Latest ArticlesThe performance optimization of materials is an eternal theme and challenge in scientific research, which is reflected in ferroelectric filed to two hot topics of enhancing Curie temperature (TC) and functional versatility. The former one vitally determines ferroelectric operational temperature range while the latter would open up new application possibilities. Effective chemical modification or doping strategies on A-site and X-site components have been successfully developed in hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite (HOIP) ferroelectrics, however, the important role of adjusting B-site ions has long been overlooked. Here, we have implemented regulation on the ion radius of the B-site component to successfully obtain two new HOIP ferroelectrics (3-pyrrolinium)BBr3 (B = Mn and Ni). Compared to parent (3-pyrrolinium)CdBr3, the TC (ΔT = 99 K) was significantly optimized by replacing the Cd2+ with smaller Mn2+ or Ni2+ ions. More strikingly, the introduction of Mn2+ and Ni2+ ions with octahedral coordination bring out intriguing red emission and magnetism respectively, making the multifunctional integration in a single material for multiple uses. This work provides a feasible strategy for performance optimizing of HOIP ferroelectrics, and would shed light for constructing multifunctional ferroelectrics.
Large-scale deployment of carbon dioxide (CO2) removal technology is an essential step to cope with global warming and achieve carbon neutrality. Direct air capture (DAC) has recently received increasing attention given the high flexibility to remove CO2 from discrete sources. Porous materials with adjustable pore characteristics are promising sorbents with low or no latent heat of vaporization. This review article has summarized the recent development of porous sorbents for DAC, with a focus of pore engineering strategy and adsorption mechanism. Physisorbents such as zeolites, porous carbons, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), and amine-modified chemisorbents have been discussed and their challenges in practical application have been analyzed. At last, future directions have been proposed, and it is expected to inspire collaborations from chemistry, environment, material science and engineering communities.
Iron-porphyrin metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as a remarkable class of semiconductors with adjustable photoelectrical properties and peroxidase-mimicking activities, yet their full potential remains largely unexplored. The organic photoelectrochemical transistor (OPECT) has been proven to be a prominent platform for diverse applications. Herein, iron-porphyrin MOFs, as bifunctional photo-gating module and horseradish peroxidase-mimicking nanozyme, is explored for novel OPECT bioanalysis. Exemplified by alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)-dependent sandwich immunorecognition and therein glucose oxidase (GOx)-generated H2O2 to etch CdS quantum dots on the surface of iron-porphyrin MOFs, this OPECT bioanalysis achieved high-performance AFP detection with a low detection limit of 24 fg/mL. This work featured a bifunctional iron-porphyrin MOFs gated OPECT, which is envisioned to inspire more interest in developing the diverse MOFs-nanozymes toward novel optoelectronics and beyond.
Photocatalytic NO removal is regarded as an attractive strategy to reduce NO pollution in the air, but the lack of efficient and stable catalysts impedes its applications. Herein, we report on developing Ti3C2 supported on N-defective g-C3N5 nanosheets (CNX/TC) as an efficient photocatalyst toward NO removal. It is noteworthy that TC changed from crystal structure to amorphous structure during the photocatalytic process. Due to the existence of N vacancies and amorphous structure, the designed CNX/TC composites possess abundant unsaturated sites for adsorption and activation of O2 and NO, thus facilitating the removal of NO and inhibiting the generation of NO2. The as-prepared CNX/TC-2% shows the best activity for NO removal and inhibits toxic NO2 generation. The removal rate of NO is up to 48%, which is about 2 and 4 times higher than those of pure CNX and CN, respectively. In addition, the in situ diffused reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to investigate the NO transfer pathway during the photocatalytic process. This work might provide new insights into the catalytic role of N-defect and amorphous, inspiring the rational design of catalysts in the field of photocatalytic NO removal.
Plants play a crucial role in maintaining ecological balance and biodiversity. However, plant health is easily affected by environmental stresses. Hence, the rapid and precise monitoring of plant health is crucial for global food security and ecological balance. Currently, traditional detection strategies for monitoring plant health mainly rely on expensive equipment and complex operational procedures, which limit their widespread application. Fortunately, near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) techniques have been recently highlighted in plants. NIR fluorescence imaging holds the advantages of being non-invasive, high-resolution and real-time, which is suitable for rapid screening in large-scale scenarios. While SERS enables highly sensitive and specific detection of trace chemical substances within plant tissues. Therefore, the complementarity of NIR fluorescence and SERS modalities can provide more comprehensive and accurate information for plant disease diagnosis and growth status monitoring. This article summarizes these two modalities in plant applications, and discusses the advantages of multimodal NIR fluorescence/SERS for a better understanding of a plant's response to stress, thereby improving the accuracy and sensitivity of detection.
