Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Hongshuang Guo, Rakesh Puttreddy, Turkka Salminen, Alons Lends, Kristaps Jaudzems, Hao Zeng, Arri Priimagi
Summary: The authors report a liquid crystalline network that contains dynamic halogen-bond crosslinks and possesses reversible thermo-responsive shape memory behavior. Shape programming can be achieved through human-hand operation, and a micro-robotic injection model is proposed to achieve complex shape morphing in aqueous media.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Shuguo An, Aiyou Hao, Pengyao Xing
Summary: This study reports a series of halogen-bonded dimeric complexes with axial chirality formed by noncovalent bonds. The introduced halogen bond allows the material to have dynamic tunability and adaptivity, and can be a powerful tool for constructing functional axial chiral compounds.
Article
Physics, Applied
Xinchen Peng, Lei Xiao, Xinbang Liu, Yinyue Qian, Yonghao Zhang, Wei Jiang, Qingmin Ji, Harald Fuchs, Huihui Kong
Summary: The fabrication of non-covalent graphene analogs on surfaces through self-assembly provides a more effective and scalable approach compared to atomic manipulation, showing potential in modulating the electronic properties.
APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Ana Barragan, Sara Lois, Ane Sarasola, Lucia Vitali
Summary: Non-covalent bonds are crucial for designing self-assembled organic structures with high responsiveness. In this study, the synergistic action of multiple highly-directional and purely electrostatic bonds was examined in the assembly of a specific molecule on the Au surface. The research found that multiple secondary interactions strengthen the electrostatic attraction and form the building blocks of the structures.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Jinping Hu, Zhaofeng Liang, Hongbing Wang, Huan Zhang, Chaoqin Huang, Lei Xie, Zheshen Li, Zheng Jiang, Han Huang, Fei Song
Summary: On-surface Ullmann coupling has been a focus due to its unique fabrication of conjugated nanostructures with high controllability. The symmetrical dehalogenation of Br2Py on Cu(111) has been studied in detail using a combination of techniques, revealing the formation of OM chains and interesting patterns at different temperatures. The construction of covalent organic chains from different OM intermediates after annealing provides insight into surface Ullmann coupling mechanisms.
APPLIED SURFACE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Hitoshi Abe, Masahiro Onoi, Atsuro Kimura
Summary: Hot isostatic pressing (HIP) processes are widely used for various purposes, but the microscopic views of the phenomena are not fully understood. This study uses X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) experiments to investigate the interfacial region of a HIP bonded Fe-Cu sample. The analysis shows that the bond distance around Cu is shorter compared to bulk fcc Cu, and Cu species in the sample take a bcc structure even in the Cu-rich phase at room temperature. This anomalous Cu bcc phase is believed to be a result of the HIP diffusion bonding process performed below the melting points of both elements.
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Inorganic & Nuclear
Rajendra C. Pawar, Plassidius J. Chengula, Haritham Khan, Hazina Charles, Caroline S. Lee
Summary: The photocatalytic approach has the potential to address the barriers to green energy production. By synthesizing a two-dimensional reduced niobium oxide photocatalyst with copper incorporation, the study achieved remarkable photocatalytic performance due to efficient charge separation and light utilization. This opens up new possibilities for efficient photocatalysts in generating green fuel.
DALTON TRANSACTIONS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Bing Liu, Tim Wagner, Stefan Enzner, Philipp Eck, Martin Kamp, Giorgio Sangiovanni, Ralph Claessen
Summary: By synthesizing ultrathin Sb films on semi-insulating InSb(111)A substrate, researchers observe a pronounced moire pattern on the Sb films and confirm experimentally that the topological surface state persists and shifts toward lower binding energies with a decrease in Sb thickness, in agreement with theoretical predictions.
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Xing Feng, Jianwei Xiao, Bin Wen, Jijun Zhao, Bo Xu, Yanbin Wang, Yongjun Tian
Summary: This study introduces a temperature-dependent hardness formula for zinc-blende structured covalent materials, where hardness is primarily influenced by shear modulus and Poisson's ratio. As temperature increases, hardness decreases sharply, and the intrinsic parameter a(3)G is proposed to characterize the material's resistance to softening at high temperatures.
