Patterned Colloidal Photonic Crystals

Colloidal photonic crystals (PCs) have been well developed because they are easy to prepare, cost‐effective, and versatile with regards to modification and functionalization. Patterned colloidal PCs contribute a novel approach to constructing high‐performance PC devices with unique structures and specific functions. In this review, an overview of the strategies for fabricating patterned colloidal PCs, including patterned substrate‐induced assembly, inkjet printing, and selective immobilization and modification, is presented. The advantages of patterned PC devices are also discussed in detail, for example, improved detection sensitivity and response speed of the sensors, control over the flow direction and wicking rate of microfluidic channels, recognition of cross‐reactive molecules through an array‐patterned microchip, fabrication of display devices with tunable patterns, well‐arranged RGB units, and wide viewing‐angles, and the ability to construct anti‐counterfeiting devices with different security strategies. Finally, the perspective of future developments and challenges is presented.     

Direct Observation of Transition Metal Dichalcogenides in Liquid with Scanning Tunneling Microscopy

We present atomic-resolution images of TiSe\begin{document}$_2$\end{document}, MoTe\begin{document}$_2$\end{document} and TaS\begin{document}$_2$\end{document} single crystals in liquid condition using our home-built scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). By facilely cleaving of single crystals in liquid, we were able to keep the fresh surface not oxidized within a few hours. Using the high-stable home-built STM, we have obtained atomic resolution images of TiSe\begin{document}$_2$\end{document} accompanied with the single atom defects as well as the triangle defects in solution for the first time. Besides, the superstructure of MoTe\begin{document}$_2$\end{document} and hexagonal charge-density wave domain structure in nearly commensurate phase of TaS\begin{document}$_2$\end{document} were also obtained at room temperature (295 K). Our results provide a more efficient method in investigating the lively surface of transition metal dichalcogenides. Besides, the high stable liquid-phase STM will support the further investigations in liquid-phase catalysis or electrochemistry.     

Hypersurfaces in a sphere with constant mean curvature

Let be a closed hypersurface of constant mean curvature immersed in the unit sphere . Denote by the square of the length of its second fundamental form. If , is a small hypersphere in . We also characterize all with .

     

Asymmetric ring-opening reaction of oxabicyclic alkenes with aryl boronic acids catalyzed by P-containing palladacycles

The chiral phosphine-containing palladacycle, synthesized easily from H-MOP, showed its high catalytic activity as well as asymmetric induction ability in ring-opening reaction of oxabicyclic alkenes with arylboronic acids, providing corresponding products in high yields and high ee.     

Facile synthesis and high d33 of single-crystalline KNbO3 nanocubes

Single-crystalline KNbO(3) nanocubes with orthorhombic phase were prepared in a large scale by a simple one-step molten salt route without using any surfactant as template; the nanostructures exhibited high piezoelectric properties such as d(33)=105 pC/N and k(p)=0.34 as piezoelectric materials.     

Evaluation of tungsten coil electrothermal vaporization-Ar/H2 flame atomic fluorescence spectrometry for determination of eight traditional hydride-forming elements and cadmium without chemical vapor generation

A tungsten coil electrothermal vaporizer (W-coil ETV) was coupled to an Ar/H(2) flame atomic fluorescence spectrometer for the determination of eight traditional hydride-forming elements (i.e., As, Bi, Ge, Pb, Sb, Se, Sn, and Te) as well as cadmium without chemical vapor generation. A small sample volume, typically 20muL, was manually pipetted onto the W-coil and followed by a fixed electric heating program. During the vaporization step, analyte was vaporized off the coil surface and swept into the quartz tube atomizer of AFS for further atomization and excitation of atomic fluorescence by a flow of Ar/H(2) gas, which was ignited to produce the Ar/H(2) flame. The tungsten coil electrothermal vaporizer and Ar/H(2) flame formed a tandem atomizer to produce reliable atomic fluorescence signals. Under the optimal instrumental conditions, limits of detection (LODs) were found to be better than those by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) or inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) for all the nine elements investigated. The absolute LODs are better or equivalent to those by hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry (HG-AFS). Possible scattering interferences were studied and preliminary application of the proposed method was also reported.     

Visible light induced photocatalytic degradation of phenol by polymer-modified semiconductors: Study of the influencing factors and the kinetics

To investigate the influencing factors and the kinetics of photocatalytic degradation of phenol, experiments were carried out using conjugated polymer poly(fluorene-co-thiophene) (PFT) sensitized TiO₂ and ZnO under LED (light-emitting diode) lights of the wavelength of 450–475 nm. Influencing factors, such as initial phenol concentration, photocatalyst dosage and pH value on the photocatalytic degradation of phenol were studied in detail. The reaction kinetics was found to follow pseudo first-order law.