It has been challenging for Fe(Ⅲ) regeneration in Fe-based photocatalysts for continuous peroxydisulfate (PDS) activation due to the lower ability to reduce Fe(Ⅲ). In this work, Fe-doped ultrathin VO2 (Fe-VO2) nanobelts were synthesized for purifying metronidazole (MNZ) via PDS activation. As an efficient Fenton-like catalyst for PDS activation, 2 wt% Fe-doped VO2 can remove 98% of MNZ within 40 min and exhibits impressive recyclability. The synergistic effect of Fe-VO2 and Fe(Ⅲ) activated PDS boosted the photocatalytic performance. Moreover, SO4•−, h+, O2•−, 1O2, and •OH were the main reactive radicals. The effects of initial MNZ concentration, Fe-VO2, PDS dosage, and various anions/cations on MNZ removal by the Fe-VO2/PDS/Vis system were studied. The intermediates of MNZ degradation and possible pathways were determined by density function theory (DFT) calculations and HPLC-MS. This study provided a sustainable technology using Fe-doped ultrathin VO2 nanobelts for photocatalytic PDS activation and decontamination of pharmaceutical wastewater.
Anode active materials involving transition metal oxides and sulfides are of great significance for high energy density lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), but the huge volume expansion and inferior electronic conductivity upon cycling critically constrain their further application. Herein, from a new perspective, a highly conductive and stable 3D flexible composite current collector is rationally designed by facilely electrodepositing metallic Ni thin layer onto the carbon cloth (CC/Ni), which endows the supported active materials with exceptional electronic conductivity and structural stability. In addition, the homogeneously distributed metallic Ni protrusions external CC can strongly bond with the active components, ensuring the structural integrity of electrodes upon cycling. More importantly, the 3D network structure with large specific surface area provides abundant space to alleviate the volume expansion and more active sites for electrochemical reactions. Therefore, taking Ni3S2 nanosheet (Ni3S2 NS) anode as an example, the prepared Ni3S2 NS@CC/Ni electrode shows a high specific capacity of 2.32 mAh/cm2 at 1 mA/cm2 and high capacity retention of 1.68 mAh/cm2 at a high rate of 8 mA/cm2. This study provides a universal approach to obtain highly conductive and stable 3D flexible current collectors towards high performance metal-ion batteries beyond LIBs.
Wide bandgap semiconductors are typically activated under ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) degradation. However, our previous study discovered that certain VOCs can interact with some wide bandgap semiconductors, formatting an intermediate bandgap between the VOCs and the conduction band of wide bandgap semiconductor, thus inducing visible light activation of the system, and photo-generated electrons are excited by visible light and transferred from the VOCs to the conduction band of semiconductor. In this work, BaTiO3, traditionally is not active under visible light irradiation, however showed degradation rates of 100% and 20% for styrene and toluene under visible light, respectively. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that the adsorption of styrene or toluene on the BaTiO3 surface reduces its bandgap from 2.93 eV to 1.36 eV and 2.26 eV, respectively. The intermediate bandgap in this system is primarily formed by the valence band of BaTiO3 and the VOCs, and indicating that photo-generated electrons directly transfer from BaTiO3 to the VOCs under visible light, inducing degradation reactions of VOCs, i.e., this work discovered a new transfer pathway of photo-electrons direct from the valence band of BaTiO3 to VOCs, while photo-electrons are from VOCs to the conductive band of wide-bandgap semiconductors in our previous work.
Neuropathic pain (NP) is one of the most common pathological pain types and is associated with limited treatment options; moreover, it affects patients’ quality of life and causes a heavy social burden. Despite the emphasis on inhibiting neuronal apoptosis to relieve NP, the crucial role of a neuroinflammation is often overlooked. Therefore, refocusing on the regulation of microglia polarization to create a more conducive environment for neuron holds great potential in NP treatment. In recent years, small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) had become an attractive therapeutic option. However, an efficient loading and delivery system for siRNA is still in lack. In our study, a nanostructured tetrahedral framework nucleic acid loaded with the small interfering RNA C–C chemokine receptor 2 (T-siCCR2) was successfully designed and synthesized for use in NP rat model in vivo and in a lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammatory environment in vitro. This nanoscale complex is endowed with structural stability and satisfactory delivery efficiency while assuring the silencing effect of siRNA-CCR2. In vivo, T-siCCR2 treatment exhibited favorable effects on pain relief and functional improvement in the NP animal model by directly targeting microglia. In vitro, T-siCCR2 counteracts LPS-induced inflammation by inhibiting the differentiation of microglia toward the M1 phenotype, thus playing a neuroprotective role. RNA sequencing was subsequently performed to elucidate the underlying mechanism involved. These results indicate that T-siCCR2 may serve as a potential treatment option for NP in the future.
Aqueous zinc-ion batteries are highly favored for their enhanced safety and reduced cost. However, there exist challenges including zinc dendrite, hydrogen evolution, and surface corrosion to be solved. Using electrolyte additives is a highly convenient approach to solving zinc anode-related issues. Inspired by industrial corrosion protection, a trace amount of the corrosion inhibitor urotropine (URT) is used as an electrolyte additive to protect the zinc anode. Theoretical calculation and experimental analysis confirm the adsorption of URT molecules onto the surface of Zn, which inhibits hydrogen evolution. This adsorption further leads to the formation of an inorganic-organic bilayer solid electrolyte interface (SEI) on the surface of the zinc anode, effectively protecting the Zn anode from corrosion, hydrogen evolution and zinc dendrites. The presence of SEI enables symmetrical Zn//Zn cells to exhibit a long cycling performance of 1750 h at 1 mA/cm2 and an average coulombic efficiency of 99.0% at 1 mA/cm2 in Zn//Cu cells. After being coupled with polyaniline (PANI), the Zn//PANI full battery displays excellent cycle stability and specific capacity.
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