SCIENCE CHINA-MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Caimei Gong, Yuyang Zhang, Yan Lu, Zhongping Wang, Shizhang Fu, Sheng Wei, Xiaoqing Liu, Li Wang
Summary: The water-induced assembly structures of 4-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) on Au(111) and Ag(111) surfaces were studied using scanning tunneling microscopy and density functional theory calculations. Water molecules can break the weak-hydrogen bonded Kagome' structure on Au(111) and the four-leaf clover structure formed by intermediate hydrogen bonds between PABA molecules, leading to the release of water molecules. The adsorption energy of the hydrated structure formed on Ag(111) is significantly lower than that on Au(111), resulting in the selective formation of the water-involved structure on Ag(111).
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY C
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Liang Cao, Yunwen Wu, Tao Hang, Ming Li
Summary: In this study, a one-step electrochemical reduction method was used to covalently graft dielectric films containing polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) onto the surface of copper. The use of octavinylsilsesquioxane (OVS) as a monomer enables the formation of dense and uniform films through polymerization reactions. The thickness of the films can be controlled and the introduction of POSS improves the properties of the films. This method has economic and efficient features, making it significant for the future development of the electronics industry.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Alisson Ceccatto dos Santos, Nataly Herrera-Reinoza, Alejandro Perez Paz, Duncan John Mowbray, Abner de Siervo
Summary: The study demonstrates that thermal debromination readily occurs at room temperature on Cu(111) for free-base tetra(4-bromophenyl) porphyrin (H2TBrPP), leading to new interpretations of adsorption behavior and molecular coupling. Additionally, molecules deposited on a metallic substrate at temperatures above room temperature show the growth of ordered 2D metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) based on STM measurements.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY C
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Heng Chen, Xiaoting Liu, Yongfeng Huang, Guangliang Li, Feng Yu, Feng Xiong, Mengqi Zhang, Luzhao Sun, Qian Yang, Kaicheng Jia, Ruqiang Zou, Huanxin Li, Sheng Meng, Li Lin, Jincan Zhang, Hailin Peng, Zhongfan Liu
Summary: This study reports a method for the rapid preparation of large-area single-crystal Cu(111) by temperature-triggered oxidation. The method can prepare an area of up to 320 cm(2) of single-crystal Cu(111) within 60 minutes. A mechanism is proposed, where a thin CuxO layer transforms into a Cu(111) seed layer on the surface of Cu, inducing the formation of a large-area Cu(111) foil. Additionally, a large-size high-quality graphene film is synthesized on the single-crystal Cu(111) foil surface, which exhibits improved thermal conductivity and ductility compared to its polycrystalline counterpart.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Minghui Zhang, Li-Yin Gao, Jun-Jie Li, Rong Sun, Zhi-Quan Liu
Summary: The study achieved Cu-Cu direct bonding at room temperature by using highly (111) oriented copper with a nanotwin structure. The Cu-Cu joints were analyzed using SEM, EBSD, and TEM, and perfect bonding was confirmed by HRTEM and EELS. The (111) nt-Cu demonstrated excellent resistance to oxidation and fast Cu(111) surface diffusivity, enabling high-performance bonding at room temperature.
MATERIALS CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
(2023)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Youngsin Park, Guanhua Ying, Robert A. Taylor, Chan C. Hwang
Summary: The carrier dynamics of excitonic emission from a monolayer of graphene grown on a Cu(111) surface was studied. The graphene exhibited strong and sharp excitonic emission peaks at approximately 3.16 and 3.18 eV with a full-width at half-maximum of 2.7 meV at 4.2 K. Carrier recombination parameters were determined through temperature-dependent and time-resolved photoluminescence, with carrier trapping and Auger recombination dominating the decay time as temperature increased.
