ChemPhysMater最新文献

Mg-doped Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles (M-FNPs) are successfully prepared first time by facile green-aided (almond gum) combustion route. The structural analysis of synthesized nanoparticles was well analyzed by Powder X-ray Diffraction (PXRD), Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Raman spectroscopy and UV-Visible spectral studies. PXRD showed a nanocrystalline nature and determined the average particle size to be 85 nm. The surface morphologies of the prepared nanocomposite was measured by SEM technique reveals the porous and spongy like structure. The photodegradation activity on 20 × 10⁻⁶ of Fast Orange Red (FOR) organic model dye using M-FNPs (50 mg) under UV light irradiation was investigatedin detail. Electrochemical examination of the prepared material was conducted using graphite–M-FNP electrode paste in 0.1 M KCl solution, and its performance in redox reaction was determined to be very good via cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Further, an extension to sensor studies revealed broad differences in redox positions for paracetamol sensors, at 0.64 V and 0.41 V, confirming highly chemical sensor activity in alkaline medium for 1∼5 mM concentrations.

Polynuclear metal clusters, particularly those with aesthetically appealing structures, are of increasing interest. In this study, by employing C₄ symmetrical macrocyclic silsesquioxane ligand, a novel tridecanuclear Gd(III) cluster (Gd13) with a {Gd₁₃O₈} core featuring unprecedent body-centered Archimedean cuboctahedron conformation is realized using an efficient solvothermal method instead of conventional Schlenk techniques. To the best of our knowledge, Gd13 cluster is thus far the highest nuclearity of lanthanide-silsesquioxane. Moreover, a magnetic study reveals a weak antiferromagnetic interaction between adjacent Gd ions in the cluster. In addition, Gd13 exhibits cryogenic magnetocaloric effects with a maximum −ΔS_M value of 20 J kg⁻¹ K⁻¹ at 2 K and ΔH = 7.0 T.

Accumulating evidence suggests that toxicity in patients with Alzheimer's disease originates from the deposition of Aβ42 aggregates on the neuronal cell membrane. However, the molecular mechanism underlying Aβ42 aggregation on the surface of different lipids is poorly understood. In this study, coarse-grained and all-atomic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were used to characterize the assembly process of two Aβ42 pentameric oligomers and the perturbation “footprints” of three characteristic lipid constitute bilayer membranes: POPC, POPG, and their hybrid PcPg composed of POPG and POPC in a 1:3 ratio. Our results revealed that the Aβ decamer was first formed in the water phase prior to its contact with the lipid surface, indicating that the water phase plays an incubation role in Aβ42 oligomer aggregation. Moreover, the presence of any of the three lipids accelerated the assembly process of the two Aβ42 pentameric. The aggregation rate and aggregate conformation were strictly dependent on lipid charge, oligomer size, and degree of aggregation. In turn, the presence of oligomer impacted the surface of the lipid, generating a clear perturbation “footprint”, regardless of whether the interplay was direct or indirect, revealing for the first time that the indirect interaction is not seamless and can be detected clearly at the molecular level. Indirect interplay stands for the non-contacting interaction interfaced by the water phase, indicating a metastable state with long-range interaction under non-shaking conditions. Our results reveal the crucial role of non-contacting interactions in determining the phase status of zwitterionic membranes.

Zn metal anode is believed to be a promising anode material for aqueous Zn-ion batteries (ZIBs) due to the merits such as low electrochemical potential, low cost, high theoretical specific capacity, high hydrogen evolution overpotential, less-reactive property, environmental friendliness and easy processing. However, issues including uncontrollable growth of Zn dendrites, corrosion by aqueous electrolyte, large volume change and unstable interface hinder its further development. Recently, multifunctional metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and their derivatives have shown huge advantages in solving the issues facing Zn metal anode, and large advances have been achieved. MOFs and their derivatives can stabilize Zn metal anode by interface engineering, designing host, decorating separator, constructing solid-state electrolyte and so on. Here we carefully summarize and analyse these advances. Meanwhile, some perspectives and outlooks are put forward. This review can promote the development of MOFs, Zn metal anode as well as aqueous ZIBs.

Zwitterionic polymers have attracted research attention in recent years owing to their unique molecular structures. In the same repeat unit, positive and negative charges are simultaneously located on a pair of cationic and anionic groups; therefore, zwitterionic polymers have a large dipole moment and numerous charged groups. Although the molecular chain of the zwitterionic polymer can be maintained in an electrically neutral state overall, the coexistence of the oppositely charged groups confers extremely high polarity and excellent hydrophilicity to the polymer. At the same time, the electricality of the polymer can be further regulated by the environmental pH and salt ions, which greatly broadens the scope of applications in different fields. This review introduces various structures of zwitterionic polymers and analyzes the reasons why zwitterionic polymers exhibit pH responsiveness, anti-polyelectrolyte effects, and superior electrical conductivity. The application fields are also summarized by generalizing the research status of zwitterionic polymers, including applications in antifouling coatings, drug delivery, wastewater treatment, and sensors, etc.

