsulation of fullerenes,and fabrication of electronic devices.In this paper,we summarize the recent advances on the chemistry of the bowl-shaped conjugated polycycles,particularly on their synthesis and the further chemical modifications toward organic functional materials.     

Atomic defects,functional groups and properties in Mxenes

MXenes,a new family of functional two-dimensional(2 D) materials,have shown great potential for an extensive variety of applications within the last decade.Atomic defects and functional groups in MXenes are known to have a tremendous influence on the functional properties.In this review,we focus on recent progress in the characterization of atomic defects and functional group chemistry in MXenes,and how to control them to directly influence various properties(e.g.,electron transport,Li⁺ adsorption,hydrogen evolution reaction(HER) activity,and magnetism) of 2 D MXenes materials.Dynamic structural transformations such as oxidation and growth induced by atomic defects in MXenes are also discussed.The review thus provides perspectives on property optimization through atomic defect engineering,and bottom-up synthesis methods based on defect-assisted homoepitaxial growth of MXenes.     

Luminescent nanoscale metal–organic frameworks for chemical sensing

Metal–organic frameworks(MOFs) are a fascinating class of crystalline materials constructed from selfassembly of metal cations/clusters and organic ligands. Both metal and organic components can be used to generate luminescence, and can further interact via antenna effect to increase the quantum yield,providing a versatile platform for chemical sensing based on luminescence emission. Moreover, MOFs can be miniaturized to nanometer scale to form nano-MOF(NMOF) materials, which exhibit many advantages over conventional bulk MOFs in terms of the facile tailorability of compositions, sizes and morphologies, the high dispersity in a wide variety of medium, and the intrinsic biocompatibility. This review will detail the development of NMOF materials as chemical sensors, including the synthetic methodologies for designing NMOF sensory materials, their luminescent properties and potential sensing applications.     

Special topic on molecular functional materials and applications

正Molecular functional materials have received increasing attentions in recent years because of their promising applications in various areas.Chinese scientists have made important contributions to the development of this area.In order to further promote research activities of this area in China and strengthen academic exchanges and collaborations,the Committee of Organic Solids of Chinese Chemical Society(CCS)organized the 10th National Symposium on Electronic Process in Organic Solids during August7–10,2015 at Peking University.     

Novel Shape-Memory Polymer with Two Transition Temperature Based on Two Different Memory Mechanism

As an important kind of intelligent materials, shape-memory materials have been received increasing attention on account of their interesting properties and potential applications in recent years. Particularly, the rise of shape-memory polymers by far surpasses well-known metallic shape-memory alloys in their shape-memory properties. The advantages of polymers compared to other materials are their easier availability and their wide range of mechanical and physical properties. The polymers des…