A Supported Bismuth Halide Perovskite Photocatalyst for Selective Aliphatic and Aromatic C–H Bond Activation

Direct selective oxidation of hydrocarbons to oxygenates by O₂ is challenging. Catalysts are limited by the low activity and narrow application scope, and the main focus is on active C−H bonds at benzylic positions. In this work, stable, lead-free, Cs₃Bi₂Br₉ halide perovskites are integrated within the pore channels of mesoporous SBA-15 silica and demonstrate their photocatalytic potentials for C−H bond activation. The composite photocatalysts can effectively oxidize hydrocarbons (C₅ to C₁₆ including aromatic and aliphatic alkanes) with a conversion rate up to 32900 μmol g_cat⁻¹ h⁻¹ and excellent selectivity (>99 %) towards aldehydes and ketones under visible-light irradiation. Isotopic labeling, in situ spectroscopic studies, and DFT calculations reveal that well-dispersed small perovskite nanoparticles (2–5 nm) possess enhanced electron–hole separation and a close contact with hydrocarbons that facilitates C(sp³)−H bond activation by photoinduced charges.     

Bi(IO3)F2: The First Metal Iodate Fluoride with a Very Strong Second Harmonic Generation Effect

The first metal iodate fluoride, Bi(IO₃)F₂, with a strong second harmonic generation (SHG) effect has been prepared. Bi(IO₃)F₂ crystallizes in the polar space group C2 and features a three‐dimensional [BiF₂]⁺ cationic framework with IO₃ groups capping the inner walls of the one‐dimensional tunnels. This [BiF₂]⁺ cationic framework acts as a template for the assembly of the polar IO₃ units in a favorable superposed fashion, which leads to the polar structure of the material. Bi(IO₃)F₂ displays a rather wide transmittance window (0.3–11 μm) and exhibits a very strong SHG response that is about 11.5 times larger than that of KH₂PO₄ (KDP) under 1064 nm laser radiation and the same as that of KTiOPO₄ (KTP) under 2.05 μm laser radiation. Preliminary investigations indicate that Bi(IO₃)F₂ is a promising nonlinear optical material in the visible and mid‐IR region.     

Synthetic Nanosheets of Natural van der Waals Heterostructures

Creation of new van der Waals heterostructures by stacking different two dimensional (2D) crystals on top of each other in a chosen sequence is the next challenge after the discovery of graphene, mono/few layer of h ‐BN, and transition‐metal dichalcogenides. However, chemical syntheses of van der Waals heterostructures are rarer than the physical preparation techniques. Herein, we demonstrate the kinetic stabilization of 2D ultrathin heterostructure (ca. 1.13–2.35 nm thick) nanosheets of layered intergrowth SnBi₂Te₄, SnBi₄Te₇, and SnBi₆Te₁₀, which belong to the Sn_m Bi_2n Te_{3n +m} homologous series, by a simple solution based synthesis. Few‐layer nanosheets exhibit ultralow lattice thermal conductivity (κ _lat) of 0.3–0.5 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ and semiconducting electron‐transport properties with high carrier mobility.     

Lead‐Free,Air‐Stable All‐Inorganic Cesium Bismuth Halide Perovskite Nanocrystals

Lead‐based perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) have outstanding optical properties and cheap synthesis conferring them a tremendous potential in the field of optoelectronic devices. However, two critical problems are still unresolved and hindering their commercial applications: one is the fact of being lead‐based and the other is the poor stability. Lead‐free all‐inorganic perovskite Cs₃Bi₂X₉ (X=Cl, Br, I) NCs are synthesized with emission wavelength ranging from 400 to 560 nm synthesized by a facile room temperature reaction. The ligand‐free Cs₃Bi₂Br₉ NCs exhibit blue emission with photoluminescence quantum efficiency (PLQE) about 0.2 %. The PLQE can be increased to 4.5 % when extra surfactant (oleic acid) is added during the synthesis processes. This improvement stems from passivation of the fast trapping process (2–20 ps). Notably, the trap states can also be passivated under humid conditions, and the NCs exhibited high stability towards air exposure exceeding 30 days.     

Existence and uniqueness of solutions for a class of semilinear parabolic PDEs with non-Lipschitz coefficients

In this paper the existence and uniqueness of solutions for a class of semilinear parabolic partial differential equations with non-Lipschitz coefficients on Riemannian manifold are obtained. Two non-Lipschitz functions are provided to show our results.