Synthesis and textural evolution of alumina particles with mesoporous structures

Alumina particles with mesostructures were synthesized through a chemical precipitation method by using different inorganic aluminum salts followed by a heterogeneous azeotropic distillation and calcination process. The obtained mesoporous γ-alumina particles were systematically characterized by the X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and nitrogen adsorption-desorption measurement. Effects of the aluminum salt counter anion, pH value and the azeotropic distillation process on the structural or textural evolution of alumina particles were investigated. It is found that Cl⁻ in the reaction solution can restrain the textural evolution of the resultant precipitates into two-dimensional crystallized pseudoboehmite lamellae during the heterogeneous azeotropic distillation, and then transformed into γ-Al₂O₃ particles with mesostructures after further calcination at 1173 K, whereas coexisting SO₄²⁻ can promote above morphology evolution and then transformed into γ-Al₂O₃ nanofibers after calcination at 1173 K. Moreover nearly all materials retain relatively high specific surface areas larger than 100 m² g⁻¹ even after calcinations at 1173 K.     

Synthesis,Characterizations, Magnetism and Thermal Degradation of a 2‐Fold Interpenetrated 3D Cobalt‐Organic Framework

A new coordination polymer, [Co₂(L)₂(4,4′‐bipy)]_n·3nH₂O ( 1 ) based on 5‐(3‐methyl‐5‐phenyl‐4H‐1,2,4‐triazol‐4‐yl)isophthalic acid (H₂ L ) and 4,4′‐bipyridine (4,4′‐bipy) has been hydrothermally synthesized and characterized by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction, XRPD, IR, and elemental analysis. Temperature‐dependent magnetic susceptibility and thermal degradation for 1 were also studied. The asymmetric unit of compound 1 consists of two crystallographically independent Co(II) ion, two L ^2? ligand, one 4,4′‐bipy ligand, and three lattice water molecules. The 2D triangle networks were linked by the bridging 4,4′‐bipy ligand to give rise to a 2‐fold interpenetrated 3D architecture. The simplest cyclic motif of the 2D networks is a triangle ring consisting of three Co(II) cations and three L ^2? ligands. So we can define Co(II) ions as 4‐connected nodes and the L ^2? ligands as 3‐connected nodes. Thus, the 3D structure can be described as a 2‐fold parallel interpenetrated ins InS 3,4‐conn topology.     

Color Point Tuning in Lu3−x−yMnxAl5−xSixO12:yCe3+ for White LEDs

A series of the solid‐solution phosphors Lu_3?x?yMn_xAl_5?xSi_xO₁₂:yCe³⁺ is synthesized by solid‐state reaction. The obtained phosphors possess the garnet structure and exhibit similar excitation properties as the phosphor Lu₃Al₅O₁₂:Ce³⁺, but with an effectively improved red component in the emission spectrum. This can be attributed to the energy transfer from Ce³⁺ to Mn²⁺. Our investigation reveals that electric dipole–quadrupole interactions dominate the energy‐transfer mechanism and that the critical distance determined by the spectral overlap method is about 9.21 Å. The color‐tunable emissions of the Lu_3?x?yMn_xAl_5?xSi_xO₁₂:yCe³⁺ phosphor as a function of Mn₃Al₂Si₃O₁₂ content are realized by continuously shifting the chromaticity coordinates from (0.354, 0.570) to (0.462, 0.494). They indicate that the obtained material may have potential application as a blue radiation‐converting phosphor for white LEDs with high‐quality white light.     

