Photocatalytic Water Oxidation by a Pyrochlore Oxide upon Irradiation with Visible Light: Rhodium Substitution Into Yttrium Titanate

A stable visible‐light‐driven photocatalyst (λ≥450 nm) for water oxidation is reported. Rhodium substitution into the pyrochlore Y₂Ti₂O₇ is demonstrated by monitoring Vegard′s law evolution of the unit‐cell parameters with changing rhodium content, to a maximum content of 3 % dopant. Substitution renders the solid solutions visible‐light active. The overall rate of oxygen evolution is comparable to WO₃ but with superior light‐harvesting and surface‐area‐normalized turnover rates, making Y₂Ti_1.94Rh_0.06O₇ an excellent candidate for use in a Z‐scheme water‐splitting system.     

Visual spatial memory is enhanced in female rats (but inhibited in males) by dietary soy phytoestrogens

Background  

In learning and memory tasks, requiring visual spatial memory (VSM), males exhibit superior performance to females (a difference attributed to the hormonal influence of estrogen). This study examined the influence of phytoestrogens (estrogen-like plant compounds) on VSM, utilizing radial arm-maze methods to examine varying aspects of memory. Additionally, brain phytoestrogen, calbindin (CALB), and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) levels were determined.     

Homochiral H-bonded proline based metal organic frameworks

Two L-proline based homochiral frameworks synthesised via diffusion and solvothermal methods display distinct L-proline bonding modes, one N,O chelating and one O,O bridging with amine nitrogen not bound to the metal, with binding mode dependent upon the degree of protonation of the amino acid.     

Structure and Phase Behavior of the Expanded‐Metal Compound 7Li(ND3)4

Metal lite : High‐resolution neutron powder diffraction data reveals that the body‐centered cubic crystal structure of lithium(0)tetraamine transforms to a simple cubic structure below 22 K. The detailed structure determinations will allow new insights into the coupled structural and electronic properties of the lightest metal.

     

A polar corundum oxide displaying weak ferromagnetism at room temperature

Combining long-range magnetic order with polarity in the same structure is a prerequisite for the design of (magnetoelectric) multiferroic materials. There are now several demonstrated strategies to achieve this goal, but retaining magnetic order above room temperature remains a difficult target. Iron oxides in the +3 oxidation state have high magnetic ordering temperatures due to the size of the coupled moments. Here we prepare and characterize ScFeO(3) (SFO), which under pressure and in strain-stabilized thin films adopts a polar variant of the corundum structure, one of the archetypal binary oxide structures. Polar corundum ScFeO(3) has a weak ferromagnetic ground state below 356 K-this is in contrast to the purely antiferromagnetic ground state adopted by the well-studied ferroelectric BiFeO(3).     

Poly[2-(methacryloyloxy)ethylphosphorylcholine]-coated iron oxide nanoparticles: synthesis, colloidal stability and evaluation for stem cell labelling

Poly[2-(methacryloyloxy)ethylphosphorylcholine]-coated SPIONs were prepared through ATRP and amidation coupling reactions. The coated SPIONs exhibited high stability and re-dispersability in phosphate buffered saline and uptake in a stem cell line, with high T(2) relaxivity.     

Permanent microporosity and enantioselective sorption in a chiral open framework

A homochiral microporous material is presented. The phase has 47% permanently porous void volume and is shown to have >1 nm diameter pores with three-dimensional channels using probe molecule sorption. Enantioselective guest sorption is strongly dependent on guest size. The homochiral microporous phase was identified by reactive selection from a first-generation chiral but nonporous framework. Chiral permanent porosity is established by directional noncovalent interactions between framework-forming and nonframework forming components of the stable second-generation material, which become stronger upon loss of the guests from the pore system.     

Optical charge-transfer in iron(III)hexacyanoferrate(II): electro-intercalated cations induce lattice-energy-dependent ground-state energies

The maximum of the color-conferring charge-transfer (CT) band in Prussian Blue (PB) varies with the electrochemically introduced cation M(z+) incorporated (as "supernumerary") for charge neutrality, and the dependence on particular properties of the M(z+) has been sought. With alkali-metal ions, the CT-maximum shifts are in the same sequence as the PB mass changes on M+ insertion; the effect on the CT ground state of the intra-lattice interaction of an M+ with the ferrocyanide CN- moiety (competing with cation hydration), is then implicated in shifts of the maxima, as the ferrocyanide is the donor center in the optical CT. More definitely, for M2+ and Ag+, solubility-products of the insoluble M(z+) ferrocyanides (that provide direct indicators of the intra-lattice M(z+)-[Fe(II)(CN)(6)](4- interactions) show a strong correlation with the spectral shifts. The determining interaction of M(z+) with ferrocyanide within PB is enhanced in some cases by the accessibility of M(z+) oxidation states +/- 1 different from the common values. PB lattice energies and the ground states of the optical CTs thus appear closely interlinked. The electrochemical uptake of appreciable amounts of the M(z+) within the lattices was confirmed by XPS.