Nematic Defects and Colloids as Photonic Elements

Birefringent structures in liquid crystalline fluids, such as colloidal assemblies or topological defects, show high potential for use as photonic elements. Here, we present a brief overview of two photonic phenomena originating from coupling light fields with complex birefringent nematic profiles: (i) the generation of vector laser beams from simple Gaussian beams by propagating light along nematic discliantions, and (ii) tunable photonic crystals from blue phase colloidal crystals conditioned by the different underlying symmetries of the particle lattice and the blue phase birefringence. The polarization profile of initially simple linearly polarized Gaussian beams is shown to change into a defect structure at distinct distances travelled along the disclination with the topological invariant (winding number) of the light field and nematic director distinctly coupled. Upon pulsed laser illumination, the nematic discliantions are also shown to split the light pulse into multiple intensity regions. Blue phase I face centred cubic colloidal crystals are shown as examples of tunable photonic crystals, where local band-baps can open by differently combining the symmetries of the two components, e.g. by changing the particle size. The spatial profiles of selected photonic bands in the blue phase colloidal crystals are shown, finding the particles and blue phase double twist cylinders as possible carriers of high-light-intensity regions.     

CdS纳米晶的稳定化处理及介质极性对荧光光谱的影响

用硫脲、聚乙烯吡咯烷酮、L-半胱氨酸水溶液对水热法合成的硫化镉纳米晶进行稳定化处理,发现L-半胱氨酸和聚乙烯吡咯烷酮(PVP)能有效地稳定硫化镉纳米晶,荧光发射强度比处理前增强了五十倍以上.以氯仿、氧化三(正)辛基膦(TOPO)氯仿溶液以及3-巯基丙酸为萃取(或处理)剂,对水热法合成的水溶性CdS半导体纳米晶进行处理,经过荧光光谱分析,发现介质水、氯仿、氧化三(正)辛基膦(TOPO)氯仿溶液以及3-巯基丙酸会对CdS纳米晶的最大荧光激发峰与发射峰的位置产生不同影响,极性大的水分子使得荧光峰蓝移,极性小的氯仿、氧化三(正)辛基膦(TOPO)氯仿溶液以及3-巯基丙酸使得荧光峰红移,最大位移为31nm左右.     

Pyrene‐functionalized oligofluorenes as non‐doped deep blue emitters for solution‐processed organic light‐emitting diodes

Two pyrene‐functionalized oligofluorenes (TPA‐PyF₃ and CBP‐PyF₃) are prepared using the condensation reaction by the Friedel–Crafts procedure. In the produced oligomers, the triphenylamine or N,N′‐dicarbazolyl‐4,4′‐biphenyl core serves as a spacer bearing spiro‐linked fluorene moieties to form a multi‐H shaped structure. This specific structure efficiently retards the crystallization tendency of the pyrene groups, and gives the materials completely amorphous morphological structure and film forming ability. Solution‐processed OLEDs with the structure of ITO/PEDOT:PSS (25 nm)/TPA‐PyF₃ or CBP‐PyF₃ (40 nm)/TPBI (35 nm)/Ca (10 nm)/Ag (100 nm) show low turn‐on voltages of 3.6 V, and the maximum external quantum efficiencies reach 1.78% and 2.07% for TPA‐PyF₃ and CBP‐PyF_3, respectively. Moreover, both devices exhibit stable deep‐blue light emission with Commission International de I'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of around (0.16, 0.09) at the brightness of 100–1000 cd m^?2. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2016 , 54, 795–801     

Probing spin density and local structure in the Prussian blue analogues CsCd[Fe/Co(CN)6]·0.5H2O and Cd3[Fe/Co(CN)6]2·15H2O with solid-state MAS NMR spectroscopy