Rapid Sample Pretreatment,Identification and Determination of Active Constitutents in Water‐soluble Radix isatidis Extract via MAE,ESI‐MS and RODWs‐HPLC

In this study, we successfully studied water‐soluble extract from Radix isatidis. Optimized conditions of MAE were listed, the sample can be extracted completely in 10 minutes under microwave power of 400W and solid/liquid ratio of 1:80. Active compounds in water‐soluble extract from R. isatidis were identified with HPLC‐DAD/ESI‐MS, these compounds followed by cytidine, uridine, guanosine, (R,S)‐goitrin and adenosine. RODWs–HPLC as a new sensitive chromatography were also first proposed and investigated, we favoringly used this method for simultaneous determination of these active constitutents in water‐soluble R. isatidis extract. Chromatographic separation was performed on a Diamonsil C18 column (5 μm, 150 mm × 4.6 mm) with a mobile phase gradient consisting of methanol and water at a flow‐rate of 1.0 mL/min, detection wavelengths 240, 250, 260 and 270 nm, the retention times of the tested five compounds were about 4.2, 5.8, 11.1, 14.2 and 20.8 min respectively, the limits of detection were 15, 12, 20, 5.8 and 24 ng/mL for cytidine, uridine, guanosine, (R,S)‐goitrin and adenosine respectively, their linear ranges were between 0.045 and 350 μg/mL with correlation coefficient (R) of 0.9998‐0.9999. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) of intra‐day and inter‐day assays were 0.30‐2.36% and 0.86‐2.54% respectively. Extraction recoveries were 94.25‐106.21%. This novel analytical method was shown to be simple, low‐cost, sensitive and reliable for multiple components in complex or undeveloped materials via MAE, ESI‐MS and RODWs‐HPLC.     

A Conjugated Copolymer Bearing Imidazolium-based Ionic Liquid:Electrochemical Synthesis and Electrochromic Properties

An imidazolium-based ionic liquid(IL) modified triphenylamine derivative,namely 1-(4-((4-(diphenylamino)benzoyl) oxy)butyl)-3-methyl imidazole tetrafluoroborate(TPAC_6 IL-BF_4),was designed and synthesized,and further applied with 3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene(EDOT)to prepare conjugated copolymer P(EDOT:TPAC_6 IL-BF_4) via electrochemical polymerization.The cyclic voltammetry curves show that the copolymer P(EDOT:TPAC_6 IL-BF_4) possesses two pairs of redox peaks,which should be ascribed to the redox behaviors of EDOT and triphenylamine.The ultraviolet-visible(UV-Vis) absorption spectrum of P(EDOT:TPAC_6 IL-BF_4) exhibits one maximum absorption peak at 580 nm and a small shoulder characteristic peak at 385 nm under neutral state which are assigned to π-π~* conjugated structure of EDOT and triphenylamine.After being applied at the positive voltage,the copolymer color changes from dark blue to light blue,which is close to the color of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)(PEDOT).Surprisingly,the copolymer P(EDOT:TPAC_6 IL-BF_4) shows shorter switching time of 0.37 s,0.30 s at 580 nm and 0.38 s,0.45 s at 1100 nm compared with PEDOT.It is more intriguing that the copolymer P(EDOT:TPAC_6 IL-BF_4) exhibits electrochromism even in free supporting electrolyte.The results confirm that the existence of imidazolium-based ionic liquid has an improvement on the ion diffusion properties and the switching time of conjugated polymer,which may provide a potential direction for the preparation of high-performance electrochromic materials.     

Inorganic–Organic Hybrid Molecular Clusters with Cu2I2 Rhomboid Dimer Core as Light-Emitting Coating Materials

Journal of Cluster Science - In this paper, a series of light-emitting copper(I) iodide inorganic–organic hybrid clusters has been synthesized, and they are 0D-Cu2I2(fmp)4 (1,...     

Tetra‐ammonium Zinc Phthalocyanine to Construct a Graded 2D–3D Perovskite Interface for Efficient and Stable Solar Cells

The crystallographic defects inevitably incur during the solution processed organic‐inorganic hybrid perovskite film, especially at surface and the grain boundaries (GBs) of perovskite film, which can further result in the reduced cell performance and stability of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Here, a simple defect passivation method was employed by treating perovskite precursor film with a hydrophobic tetra‐ammonium zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc). The results demonstrated that a 2D‐3D graded perovskite interface with a capping layer of 2D (ZnPc)_0.5MA_n ? 1Pb_nI_3n + 1 perovskite together with 3D MAPbI₃ perovskite was successfully constructed on the top of 3D perovskite layer. This situation realized the efficient GBs passivation, thus reducing the defects in GBs. As expected, the corresponding PSCs with modified perovskite revealed an improved cell performance. The best efficiency reached 19.6%. Especially, the significantly enhanced long‐term stability of the responding PSCs against humidity and heating was remarkably achieved. Such a strategy in this work affords an efficient method to improve the stability of PSCs and thus probably brings the PSCs closer to practical commercialization.     