In recent years, starvation-primed chemodynamic therapies (ST–CDT) have become a hot topic in the wake of many discoveries related to the aberrant metabolism of cancer cells and their resistance to traditional chemotherapies, as well as altered redox signaling within tumor cells. Nanotechnology platforms are in a unique position to exploit these interrelated phenomena to realize a therapeutic effect; few therapeutic modalities are able to deliver multiple drugs simultaneously outside of nanotechnology, a basic requirement when striving to exploit a complex, interactive system such as a cancer cell. In this review, the pertinent mechanisms of ST and CDT, as well as the important interactions between these two therapies, are discussed. We outline how these therapies may work synergistically or antagonistically, depending on both the therapeutic design and the system of reactions involved. Lastly, specific applications that nanotechnology is particularly well-suited are given, which may offer improvement over clinical state-of-the-art. Such considerations are important, as nanotechnology has historically encountered great difficulty in clinical translation.

Characteristic construction is an important part of material data analysis. In the big data environment, the development of material data science will have implications for multidimensional data analysis methods. Among these, the machine learning method for multidimensional data models can be widely applied to material data types, including element ratios, atomic compositions, electronic arrangements, molecular structures, and energy distributions. For high-throughput computing materials, it is recommended in material data science to judge and extract the main characteristics influencing material properties and predict novel functional materials using the discovered laws. Consequently, we considere the characteristic construction, learning prediction, feature extraction, and high-order analysis of computational materials as the main research purposes, and construct a composite analysis model of the material system by combining data preprocessing, data mining, data evaluation, and knowledge representation as the main steps of data analysis. This demonstrates that a method to comprehensively judge the properties of materials by constructing the characteristics of materials in different dimensions is essential.

There are various new structures with superior performance for Heusler alloy materials that are widely used in spintronic materials, thermoelectric materials, and other fields. In this study, three new Ag-based full-Heusler alloys (Ag₂TiGa, Ag₂VGa, and Ag₂TiTl) are proposed. The stability, mechanical properties, and electronic properties of these three new Ag-based Heusler alloys were studied using first-principles calculations. The results showed that the compression resistance, shear resistance, stiffness, and elastic anisotropy of Ag₂VGa were greater than those of Ag₂TiGa and Ag₂TiTl, whereas the ductility of Ag₂TiGa and Ag₂TiTl was better than that of Ag₂VGa. The spin density of states of Ag₂VGa has evident spin splitting near the Fermi level, and the total magnetic moment of the Ag₂VGa structure is 2.28 µB, which indicates that Ag₂VGa is magnetic. These studies enrich research on Ag-based Heusler alloys and provide theoretical references for subsequent theoretical and experimental research.

Among all the phase morphologies of poly(9,9-di-n-octylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl) (PFO), the β phase exhibits a zigzag coplanar arrangement with the highest conjugation degree. As a result, the β-phasePFO has extraordinary properties, including enhanced charge carrier mobility. In this work, we report the formation of high-β-phase PFO in nanoparticles (NPs) due to the synergistic effect of the slow crystallization of PFO in nanodroplet confinement and polystyrene (PS) blending. The β-phase content of PFO can be flexibly tuned by varying the NP size, molecular weight (M_w), or relative PS content in the NPs. The novel systems demonstrated in this study are likely to provide valuable insights into the β-phase formation mechanism of PFO. As a proof of concept, we further demonstrate that NPs of PFO:PS (1:8) with a higher β-phase content lead to improved photocatalyst efficiency at lower material costs, allowing for novel designs of efficient and visible-light-driven photocatalytic NPs.

With the depletion of fossil fuels and environmental pollution, energy storage and conversion have become the focus of current research. Water splitting and fuel cell technologies have made outstanding contributions to energy conversion. However, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) have slow kinetics, which limit the capacity of fuel cells. It is of great significance to develop catalysts for the OER and ORR and continuously improve their catalytic performance. Many studies have shown that intrinsic defects, especially vacancies (anion and cation vacancies), can effectively improve the efficiency of electrochemical energy storage and conversion. The introduction of intrinsic defects can generally expose more active sites, enhance conductivity, adjust the electronic state, and promote ion diffusion, thereby enhancing the catalytic performance. This review comprehensively summarizes the latest developments regarding the effects of intrinsic defects on the performance of non-noble metal electrocatalysts. According to the type of intrinsic defect, this article reviews in detail the regulation mechanism, preparation methods and advanced characterization techniques of intrinsic defects in different materials (oxides, non-oxides, etc.). Then, the current difficulties and future development of intrinsic defect regulation are analyzed and discussed thoroughly. Finally, the prospect of intrinsic defects in the field of electrochemical energy storage is further explored.