NPJ 2D MATERIALS AND APPLICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Zhijun Li, Siqi Ji, Chang Xu, Leipeng Leng, Hongxue Liu, J. Hugh Horton, Lei Du, Jincheng Gao, Cheng He, Xiaoying Qi, Qian Xu, Junfa Zhu
Summary: Researchers have developed a new catalyst consisting of atomically dispersed iron atoms supported on a mesoporous nitrogen-doped carbon material. This catalyst exhibits remarkable activity for both oxygen reduction and evolution reactions in a wide pH range. The zinc-air battery assembled with this catalyst outperforms the traditional Pt/C+RuO2 counterpart in terms of power density, capacity, and cycling stability. These findings highlight the importance of electronic structure engineering of metal sites in catalytic activity.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Xiaolong Zu, Yuan Zhao, Xiaodong Li, Runhua Chen, Weiwei Shao, Li Li, Panzhe Qiao, Wensheng Yan, Yang Pan, Qian Xu, Junfa Zhu, Yongfu Sun, Yi Xie
Summary: In this study, a model of reversible redox-switching metal-organic framework single-unit-cell sheets is designed, where abundant metal single sites enable highly selective CO2 reduction, and reversible redox-switching metal sites effectively activate CO2 molecules. Using synthetic Cu-MOF single-unit-cell sheets as an example, the reversible switching of Cu-II/Cu-I single sites is found to facilitate the transfer of photoexcited electrons to CO2 molecules, leading to efficient activation of CO2. As a result, Cu-MOF single-unit-cell sheets achieve near 100% selectivity for CO2 photoreduction to CO with a high rate, outperforming previously reported photocatalysts.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yu Duan, Xiao-Long Zhang, Fei-Yue Gao, Yuan Kong, Ying Duan, Xiao-Tu Yang, Xing-Xing Yu, Yan-Ru Wang, Shuai Qin, Zhi Chen, Rui Wu, Peng-Peng Yang, Xu-Sheng Zheng, Jun-Fa Zhu, Min-Rui Gao, Tong-Bu Lu, Zi-You Yu, Shu-Hong Yu
Summary: Interfacial engineering through the formation of nickel-vanadium oxide (Ni/V2O3) heterostructures can activate nickel for efficient hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) catalysis in alkaline fuel cells. The Ni/V2O3 interface acts as active sites, optimizing hydrogen and hydroxyl bindings and protecting metallic nickel from extensive oxidation, resulting in remarkable activity and durability.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Siqi Ji, Tianyang Liu, Leipeng Leng, Hongxue Liu, Jiangwei Zhang, Mingyang Zhang, Qian Xu, Junfa Zhu, Man Qiao, Yu Wang, J. Hugh Horton, Zhijun Li
Summary: In this study, a facile protein-mediated approach was used to synthesize highly efficient atomically dispersed iron electrocatalysts. These catalysts exhibited exceptional activity and stability in the oxygen reduction reaction and showed promising performance in a zinc-air battery.
APPLIED CATALYSIS B-ENVIRONMENTAL
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Yiqi Ren, Maodi Wang, Qihua Yang, Junfa Zhu
Summary: The development of chiral solid catalysts using unconventional strategies is crucial for efficient heterogeneous asymmetric catalysis. The study presents a chiral solid catalyst, chiral diamine modified Ni/SiO2, for asymmetric Michael addition. The experimental results demonstrate that the peripheral Ni sites in close contact with SiO2 support are likely to be the active sites.
