Raman Spectroscopic Signature of Ectoine Conformations in Bulk Solution and Crystalline State

Recent crystallographic results revealed conformational changes of zwitterionic ectoine upon hydration. By means of confocal Raman spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations, we present a detailed study of this transformation process as part of a Fermi resonance analysis. The corresponding findings highlight that all resonant couplings are lifted upon exposure to water vapor as a consequence of molecular binding processes. The importance of the involved molecular groups for water binding and conformational changes upon hydration is discussed. Our approach further shows that the underlying rapid process can be reversed by carbon dioxide saturated atmospheres. For the first time, we also confirm that the conformational state of ectoine in aqueous bulk solution coincides with crystalline ectoine in its dihydrate state, thereby highlighting the important role of a few bound water molecules.     

Temperature Evolution of the Crystal Structure of AgNbO3

X-ray powder diffraction patterns of the AgNbO₃ have been obtained in a wide temperature range: from room temperature up to 850 K. The type of distortion and the multiplicity of the pseudo-cubic perovskite cell has been determined from the splitting of the main diffraction lines and from analysis of the superlattice peaks. The scheme of oxygen octahedra tilting and the sequence of the distorted pseudocubic cell is: <artwork name="GPHT21121eu1">     

缓冲夹层影响异质结有机光伏器件性能研究

制备了结构为CuPc/缓冲层/C₆₀异质结的有机光伏器件,分别选用三氧化钼和红荧烯为缓冲层,研究了增加缓冲层对器件性能的影响.结果表明,增加三氧化钼和红荧烯缓冲层后器件的开路电压和光电转换效率都得到提高,器件的短路电流密度和填充因子都有所降低.开路电压从没有缓冲层时的0.39 V分别提高到0.58 V、0.55 V,转换效率从0.36%提高到0.44%,短路电流从1.92 mA/cm²分别降低到1.77 mA/cm²、1.81 mA/cm²,填充因子从0.48分别减少到0.43、0.44.进一步研究表明器件的短路电流密度受缓冲层厚度的影响很大,当缓冲层厚度很小时,器件短路电流密度还有所增加,但随着缓冲层厚度的增加,短路电流密度逐渐减小,当缓冲层厚度为10 nm时,器件短路电流密度减少到0.35 mA/cm².开路电压随着厚度的增加逐渐增加,从1 nm时的0.43 V增加10 nm时0.63 V.根据整数电荷转移模型和界面能级理论解释有机光伏器件开路电压提高以及短路电流密度减少的原因,为有机太阳能电池性能的改善提供了研究方法.     

On-line Sulfur Isotope Analysis of Organic Material by Direct Combustion: Preliminary Results and Potential Applications

Abstract

Sulfur isotopes have received little attention in ecology studies because plant and animal materials typically have low sulfur concentrations (< 1 wt.%) necessitating labor-intensive chemical extraction prior to analysis. To address the potential of direct combustion of organic material in an elemental analyzer coupled with a mass spectrometer, we compared results obtained by direct combustion to results obtained by sulfur extraction with Eschka's mixture. Direct combustion of peat and animal tissue gave reproducibility of better than 0.5‰ and on average, values are 0.8‰ higher than values obtained by Eschka extraction. Successful direct combustion of organic material appears to be a function of sample matrix and sulfur concentration. Initial results indicate that direct combustion provides fast, reliable results with minimal preparation. Pilot studies underway include defining bear diets and examining fluctuations between freshwater and brackish water in coastal environments.     

Stabilization of organic thin film transistors by ion implantation

We report on the effects of low energy ion implantation (N and Ne) in the reduction and control of the degradation of pentacene organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) due to the exposure to atmosphere (i.e. oxygen and water). We have observed that a controlled damage depth distribution preserves the functionality of the devices, even if ion implantation induces significant molecular structure modifications, in particular a combination of dehydrogenation and carbonification effects. No relevant changes in the pentacene thin film thickness have been observed. The two major transport parameters that characterize OTFT performance are the carrier mobility and the threshold voltage. We have monitored the effectiveness of this process in stabilizing the device by monitoring the carrier mobility and the threshold voltage over a long time (over 2000 h). Finally, we have assessed by depth resolved X-ray Photoemission Spectroscopy analyses that, by selectively implanting with ions that can react with the hydrocarbon matrix (e.g. N⁺), it is possible to locally modify the charge distribution within the organic layer.     

