Solvothermal synthesis of PbTe/SnTe hybrid nanocrystals

PbTe/SnTe hybrid nanocrystals with designed shape, chemical composition and narrow size distribution were synthesized by an efficient solvothermal approach. This approach enables mass and economical synthesis of PbTe-based nanocrystals. The organic ligands were completely removed by pretreatment with a super-hydride solution, making it possible to fabricate fully dense and robust thermoelectric devices with increased electrical conductivity.     

High‐Level Incorporation of Silver in Gold Nanoclusters: Fluorescence Redshift upon Interaction with Hydrogen Peroxide and Fluorescence Enhancement with Herbicide

High‐level incorporation of Ag in Au nanoclusters (NCs) is conveniently achieved by controlling the concentration of Ag⁺ in the synthesis of bovine serum albumin (BSA)‐protected Au NCs, and the resulting structure is determined to be bimetallic Ag₂₈Au₁₀‐BSA NCs through a series of characterizations including energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy, mass spectroscopy, and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, together with density functional theory simulations. Interestingly, the Ag₂₈Au₁₀ NCs exhibit a significant fluorescence redshift rather than quenching upon interaction with hydrogen peroxide, providing a new approach to the detection of hydrogen peroxide through direct comparison of their fluorescence peaks. Furthermore, the Ag₂₈Au₁₀ NCs are also used for the sensitive and selective detection of herbicide through fluorescence enhancement. The detection limit for herbicide (0.1 nm ) is far below the health value established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; such sensitive detection was not achieved by using AuAg NCs with low‐level incorporation of Ag or by using the individual metal NCs.     

Living anionic polymerization of (E)‐1,3‐pentadiene and (Z)‐1,3‐pentadiene isomers

The anionic polymerization of (E)‐1,3‐pentadiene (EP) and (Z)‐1,3‐pentadiene (ZP) together with mixture of the E/Z isomers are investigated, respectively. The kinetic analysis shows that the activation energy for EP (86.17 kJ/mol) is much higher than that for ZP (59.03 kJ/mol). GPC shows that it is the EP rather than the ZP isomer that undergoes anionic living polymerization affording quantitative products of the polymers with well‐controlled molecular weights and narrow molecular weight distributions (1.05 ≤? ≤ 1.09). In addition, THF as polar additive has proved its validity to reduce the molecular weight distribution of poly(ZP) from 1.38 to as low as 1.19. The microstructure and sequence distributions of polypentadiene are characterized by ¹H NMR and quantitative ¹³C NMR. Finally, the distinctive reaction activity of two isomers can be elucidated by two different mechanisms which involve the presence of four forms of zwitterions for EP and the typical [1,5]‐sigmatropic hydrogen‐shift phenomenon for ZP. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2016 , 54, 2291–2301     

Synthesis,crystal structures and DNA/human serum albumin binding of ternary Cu(II) complexes containing amino acids and 6‐(pyrazin‐2‐yl)‐1,3,5‐triazine‐2,4‐diamino

Two water‐soluble 6‐(pyrazin‐2‐yl)‐1,3,5‐triazine‐2,4‐diamino (pzta)‐based Cu(II) complexes, namely [Cu(l ‐Val)(pzta)(H₂O)]ClO₄ ( 1 ) and [Cu(l ‐Thr)(pzta)(H₂O)]ClO₄ ( 2 ) (l ‐Val: l ‐valinate; l ‐Thr: l ‐threoninate), were synthesized and characterized using elemental analyses, molar conductance measurements, spectroscopic methods and single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction. The results indicated that the molecular structures of the complexes are five‐coordinated and show a distorted square‐pyramidal geometry, in which the central copper ions are coordinated to N,N atoms of pzta and N,O atoms of amino acids. The interactions of the complexes with DNA were investigated using electronic absorption, competitive fluorescence titration, circular dichroism and viscosity measurements. These studies confirmed that the complexes bind to DNA through a groove binding mode with certain affinities (K_b = 4.71 × 10³ and 1.98 × 10³ M^?1 for 1 and 2 , respectively). The human serum albumin (HSA) binding properties of the complexes were also evaluated using fluorescence and synchronous fluorescence spectroscopies, indicating that the complexes could quench the intrinsic fluorescence of HSA in a static quenching process. The relevant thermodynamic parameters revealed the involvement of van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonds in the formation of complex–HSA systems. Finally, molecular docking technology was also used to further verify the interactions of the complexes with DNA/HSA.     

