Band gap engineering in silicene: A theoretical study of density functional tight-binding theory

In this work, we performed first principles calculations based on self-consistent charge density functional tight-binding to investigate different mechanisms of band gap tuning of silicene. We optimized structures of silicene sheet, functionalized silicene with H, CH₃ and F groups and nanoribbons with the edge of zigzag and armchair. Then we calculated electronic properties of silicene, functionalized silicene under uniaxial elastic strain, silicene nanoribbons and silicene under external electrical fields. It is found that the bond length and buckling value for relaxed silicene is agreeable with experimental and other theoretical values. Our results show that the band gap opens by functionalization of silicene. Also, we found that the direct band gap at K point for silicene changed to the direct band gap at the gamma point. Also, the functionalized silicene band gap decrease with increasing of the strain. For all sizes of the zigzag silicene nanoribbons, the band gap is near zero, while an oscillating decay occurs for the band gap of the armchair nanoribbons with increasing the nanoribbons width. At finally, it can be seen that the external electric field can open the band gap of silicene. We found that by increasing the electric field magnitude the band gap increases.     

Luminescence Switching of Organogold(I) Complexes between Aggregation-induced Phosphorescence Enhancement and Aggregation-caused Quenching by Balancing Auxiliary Ligands around the AuI Center

Attaching AIE-active L1 ([1,1′:2′,1′′:4′′,1′′′-quaterphenyl]-2-yldiphenylphosphane) to AuCl, shortened the distances of P−C bonds to promote electron cloud overlap between Au^I and L1 , affords 1 ( L1 AuCl) with aggregation-induced phosphorescence enhancement (AIPE) activity by ³LMCT transitions. Then substituting the coplanar L2 (9-ethynylanthracene) for the Cl⁻ in 1 providing 2 , switches the luminescence to aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) activity. Furthermore, we restore the performance from ACQ to AIPE by metathesis reactions to transfer 2 into 1 . It is versatile synthetic strategy of reversible transformation between 1 and 2 that switches the luminescence of organogold(I) between AIPE and ACQ through balancing auxiliary ligands around the given metal.     

Tuning of Photonic band gap via combined effect of electric and optical fields in a blue phase liquid crystal composite

ABSTRACT

Blue phase liquid crystals are soft 3D photonic crystals in which the liquid crystal molecules self-assemble to form a cubic structure with lattice spacing of a few hundred nanometers resulting in selective reflection of colours in the visible spectrum. The corresponding wavelength or the ‘photonic band gap’ can be tuned using various external stimuli such as thermal, electric, magnetic and optical fields. Here, we report efficient tuning of photonic band gap by utilising the combination of electric and optical fields in a blue phase liquid crystalline system. The studies indicate that the chirality of the medium has a direct bearing on the direction of the wavelength shift and the extent of the photonic band gap tunability. More importantly, the synergistic effect of the two fields helps in reversible tuning of the band gap.     

Enhanced electronic and nonlinear optical responses of C24N24 cavernous nitride fullerene by decoration with first row transition metals; A computational investigation

The electronic (energy gap and work function) as well as electrical properties (dipole moment, polarizability, and first hyperpolarizabilities) of the first-row transition metals decorated C₂₄N₂₄ cavernous nitride fullerene were explored using DFT calculations. The transition metals are decorated at N4 cavity of C₂₄N₂₄ fullerene. According to our spin polarized computations, the most stable spin state monotonically increases to sextet for Mn@C₂₄N₂₄ and thereafter dropped off gradually to singlet state for Zn@C₂₄N₂₄ system. The findings demonstrate that transition metals can remarkably decrease the HOMO-LUMO energy gap and work function values up to 63% and 21% of bare C₂₄N₂₄, respectively. As can be seen, when the Sc and Ti metals are located above the N4 cavity of fullerene, systems of enhanced static hyperpolarizabilities (β₀) are delivered. These findings might provide an effective strategy to design high performance eletcro-optical materials based on carbon- nitride fullerene.     

Structural and luminescence characteristics of CuAlxIn1−xSe2 (0 < x ≤ 0.30) chalcopyrite solid solutions

1. Download : Download high-res image (112KB)
2. Download : Download full-size image

     

Switching the Switch: Ligand Induced Disulfide Formation in HDAC8

Human histone deacetylase 8 is a well-recognized target for T-cell lymphoma and particularly childhood neuroblastoma. PD-404,182 was shown to be a selective covalent inhibitor of HDAC8 that forms mixed disulfides with several cysteine residues and is also able to transform thiol groups to thiocyanates. Moreover, HDAC8 was shown to be regulated by a redox switch based on the reversible formation of a disulfide bond between cysteines Cys₁₀₂ and Cys₁₅₃. This study on the distinct effects of PD-404,182 on HDAC8 reveals that this compound induces the dose-dependent formation of intramolecular disulfide bridges. Therefore, the inhibition mechanism of HDAC8 by PD-404,182 involves both, covalent modification of thiols as well as ligand mediated disulfide formation. Moreover, this study provides a deep molecular insight into the regulation mechanism of HDAC8 involving several cysteines with graduated capability to form reversible disulfide bridges.     

FHIT-Substrate Complexes: a New Paradigm in Reversible Protein Phosphorylation

Fhit is a tumor suppressor protein encoded at the most fragile site in the human genome that is inactivated by genetic deletions early in the development of many cancers. A member of the Histidine Triad (HIT) superfamily of nucleotide-binding proteins, Fhit binds diadenosine triphosphate (ApppA) and cleaves it to produce AMP + ADP. The His96Asn mutation of Fhit, which reduces k_cat by more than a million-fold, does not reduce tumor suppressor activity in a nude mouse assay. Thus, genetic and biochemical evidence suggest that ApppA binding but not cleavage is required for tumor suppression. Crystal structures of Fhit bound to a nonhydrolyzable ApppA analog revealed that Fhit binds two substrates per dimer, presenting all of the phosphates and two of the adenosines on the surface of the protein in place of a deep, positively charged groove in the empty Fhit protein dimer. It is proposed that signaling by Fhit is mediated by presentation of nucleotide substrates to cytosolic effectors.     

Novel titanate nanotubes-cyanocobalamin materials: Synthesis and enhanced photocatalytic properties for pollutants removal

New hybrid nanomaterials, with improved photocatalytic performance in pollutants removal, were obtained through the modification of titanate nanotubes (TNT) with a cobalt porphyrin, the cyanocobalamin, also knowing as vitamin B12 (B12). The nanocrystalline TNT were produced by hydrothermal treatment and after treated with cobalamin to produce B12-TNT materials. The characterization of the new hybrid material was performed by XRD, FTIR, TEM-EDS, DRS, XPS and ICP. The results show that the immobilization of the cobalt containing specie is dependent on the point of zero charge of the TNT and no modifications on the structure and morphology were observed. No significant changes in the optical band gap were observed after B12 incorporation, but an increasing in the visible light absorption, which arises from charge transfer and d–d transitions of the cobalt, was visualized. The samples photocatalytic performance was studied for the hydroxyl radical production and the highest catalytic ability was achieved by the B12-HTNT sample. The catalytic ability of these new hybrid nanomaterials for two model pollutants photodegradation, phenol and rhodamine B (RhB) was investigated. For both pollutants, the best results were achieved using B12-HTNT with a removal of 94% of a 10 ppm RhB and 87% of a 20 ppm phenol solution in 90 min of irradiation (150 mL, 0.2 g catalyst/L).