石墨炉原子吸收光谱法测定催化有机残液中的微量铑

硝酸于聚四氟乙烯闷罐中消解样品 ,石墨炉原子吸收光谱法测定催化有机残液中的微量铑 ,相对标准偏差为 6 .2 %,回收率为 96 .5 %— 1 0 5 .4 %。方法简便、快速 ,分析结果令人满意。     

Growth mechanism and optical property of CdS nanoparticles synthesized using amino-acid histidine as chelating agent under sonochemical process

Using amino-acid histidine as chelating agent, CdS nanoparticles have been synthesized by sonochemical method. It is found that by varying the ultrasonic irradiation time, we can tune the band gap and particle size of CdS nanoparticles. The imidazole ring of histidine captures the Cd ions from the solution, and prevents the growth of the CdS nanoparticles. The deviation in the linear relation in between cube of radius of nanoparticles and ultrasonic irradiation time confirms the growth of CdS nanoparticles occur via two process; one is the diffusion process of the reactants as well as reaction at the surface of the crystallite. CdS nanoparticles synthesized using histidine as organic chelating agent have band edge emission at 481 nm and have greater photoluminescence intensity with blue-shift to higher energy due to typical quantum confinement effect.     

Aggregation-Induced Emission by Molecular Design: A Route to High-Performance Light-Emitting Electrochemical Cells

The emission efficiency of organic semiconductors (OSCs) often suffers from aggregation caused quenching (ACQ). An elegant solution is aggregation-induced emission (AIE), which constitutes the design of the OSC so that its morphology inhibits quenching π–π interactions and non-radiative motional deactivation. The light-emitting electrochemical cell (LEC) can be sustainably fabricated, but its function depends on motion of bulky ions in proximity of the OSC. It is therefore questionable whether the AIE morphology can be retained during LEC operation. Here, we synthesize two structurally similar OSCs, which are distinguished by that 1 features ACQ while 2 delivers AIE. Interestingly, we find that the AIE-LEC significantly outperforms the ACQ-LEC. We rationalize our finding by showing that the AIE morphology remains intact during LEC operation, and that it can feature appropriately sized free-volume voids for facile ion transport and suppressed non-radiative excitonic deactivation.     

Dual Photosensitizer Coupled Three-Dimensional Metal-Covalent Organic Frameworks for Efficient Photocatalytic Reactions

In this work, we innovatively assembled two types of traditional photosensitizers, that is pyridine ruthenium/ferrum (Ru(bpy)₃²⁺/Fe(bpy)₃²⁺) and porphyrin/metalloporphyrin complex (2HPor/ZnPor) by covalent linkage to get a series of dual photosensitizer-based three-dimensional metal-covalent organic frameworks (3D MCOFs), which behaved strong visible light-absorbing ability, efficient electron transfer and suitable band gap for highly efficient photocatalytic hydrogen (H₂) evolution. Rubpy-ZnPor COF achieved the highest H₂ yield (30 338 μmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹) with apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) of 9.68 %@420 nm, which showed one of the best performances among all reported COF based photocatalysts. Furthermore, the in situ produced H₂ was successfully tandem used in the alkyne hydrogenation with ≈99.9 % conversion efficiency. Theoretical calculations reveal that both the two photosensitizer units in MCOFs can be photoexcited and thus contribute optimal photocatalytic activity. This work develops a general strategy and shows the great potential of using multiple photosensitive materials in the field of photocatalysis.     

An Unlocked Two-Dimensional Conductive Zn-MOF on Polymeric Carbon Nitride for Photocatalytic H2O2 Production

Developing highly efficient catalytic sites for O₂ reduction to H₂O₂, while ensuring the fast injection of energetic electrons into these sites, is crucial for artificial H₂O₂ photosynthesis but remains challenging. Herein, we report a strongly coupled hybrid photocatalyst comprising polymeric carbon nitride (CN) and a two-dimensional conductive Zn-containing metal–organic framework (Zn-MOF) (denoted as CN/Zn-MOF(lc)/400; lc, low crystallinity; 400, annealing temperature in °C), in which the catalytic capability of Zn-MOF(lc) for H₂O₂ production is unlocked by the annealing-induced effects. As revealed by experimental and theoretical calculation results, the Zn sites coordinated to four O (Zn-O₄) in Zn-MOF(lc) are thermally activated to a relatively electron-rich state due to the annealing-induced local structure shrinkage, which favors the formation of a key *OOH intermediate of 2e⁻ O₂ reduction on these sites. Moreover, the annealing treatment facilitates the photoelectron migration from the CN photocatalyst to the Zn-MOF(lc) catalytic unit. As a result, the optimized catalyst exhibits dramatically enhanced H₂O₂ production activity and excellent stability under visible light irradiation.