Perylene Bisimide In-chain Polyethylene with Unique Self-assembly Nanostructure through Acyclic Diene Metathesis (ADMET) Polymerization

A novel perylene tetracarboxylic acid bisimide(PTCBI) in-chain polyethylene(PE) was first prepared via acyclic diene metathesis(ADMET) polymerization of PTCBI-functionalized α,ω-diene monomer. The polymers could spontaneously self-assemble into hollow cylindrical structures in which the π-π interaction between adjacent PTCBI moieties was enhanced and the electron mobility was possibly promoted. The hydrogenation of as-obtained polymer was readily accomplished, affording the desired precision PTCBI in-chain PE with a saturated backbone, which showed high glass transition temperature(Tg = 63 °C), relatively wide range of light absorption(λ = 200-575 nm), and higher LUMO level(-3.62 e V). It can therefore serve as a superior model for facile construction of functional polyolefin and soluble PTCBI polymer with ordered architecture.     

A cation trap for anodic stripping voltammetry: NH3–plasma treated carbon nanotubes for adsorption and detection of metal ions

NH₃–plasma treated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (pn-MWCNTs) with cation traps for the detection of ultratrace quantities of Zn(II), Cd(II), Cu(II), and Hg(II) using square wave anodic stripping voltammetry (SWASV) is described. The pn-MWCNTs use their adsorption performance to enhance the sensitivity. It is found that under optimized conditions Zn(II), Cd(II), Cu(II) and Hg(II) were individually detected at potentials of −1.16, −0.78, −0.268 and 0.108 V, respectively. The detection limit (3σ method) of 0.314, 0.0272, 0.2263, and 0.1439 nM toward Zn(II), Cd(II), Cu(II), and Hg(II) is achievable, respectively. No interference could be seen during the simultaneous detection of Zn(II), Cd(II), Cu(II), and Hg(II). The pn-MWCNTs exhibit excellent selectivity owing to the different ability of adsorption. A study of the ability of pn-MWCNTs in practical application is carried out using a sample of water collected from Dongpu Reservoir in Hefei City, Anhui, China. It is found that the results were favorable when compared against inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) analysis.     

The influences of amplified spontaneous emission,crystal temperature and round-trip loss on scaling of CW thin-disk laser

In this paper, a model is built to explore how the parameters (amplified spontaneous emission (ASE), temperature and round-trip loss) influence the output power in a thin-disk laser. It is found that optical efficiency of the disk laser is reduced with the increase of ASE, temperature or round-trip loss. The parameters are optimized to maximize the output power based on our model. We find that it is necessary to balance the need to lower the temperature with the need to control ASE during the optimization process. But the balance becomes more difficult to achieve with the increase of round-trip loss. We conclude that output power of more than 2.6 MW with a single disk can be achieved, but the necessary disk size (more than 0.5 m) is far beyond the actual technical limits. But it is possible to achieve output power of over a hundred kilowatts using a 10 cm disk in the near future.     

Photocatalytic degradation of trichloroethylene over BiOCl under UV irradiation

In this study, BiOCl samples were synthesized under different pH values and characterized by XRD, SEM, UV‐vis DRS, BET, photoelectrochemical measurement and PL. The photocatalytic performances of the as‐prepared samples were evaluated through the decomposition of trichloroethylene (TCE) under UV irradiation. The influences of several parameters such as solution pH and common inorganic anions on TCE removal were investigated. Results indicated that BiOCl‐0.6 exhibited better photocatalytic performance than BiOCl‐6.0 because of its higher migration ability of photo‐induced carrier. The photocatalytic degradation of TCE over BiOCl‐0.6 followed pseudo first‐order kinetics and appeared to be more efficient in acidic solution than in alkaline. TCE was almost completely dechlorinated in 120 minutes. The inhibiting effect of naturally occurring anions was in the order of HCO₃^‐ >SO₄^2‐ >NO₃^‐, while Cl^‐ exhibited a dual effect. Moreover, BiOCl‐0.6 exhibited superior reusability after three cycles of repetition tests.