Magic-angle spinning (MAS) NMR spectroscopy is used to study the local structure and spin delocalisation in Prussian blue analogues (PBAs). We selected two common archetypes of PBAs (A(I)M(II)[M(III)(CN)(6)]·xH(2)O and M(II)(3)[M(III)(CN)(6)](2)·xH(2)O, in which A(I) is an alkali ion, and M(II) and M(III) are transition-metal ions) that exhibit similar cubic frameworks but different microscopic structures. Whereas the first type of PBA contains interstitial alkali ions and does not exhibit any [M(III)(CN)(6)](3-) vacancies, the second type of PBA exhibits [M(III)(CN)(6)](3-) vacancies, but does not contain inserted alkali ions. In this study, we selected Cd(II) as a divalent metal in order to use the (113)Cd nuclei (I=1/2) as a probe of the local structure. Here, we present a complete MAS NMR study on two series of PBAs of the formulas Cd(II)(3)[Fe(III)(x)Co(III)(1-x)(CN)(6)](2)·15H(2)O with x=0 (1), 0.25 (2), 0.5 (3), 0.75 (4) and 1 (5), and CsCd(II)[Fe(III)(x)Co(III)(1-x)(CN)(6)]·0.5H(2)O with x=0 (6), 0.25 (7), 0.5 (8), 0.75 (9) and 1 (10). Interestingly, the presence of Fe(III) magnetic centres in the vicinity of the cadmium sites has a magnifying-glass effect on the NMR spectrum: it induces a striking signal spread such that the resolution is notably improved compared to that achieved for the diamagnetic PBAs. By doping the sample with varying amounts of diamagnetic Co(III) and comparing the NMR spectra of both types of PBAs, we have been able to give a view of the structure which is complementary to that usually obtained from X-ray diffraction studies. In particular, this study has shown that the vacancies are not randomly distributed in the mesoporous PBAs. Moreover the cadmium chemical shift, which is a measure of the hyperfine coupling, allows the estimation of the spin density on the cadmium nucleus, and consequently, the elucidation of the spin delocalisation mechanism in these compounds along with its dependency on structural parameters.     

反相流动注射催化光度法测定亚硝酸根

采用反相流动注射技术与催化光度法相结合 ,研究了亚硝酸根在盐酸介质中催化溴酸钾氧化维多利亚蓝的灵敏褪色反应 ,用自制的微机化流动注射分析仪能准确控制时间 ,优化了试验条件 ,建立了测定痕量亚硝酸根的反相流动注射催化光度新方法。分析速度 36次·h- 1,克服了催化反应时间难以控制引起的方法精密度 ,准确度不高的弱点。亚硝酸根在 0 .0 0～ 2 .0 0mg·L- 1范围内 ,回归方程斜率为 0 .2 6 2。方法直接测定水中的亚硝酸根获得满意结果     

Incorporation of extra amino acids in peptide recognition probe to improve specificity and selectivity of an electrochemical peptide-based sensor

We investigated the effect of incorporating extra amino acids (AA) at the n-terminus of the thiolated and methylene blue-modified peptide probe on both specificity and selectivity of an electrochemical peptide-based (E-PB) HIV sensor. The addition of a flexible (SG)₃ hexapeptide is, in particular, useful in improving sensor selectivity, whereas the addition of a highly hydrophilic (EK)₃ hexapeptide has shown to be effective in enhancing sensor specificity. Overall, both E-PB sensors fabricated using peptide probes with the added AA (SG-EAA and EK-EAA) showed better specificity and selectivity, especially when compared to the sensor fabricated using a peptide probe without the extra AA (EAA). For example, the selectivity factor recorded in the 50% saliva was ∼2.5 for the EAA sensor, whereas the selectivity factor was 7.8 for both the SG-EAA and EK-EAA sensors. Other sensor properties such as the limit of detection and dynamic range were minimally affected by the addition of the six AA sequence. The limit of detection was 0.5 nM for the EAA sensor and 1 nM for both SG-EAA and EK-EAA sensors. The saturation target concentration was ∼200 nM for all three sensors. Unlike previously reported E-PB HIV sensors, the peptide probe functions as both the recognition element and antifouling passivating agent; this modification eliminates the need to include an additional antifouling diluent, which simplifies the sensor design and fabrication protocol.     

