Fabrication of size-controllable and luminescent dysprosium benzenetricarboxylate nanobelts at room temperature

Lanthanide-based coordination polymer Dy(1,3,5-BTC)(H₂O)₆ nanobelts were successfully synthesized on a large scale through an extremely simple approach at room temperature; the size of the nanobelts can be easily tuned from several to several hundred micrometers in length, 70–600 nm in width, and 10–100 nm in thickness by varying concentrations, solvent, and surfactant reasonably. In addition, the as-obtained dysprosium benzenetricarboxylate nanobelts exhibit the characteristic emission of the Dy³⁺ ions, making the belt-like coordination polymer have potential applications in building minioptoelectronic devices.     

Stimulated emissions in aligned CdS nanowires at room temperature

Aligned CdS nanowires (NWs) were obtained through a simple thermal evaporation process with highly active CdS nanoparticles as the evaporation source. These NWs show prominent optical waveguides behavior under a continuous-wave (CW) laser excitation. Excitation intensity-dependent photoluminescence (PL) measurements show that these NWs exhibited both broad and supernarrow stimulated emission (lasing) under intense pulse optical excitation at room temperature. Raman scattering and time-resolved PL measurements were used to investigate the optical properties. The results indicated that the stimulated emission in these NWs involves the electron-hole plasma (EHP) and Farby-Perot (F-P) optical resonant processes at room temperature.     

High-yield synthesis of selenium nanowires in water at room temperature

High-quality t-Se nanowires were obtained in high yield via a facile and environmentally benign route in water at room temperature by using ascorbic acid as the reducing agent under the assistance of beta-cyclodextrin.     

Controlled one-step fabrication of highly oriented ZnO nanoneedle/nanorods arrays at near room temperature

Highly oriented ZnO nanoneedle/nanorods arrays have been fabricated by direct oxidation of zinc foil in alkaline zincate ion solution at near room temperature (20 degrees C for nanoneedles, 30 degrees C for nanorods).     

Synthesis and characterization of CePO_4 nanowires via microemulsion method at room temperature

Uniform CePO_4 nanowires with diameter of about 25 nm were synthesized by the water-in-oil microemulsion method at room temperature from cerous chloride,sodium orthophosphate,sodium chloride,cyclohexane,Triton X-100 and cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide(CTAB).The crystal structure and morphology of the nanowires were characterized by XRD and TEM, respectively.The UV-vis absorption was detected by UV-vis spectrophotometer techniques.The results showed that as-prepared nanowires with the hexagonal phase have...     

Hydrothermal growth of large-scale micropatterned arrays of ultralong ZnO nanowires and nanobelts on zinc substrate

Large-scale, ultralong ZnO nanowire and nanobelt arrays with honeycomb-like micropatterns have been fabricated by hydrothermal oxidation of zinc foil in aqueous alkaline (NH4)2S2O8 solutions.     

Electrochemical synthesis of ZnO nanorods/porous silicon composites and their gas-sensing properties at room temperature

The zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods with different aspect ratio (length/diameter) were grown directly on the porous silicon (PS) substrate through electrochemical synthesis. The obtained ZnO nanorods/PS products were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and gas-sensing test. Comparative study shows that the addition of nonionic polymer polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) into oxygenated zinc chloride electrolyte can modulate the crystal growth and the aspect ratio of ZnO nanorods from electrodeposition, thus, influence the gas-sensing properties of ZnO nanorods/PS composites. With appropriate amount of PVP in the electrolyte, the product possessing high-density and large aspect ratio ZnO nanorods has an obvious improvement of the NO₂-sensing performances with high sensitivity, fast response-recovery characteristic, and good repeatability and selectivity. The gas-sensing mechanism was discussed in the paper. The result indicated that the heterojunction effect of ZnO nanorods and PS may be responsible for the excellent gas-sensing properties.     

Structures of oxide nanobelts and nanowires.

We have recently reported the synthesis of one-dimensional nanobelt structures of ZnO, SnO2, In2O3, CdO, Ga2O3, and PbO2 by evaporating the desired commercial metal oxide powders at high temperatures (Science (2001), 291, 1947). The as-synthesized oxide nanobelts are pure, structurally uniform, single crystalline, and most of them free from dislocations. The beltlike morphology appears to be a unique and common structural characteristic for the family of semiconducting oxides. In the present article, we focus on the twin and stacking fault planar defects found in oxide nanobelts and nanowires although they are rarely observed. Some interesting and unique growth morphologies are presented to illustrate the roles played by surface energy and kinetics in growth. It is shown that the surfaces of the oxide nanobelts are enclosed by the low-index, low-energy crystallographic facets. The growth morphology is largely dominated by the growth kinetics.     

