Electrochemically Determining Electronic Structure of ZnO Quantum Dots with Different Surface Ligands

The electronic structure of quantum dots (QDs) including band edges and possible trap states is an important physical property for optoelectronic applications. The reliable determination of the energy levels of QDs remains a big challenge. Herein we employ cyclic voltammetry (CV) to determine the energy levels of three types of ZnO QDs with different surface ligands. Coupled with spectroscopic techniques, it is found that the onset potential of the first reductive wave is likely related to the conduction band edges while the first oxidative wave originates from the trap states. The determined specific energy levels in CV further demonstrates that the ZnO QDs without surface ligands mainly have oxygen interstitial defects whilst the ZnO QDs covered with ligands contain oxygen vacancies. The present electrochemical method offers a powerful and effective way to determine the energy levels of wide bandgap ZnO QDs, which will boost their device performance.     

Elucidating the Nature of the External Acid Sites of ZSM-5 Zeolites Using NMR Probe Molecules

The identification of acid and nonacid species at the external surface of zeolites remains a major challenge, in contrast to the extensively-studied internal acid sites. Here, it is shown that the synthesis of zeolite ZSM-5 samples with distinct particle sizes, combined with solid-state NMR and computational studies of trimethylphosphine oxide (TMPO) adsorption, provides insight into the chemical species on the external surface of the zeolite crystals. ¹H–³¹P HETCOR NMR spectra of TMPO-loaded zeolites exhibit a broad correlation peak at δ_P ∼35–55 ppm and δ_H ∼5–12 ppm assigned to external SiOH species. Pore-mouth Brønsted acid sites exhibit ³¹P and ¹H NMR resonances and adsorption energies close to those reported for internal acid sites interacting with TMPO. The presence of an external tricoordinate Al-Lewis site interacting strongly with TMPO is suggested, resulting in ³¹P resonances that overlap with the peaks usually ascribed to the interaction of TMPO with Brønsted sites.     

Regulating Oxygen Configuration in Hierarchically Porous Carbon Nanosheets for High-Rate and Durable Na+ Storage

Surface oxygen functionalities (particularly C−O configuration) in carbon materials have negative influence on their electrical conductivity and Na⁺ storage performance. Herein, we propose a concept from surface chemistry to regulate the oxygen configuration in hierarchically porous carbon nanosheets (HPCNS). It is demonstrated that the C−O/C=O ratio in HPCNS reduces from 1.49 to 0.43 and its graphitization degree increases by increasing the carbonization temperature under a reduction atmosphere. Remarkably, such high graphitization degree and low C−O content of the HPCNS-800 are favorable for promoting its electron/ion transfer kinetics, thus endowing it with high-rate (323.6 mAh g⁻¹ at 0.05 A g⁻¹ and 138.5 mAh g⁻¹ at 20.0 A g⁻¹) and durable (96 % capacity retention over 5700 cycles at 10.0 A g⁻¹) Na⁺ storage performance. This work permits the optimization of heteroatom configurations in carbon for superior Na⁺ storage.     

Influence of Pt Alloying on the Fluorescence of Fully Inorganic,Colloidal Gold Nanoclusters

Noble metal alloy nanoclusters (NCs) are interesting systems as the properties of two or more elements can be combined in one particle, leading to interesting fluorescence phenomena. However, previous studies have been exclusively performed on ligand-capped NCs from wet chemical synthesis. This makes it difficult to differentiate to which extent the fluorescence is affected by ligand-induced effects or the elemental composition of the metal core. In this work, we used laser fragmentation in liquids (LFL) to fabricate colloidal gold-rich bi-metallic AuPt NCs in the absence of organic ligands and demonstrate the suitability of this technique to produce molar fraction series of 1nm alloy NC. We found that photoluminescence of ligand-free NCs is not a phenomenon limited to Au. However, even minute amounts of Pt atoms in the AuPt NCs lead to quenching and red-shift of the fluorescence, which may be attributed to the altered surface charge density.     

The Surface Analysis Working Group at the Consultative Committee for Amount of Substance,Metrology in Chemistry and Biology: A successful initiative by Martin Seah

Dr Martin Seah, NPL, was the initiator, founder, and first chairman of the Surface Analysis Working Group (SAWG) at the Consultative Committee for Amount of Substance, Metrology in Chemistry and Biology (CCQM) at the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM), the international organization established by the Metre Convention. This tribute letter summarizes his achievements during his chairmanship and his long-running impact on the successful work of the group after his retirement.     

Electron-density-dependent fused-sphere surfaces derived from pseudopotential calculations

Fused-sphere surfaces can be used to mimic a molecular boundary associated with a constant value of the electron density. The simplest of such fused-sphere models are constructed by using the atomic radii for the spherical isodensity surfaces of individual atoms. In this work, we discuss the extension of this model to molecules containing atoms beyond the second row. In these many- electron systems, the computation of electron densities is usually simplified by adopting a pseudopotential (or effective-core potential) approach. Here, we discuss the performance of large- and small-core pseudo-potential calculations as a tool to derive atomic radii. Our results provide an optimum set of variable radii that can be used to build fused-sphere surfaces. This continuum of surfaces provides a simple approximation to the low-electron-density regions around molecules with heavy atoms.     