Synthesis and Infrared Multi‐band Absorption Properties of Core‐shell NaYF4:Yb3+, Er3+@SiO2 Nanoparticles

Due to the unique size effects, nanomaterials in infrared absorption have attracted much attention for their strong absorption in the infrared region. To achieve the infrared multi‐band absorption, we propose to synthesize a core‐shell structure nanomaterial consisting of NaYF₄:Yb³⁺, Er³⁺ core and a layer of SiO₂ as shell. A series of NaYF₄:Yb³⁺, Er³⁺ nanocrystals were synthesized through hydrothermal method by adjusting the ratio of citric acid(CA)‐to‐NaOH, and the effects of CA concentration, and NaOH concentration were studied in detail. NaYF₄:Yb³⁺, Er³⁺@SiO₂ nanoparticles were synthesized by sol‐gel method using TEOS as silica source. The results show that the core‐shell NaYF₄:Yb³⁺, Er³⁺@SiO₂ nanoparticles were successfully synthesized. Up‐conversion spectra of these nanoparticles were recorded with 980 nm laser excitation under room temperature. There are no changes of the emission centers of nanoparticles before or after silica coating, but the emission intensities of nanoparticles after silica coating are weakened. Furthermore, the property of infrared multi‐band absorption was tested through ultraviolet‐visible‐near infrared spectrophotometer and infrared absorption spectra. The results illustrate that the multi‐band infrared absorption nanomaterial was successfully synthesized.     

Direct Dynamic Evidence of Charge Separation in a Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cell Obtained under Operando Conditions by Raman Spectroscopy

Interfaces play an important role in enhancing the energy conversion performance of dye‐sensitized solar cells (DSCs). The interface effects have been studied by many techniques, but most of the studies only focused on one part of a DSC, rather than on a complete solar cell. Hence, monitoring the interface evolution of a DSC is still very challenging. Here, in situ/operando resonance Raman (RR) spectroscopic analyses were carried out to monitor the dynamics of the photovoltaic conversion processes in a DSC. We observed the creation of new species (i.e., polyiodide and iodine aggregates) in the photosensitization process. We also obtained molecular‐scale dynamic evidence that the bands from the C=C and C=N bonds of 2,2′‐bipyridyl (bpy), the S=C=N bonds of the NCS ligand, and photochemical products undergo reasonably strong intensity and frequency changes, which clearly demonstrates that they are involved in charge separation. Furthermore, RR spectroscopy can also be used to quickly evaluate the performance of DSCs.     

Synthesis and antibacterial activity of Ag/CeO<Subscript>2</Subscript> hybrid architectures

Flower-like ceria (CeO₂) architectures consisting of well aligned nanosheets were first synthesized by a glycol solvothermal method. The size of CeO₂ architectures is about 5?μm in width and 10?μm in length, with the nanosheets thickness below 100?nm. Subsequently, the adsorbed Ag ions on the surface of CeO₂ were in situ reduced to form Ag nanoparticles (NPs), leading to the fabrication of Ag/CeO₂ hybrid architectures (HAs). The formed Ag NPs with sizes of 20–40?nm were uniformly loaded on the surface of the CeO₂ sheets. The antibacterial properties of Ag/CeO₂ HAs against Gram-negative E. coli and Gram-positive S. aureus were evaluated by minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC), and a filter paper inhibition zone method. The results demonstrated that Ag/CeO₂ HAs displayed excellent antibacterial activity toward S. aureus and E. coli, which were attributed to the synergistic antibacterial effect between Ag NPs and CeO₂ in HAs_. Here, CeO₂ nanoflowers as a new substrate could restrict Ag NPs aggregations and improve their antibacterial activities. Therefore, the resulted Ag/CeO₂ HAs would be considered as a promising antibacterial agent.

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