Pt/ZnO 在室温水相无碱条件下绿色催化苯甲醇选择性氧化

醇类化合物选择性氧化是有机合成中一个非常重要的反应, 在精细化工领域具有重要应用. 而以水为绿色溶剂, 分子氧为绿色氧化剂实现醇类化合物选择性氧化是绿色化学领域的一大挑战. Pt 催化剂由于其优异的活化氧气和 C-H 键的能力在该反应中得到了广泛应用. 但是, 常规的 Pt 催化剂通常需要在较高温度和较高氧气压力以及加碱的条件下才能发挥作用, 从而引起了催化剂腐蚀等一系列问题. 从绿色化学角度出发, 进一步优化 Pt 催化剂, 让其能够在室温无碱条件下以空气为氧化剂选择性氧化醇类合成羰基化合物具有重要的研究价值和应用前景.本文通过化学还原法制备了 Pt/ZnO 催化剂, 系统研究了该催化剂在水相无碱条件下选择性氧化苯甲醇生成苯甲醛反应中的催化性能. X 射线电子衍射和透射电镜等结果表明, Pt 颗粒较小(3.2 ± 0.3 nm), 均匀分散在 ZnO 载体上; X 射线光电子能谱表明 ZnO 载体能够稳定 Pt 纳米颗粒表面的 Pt0物种. 上述催化剂在水相苯甲醇选择性氧化反应中, 在室温下即可催化空气高选择性氧化苯甲醇到苯甲醛 (选择性>99%), 并表现出比 Pt/SiO2, Pt/Al2O3, Pt/TiO2, Pt/Ca(Mg)-ZSM-5 等催化剂更为优异的催化活性. 这可归结于 Pt 和 ZnO 之间的协同作用. 该协同作用通过动力学实验和密度泛函理论计算 (DFT)得到了证实. 氧分压实验表明, 在以空气为氧化剂时, O2的活化并不是限制 Pt/ZnO 催化活性的关键因素, 而动力学同位素效应实验则证实了苯甲醇的 C-H 键活化是整个反应的决速步骤. 通过构建不同的理论模型, 分别计算了 Pt/ZnO 界面处以及纯 Pt 位点上苯甲醇选择性氧化的反应过程. 结果表明, 苯甲醇和氧气分子倾向于分别在 ZnO 和 Pt 上进行吸附, 随后由吸附的氧气分子来活化苯甲醇中的 C-H 键, 进而生成苯甲醛和水. 而当 ZnO 不参与苯甲醇的吸附活化时, 整个反应的活化能会大大提高, 表明 ZnO 和 Pt 之间的协同作用对于整个反应至关重要. 此外, Pt/ZnO 表现出非常优异的稳定性, 循环使用 4 次后, 催化剂结构以及催化活性没有显著变化.进一步向 Pt/ZnO 催化剂中引入少量 Bi 元素对 Pt 的电子结构进行修饰, 可以将 Pt/ZnO 的催化活性提高 3 倍. 所制备的 Pt/Bi-ZnO 复合物是目前报道的相同条件下催化苯甲醇选择性氧化反应转化频率 (45.1 h-1)最高的催化剂.     

Oxygen promoted hydrogen production from formaldehyde reforming with oxide-derived Cu nanowires at room temperature

This work demonstrates a two-step method to produce oxide-derived Cu nanowires on Cu mesh surface to offer a monolithic catalyst that outstandingly improves the hydrogen production from reforming formaldehyde and water under ambient conditions. Our results not only reveal that the special oxide-derived nanostructure can significantly improve the formaldehyde reforming performance of Cu, but also display that the hydrogen production has a linear relationship with oxygen pressure. Specially, a maximum of 36 times increment in hydrogen generation rate is observed than that without oxygen during the reaction. Density functional theory calculations show that the formaldehyde molecule is adsorbed on Cu surface only when the adsorbed oxygen is in adjacency, and hydrogen release process is the rate-determining step. This work highlights that the activity of deliberately synthesized catalyst can further be promoted by dynamic chemical modulation of surface states during working.     

Catalyst-nanostructure interfacial lattice mismatch in determining the shape of VLS grown nanowires and nanobelts: a case of Sn/ZnO

Vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) is a well-established process in catalyst-guided growth of nanowires. The catalyst particle is generally believed to be in liquid state during growth, and it is the site for adsorbing incoming molecules; the crystalline structure of the catalyst may not have any influence on the structure of the grown one-dimensional nanostructures. In this paper, using tin particle guided growth of ZnO nanostructures as a model system, we show that the interfacial region of the tin particle with the ZnO nanowire/nanobelt could be ordered (or partially crystalline) during the VLS growth, although the local growth temperature is much higher than the melting point of tin, and the crystallographic lattice structure at the interface is important in defining the structural characteristics of the grown nanowires and nanobelts. The interface prefers to take the least lattice mismatch; thus, the crystalline orientation of the tin particle may determine the growth direction and the side surfaces of the nanowires and nanobelts. This result may have important impact on the understanding of the physical chemical process in the VLS growth.     