A rapid spectrophotometric method for the determination of transparent exopolymer particles (TEP) in freshwater

A simple and rapid spectrophotometric method is proposed for the determination of transparent exopolymer particles (TEP) in freshwater samples. In this method, TEP reacts with excess of alcian blue solution yielding a low solubility dye-TEP complex. After centrifugation, the concentration of the remaining dye in the supernatant was determined at 602 nm and its concentration was related to the concentration of TEP in freshwater. The effect of alcian blue concentration from 1.5×10⁻³ to 9.0×10⁻³% (m/v), solution pH from 2.5 to 6.9 and stirring time from 20 to 120 s on the analytical curve was investigated. Under the optimum conditions established, such as alcian blue concentration of 3.0×10⁻³% (m/v); pH of 4.0 (0.2 mol l⁻¹ acetate buffer solution) and stirring time of 1 min, the analytical curve was linear from 0.50 to 10 μg ml⁻¹ (A=0.34−0.037[GX]; r²=0.9999; where A is the absorbance and [GX] the gum xanthan concentration in μg ml⁻¹) with a detection limit of 0.10 μg ml⁻¹. The recovery of TEP (as gum xanthan) for two samples ranged from 95.3 to 108 and the relative standard deviations (R.S.D.s) were lower than 0.8% for gum xanthan solutions at concentrations of 1.0 and 1.5 μg ml⁻¹ (n=8). The results obtained for TEP in freshwater samples using the proposed spectrophotometric method and those obtained using a literature method are in agreement at the 95% confidence level and within an acceptable range of error.     

曲利本蓝与阿米卡星相互作用的共振瑞利散射光谱及其应用

硫酸阿米卡星(AMK)是一种氨基糖苷类抗生素,对多数肠杆菌科细菌、铜绿假单胞菌及其他假单胞菌、不动杆菌属、产碱杆菌属等有良好作用,虽然其抗菌活性较庆大霉素略低,但其突出的优点是对许多肠道革兰阴性杆菌所产生的氨基糖苷类钝化酶稳定,不会为此类酶钝化而失去抗菌活性.     

The magnitude and temperature dependence of the Kerr constant in liquid crystal blue phases and the dark conglomerate phase

A new method of evaluating the Kerr constant in liquid crystals (LCs) is used to determine the temperature dependence of the Kerr effect in blue phases I and II (BPI and BPII) and to investigate the Kerr constant of the isotropic dark conglomerate (DC) phase. This method employs relatively small driving voltages and a vertical field switching (VFS) device geometry. An unusually large Kerr constant, K, is determined in the BPs of a non-polymer-stabilised material, ～3×10^?9 mV^?2 (BPI). The large value of K is attributed to significant pre-transitional values of the dielectric anisotropy and birefringence. K follows an inverse dependence on temperature and we consequently suggest that BPI demonstrates properties best suited to electro-optic devices. The new methodology has the advantage of revealing the dispersion of K in a single measurement. It is also possible to deconvolute the influence of the Kerr effect from measurements of electrostriction of the BP lattice. Finally, the Kerr effect has been measured for the first time in the DC phase of an oxadiazole bent-core liquid crystalline material, and is found to take rather low values, ～1×10^?11 mV^?2, which can be understood in the context of the physical properties of the material.     

Synthesis and characterisation of chiral liquid crystalline elastomers containing four-arm crosslinking agent

A new series of side-chain chiral liquid crystalline elastomers derived from M₁ (cholest-5-3-ol(3β)-4-(2-propen-yloxy)]benzoate) and M_C(2,5-[3,5-bis(4-(3-(4-(allyloxy)phenyl)propanoyloxy)benzoyloxy)benzoic acid]isosorbide diester). The structures of monomers and elastomers measured by using Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectra (¹H-NMR) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) separately are consistent with our design. IIP~VIP all appeared blue Grandjean (GJ) texture on the heating cycle or cooling cycle. The glass sheets of IIP~VIP were made under 150°C and measured its ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometry by PerkinElmer Lambda 950 instrument (Shelton, CT, USA). IIP~VIP all have absorptions at about 481~483 and 561~562 nm. The optical activities were measured at different temperatures on heating and cooling cycles. And the blue selective reflection of IIP~VIP on the round glass sheet can be seen. The elastomers containing less than 6 mol% of the crosslinking units displayed elasticity, reversible phase transition and high thermal stability. The glass transition temperatures reduced first and then increased, the isotropisation temperatures and the mesophase temperature ranges increased first and then decreased with increasing content of crosslinking unit. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) results showed that the temperatures at which 5% weight loss occurred (T_d) were greater than 310°C for all the polymers.