ZnO纳米粒子结构对光电量子限域特性的影响

Zn O作为一种宽禁带 (3 .3 6e V)高激子结合能 (60 me V)的半导体材料已引起人们的关注 .Zn O纳米粒子的比表面积较大 ,表面活性较高 ,对周围环境敏感 ,使其成为传感器制作中最有前途的材料[1] ,还在太阳能转换[2 ] 、发光材料[3] 、半导体表面修饰与敏化[4 ] 、纳米电子学以及分子电子学器件[5] 等领域显示出广阔的应用前景 .制约这些应用的关键是 Zn O纳米粒子表面和界面的电子结构和电荷转移行为 ,但有关此方面的报道较少 .本文用溶胶 -凝胶法制备了不同粒径的 Zn O纳米粒子 ,应用表面光电压谱 (SPS)和场诱导表面光电压谱 (FISPS…     

A Model Calculation for the Isomerization and Decomposition of Chemisorbed HCN on the Si(100)-2×1 Surface

Ab initio molecular orbital and hybrid density functional theory calculations have been performed to study the adsorption, isomerization, and decomposition of HCN on Si(100)-2×1 using the Si₉H₁₂ cluster model of the surface. The results of our calculations indicate that the HCN can adsorb molecularly without a barrier onto the surface with both end-on (LM1) and side-on (LM2) positions. LM1 can isomerize to LM2 with a small barrier of 8 kcal/mol. The isomerization of LM2 by H-migration from C to the N atom, requires 76 kcal/mol activation energy (c.f. 47.5 kcal/mol in the gas phase) because of surface stabilization. Both HCN(a) and HNC(a) end-on adsorbates were found to dissociate readily, as concluded in our earlier experiment, to produce H and CN adspecies. The computed vibrational frequencies of HCN, CN, and also HCNH adspecies agree reasonably well with those observed experimentally. HCNH was found to be stable, with either the C or the N attaching to the surface.     

非水体系苯并咪唑及衍生物吸附的电化学表面增强拉曼光谱研究

应用电化学现场表面增强拉曼光谱(SERS)以及直接电化学合成技术分别研究了非水体系中苯并咪唑及2-巯基苯并咪唑在铜电极表面的吸附行为及其与三苯基膦(pph3)共存的表面过程.在较负电位区间苯并咪唑主要以分子形式吸附在电极表面.在较正电位区间,电极表面生成类高分子(CuBIM)n膜,具有缓蚀作用,对含有pph3的该体系,Cu+首先与pph3配位形成稳定的阳离子,进入溶液之后与BIM配位生成稳定的配合物,导致不能在表面有效地成膜而破坏了苯并咪唑的缓蚀作用.2-巯基苯并咪唑在Cu表面主要通过自组装单层方式在电极表面吸附,且在实验测试的电位区间内,MBI均是以S端与金属表面作用,其吸附取向随电位正移由倾斜逐渐向接近垂直过渡,并在金属表面形成MBI单分子层膜.pph3的加入不影响MBI在Cu电极表面的成膜行为.电化学现场模拟合成及产物结构组成解析为推断表面反应过程提供了直接证据.     

Balancing the Rate of Cluster Growth and Etching for Gram‐Scale Synthesis of Thiolate‐Protected Au25 Nanoclusters with Atomic Precision

We report a NaOH‐mediated NaBH₄ reduction method for the synthesis of mono‐, bi‐, and tri‐thiolate‐protected Au₂₅ nanoclusters (NCs) with precise control of both the Au core and thiolate ligand surface. The key strategy is to use NaOH to tune the formation kinetics of Au NCs, i.e., reduce the reduction ability of NaBH₄ and accelerate the etching ability of free thiolate ligands, leading to a well‐balanced reversible reaction for rapid formation of thermodynamically favorable Au₂₅ NCs. This protocol is facile, rapid (≤3 h), versatile (applicable for various thiolate ligands), and highly scalable (>1 g Au NCs). In addition, bi‐ and tri‐thiolate‐protected Au₂₅ NCs with adjustable ratios of hetero‐thiolate ligands were easily obtained. Such ligand precision in molecular ratios, spatial distribution and uniformity resulted in richly diverse surface landscapes on the Au NCs consisting of multiple functional groups such as carboxyl, amine, and hydroxy. Analysis based on NMR spectroscopy revealed that the hetero‐ligands on the NCs are well distributed with no ligand segregation. The unprecedented synthesis of multi‐thiolate‐protected Au₂₅ NCs may further promote the practical applications of functional metal NCs.