纳米ZnO室温选择氧化H2S特性的研究

碱式碳酸锌在不同焙烧温度下制得的纳米ZnO具有六方晶系纤锌矿结构，平均粒径为15.4 nm、19.1 nm、22.9 nm和33 nm，以其为脱硫剂，对H2S室温脱硫性能进行了研究。利用XRD和XPS技术对脱硫反应前后的样品进行了表征。实验结果表明，纳米ZnO的脱硫性能随粒径的增大而降低，常温、常压下，260 ℃焙烧的纳米ZnO对H2S有高的去除率，并且H2S可选择性地被氧化为单质硫。     

The effects of annealing temperature on structural and optical properties of S-doped ZnO nanobelts

In this study, the effects of thermal annealing temperature on the structural and optical properties of S-doped ZnO nanobelts were investigated. The XRD pattern shows that the crystallinity of S-doped ZnO nanobelts improves with increased annealing temperature. Room temperature photoluminescence spectroscopy of the as-grown S-doped ZnO nanobelts shows no detectable ultraviolet peak with the broad peaks in the visible emission region at 480, 505, and 518 nm. A weak peak in the ultraviolet region at 383 nm appears after annealing at 400 and 600 °C. Raman spectroscopy of the sample also shows a significant change with an increase in the annealing temperature.     

Physical properties of metal-doped ZnO thin films prepared by RF magnetron sputtering at room temperature

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Transparent thin films of pure ZnO, Ca-doped ZnO (CZO), and Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) were deposited on glass by RF magnetron sputtering. The influence of calcium...     

CuBr/rac-BINOL-catalyzed N-arylations of aliphatic amines at room temperature

We have developed an efficient and readily available catalyst system CuBr/racemic BINOL (1,1'-binaphthyl-2,2'-diol) that catalyzes N-arylation of aliphatic amines at room temperature, and this inexpensive catalyst system is of high selectivity and tolerance toward various functional groups in the substrates.     

Xenon porometry at room temperature

Xenon porometry is a method in which porous material is immersed in a medium and the properties of the material are studied by means of 129Xe nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) of xenon gas dissolved in the medium. For instance, the chemical shift of a particular signal (referred to as signal D) arising from xenon inside small pockets formed in the pores during the freezing of the confined medium is highly sensitive to the pore size. In the present study, we show that when naphthalene is used as the medium the pore size distribution of the material can be determined by measuring a single one-dimensional spectrum near room temperature and converting the chemical shift scale of signal D to the pore radius scale by using an experimentally determined correlation. A model has been developed that explains the curious behavior of the chemical shift of signal D as a function of pore radius. The other signals of the spectra measured at different temperatures have also been identified, and the influence of xenon pressure on the spectra has been studied. For comparison, 129Xe NMR spectra of pure xenon gas adsorbed to porous materials have been measured and analyzed.     

Controllable assembly of aligned ZnO nanowires/belts arrays

We describe a simple method to assemble ZnO nanowires/belts into highly ordered arrays. ZnCu(2) alloy was used as the Zn source, which reacted with water vapor to generate ZnO nanocrystals. The reaction was performed in a mild way, which facilitated the easy control of the reaction conditions. By simply controlling the water bath temperature and carrier gas flux in our experiments, we obtained ZnO nanowires/belts aligned to form ordered arrays. The highly ordered nature of the ZnO arrays is suggested to be related both with the polarities of the H(2)O molecule and the ZnO (0001) surface. Photoluminescence (PL) microscopy revealed that the comblike structures had waveguide properties, where green light enhancement was observed at the tips of the branches. The light enhancement property reveals their promising applications as light source arrays.     

硫醚中碳硫键室温选择性断裂反应的研究

本文研究了在四氟硼酸银存在下, 硫醚与碘甲烷室温下发生碳硫键选择性断裂反应。研究结果表明: 只有当二苄基硫醚的苯环对位连有强的供电子基团甲氧基时, 方可发生碳硫键的断裂。提出了一个离子型反应机理且碳硫键的断裂分三步完成。首先, 硫醚与甲基化试剂反应生成甲基锍盐; 继而, 此锍离子离解成由苄基碳正离子和硫醚组成的离子-偶极集合物; 最后, 甲基化试剂再进攻集合物中的硫醚, 从而导致碳硫键的断裂。     

Single atom catalytic oxidation mechanism of formaldehyde on Al doped graphene at room temperature

Formaldehyde (HCHO) is one kind of common indoor toxic pollutant, the catalytic oxidation degradation of formaldehyde at room temperature is desired. In this work, a new single atomic catalyst (SAC), Al doped graphene, for the catalytic oxidation of HCHO molecules was proposed through density function theory (DFT) calculations. It is found that Al atoms can be adsorbed on graphene stably without aggression. Then HCHO can be effectively oxidized into CO₂ and H₂O in the presence of O₂ molecules on Al doped graphene with a low energy barrier of 0.82 eV and releasing energy of 2.29 eV with the pathway of HCHO → HCOOH → CO → CO₂. The oxidation reaction can happen promptly with reaction time τ = 56.9 s at the speed control step at room temperature. Therefore, this work proposed a high-performance catalyst Al-doped graphene without any noble metal for HCHO oxidation at ambient temperature, and corresponding oxidation pathway and mechanism are also deeply understood.