Article
Plant Sciences
Peipei Jiang, Xiaojun Han, Ziyu Liu, Shoujin Fan, Xuejie Zhang
Summary: Soil salinity affects plant performance and nutrient stoichiometry, but the effects on C, N, and P stoichiometries are inconsistent. Understanding the relationships between species abundance and stoichiometry can reveal adaptive strategies and community assembly.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Yan Zhao, Wenxiu Liu, Wei Shao, Lei Li, Ming Zuo, Jun Hu, Junfa Zhu, Hui Wang, Xiaodong Zhang
Summary: In this study, it is discovered that vanadium doping can effectively inhibit surface-state-mediated charge carrier trapping, leading to improved efficiency of photocatalytic solar energy utilization. The presence of shallow trap states induced by vanadium doping is attributed to this inhibition. These vanadium-doping-induced states can trap and release charge carriers, allowing for enhanced performance in photocatalytic molecular oxygen activation and selective aerobic oxidation of organic compounds. This work provides an effective method for suppressing surface-state-mediated charge carrier trapping in semiconductor-based photocatalysis.
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY A
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Dong Han, Zhiwen Zeng, Bingchu Tian, Pu Wang, Jun Hu, Honghe Ding, Qian Xu, Junfa Zhu
Summary: This work demonstrates the stepwise activation of C-Br and C-H on a precursor molecule and the formation of self-assembled nanostructures on Ag(111). Surprisingly, the C-C coupling for organometallic dimers fails to occur, but instead, the dissociation of organometallic dimers and activation of cyano ortho C-H leads to the formation of chiral organometallic multimers.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY C
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Tao Wang, Qitang Fan, Junfa Zhu
Summary: On-surface synthesis is an effective tool for fabricating functional low-dimensional nanostructures. The challenge lies in efficiently controlling reaction pathways and improving the yield/quality of the products. Various kinetic and thermodynamic strategies have been successfully employed to address this problem. Understanding the mechanisms of on-surface reactions and designing reaction procedures are crucial for the fabrication of high-quality functional nanomaterials on surfaces.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Tao Wang, Paula Angulo-Portugal, Alejandro Berdonces-Layunta, Andrej Jancarik, Andre Gourdon, Jan Holec, Manish Kumar, Diego Soler, Pavel Jelinek, David Casanova, Martina Corso, Dimas G. de Oteyza, Jan Patrick Calupitan
Summary: The coupling of a sterically demanded pentacene derivative on Au(111) into fused dimers connected by non-benzenoid rings was studied using high-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy and density functional theory. The diradical character of the products was tuned by modifying the coupling section, with the antiaromaticity of cyclobutadiene and its position within the structure playing a significant role. Understanding these structure-property relationships is crucial for designing new complex and functional molecular structures.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Optics
Liangze Pan, Xiaoping Ouyang, Xuejie Zhang, Cheng Liu, Jianqiang Zhu
Summary: A half-trace retrieval algorithm is proposed to reconstruct the temporal structure of pulse from a polluted FROG trace. The algorithm retrieves the probe pulse and the gated pulse simultaneously from the recorded FROG trace and combines them to obtain the measured pulse. Numerical simulations and experimental tests demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in retrieving the temporal structure of pulses from badly polluted FROG traces.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Guo-Qiang Liu, Yuan Yang, Yi Li, Chao-Gang Wang, Chao Gu, Liang Wu, Jun Hu, Junfa Zhu, Shu-Hong Yu
Summary: In this study, a near-infrared light-active periodic plasmonic heterostructure composed of semimetallic Bi nanoparticles and Bi-3(Se n Te1-n )(2) ternary alloy nanowires was designed to extend the light absorption range and utilize the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect more efficiently. Compared to noble metals, metallic Bi can excite the SPR effect in the entire ultraviolet-to-NIR range. The periodic heterostructure can alleviate the localization of the SPR and improve the charge transfer and redox kinetics through the efficient utilization of local electromagnetic fields and photothermal heating. As a result, the photoanode achieves an incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency of 22% at 800nm and a photocurrent density of 13.8 mA/cm² at 0.85 V-RHE under visible light without any cocatalysts.
CHEMISTRY OF MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Cong Fu, Fei Li, Zongfang Wu, Feng Xiong, Junfa Zhu, Xue-Qing Gong, Weixin Huang
Summary: A trace amount of potassium dopant is found to restructure the surface of anatase TiO2(001) single crystal, changing the termination from molecule termination to oxygen termination. The molecule-terminated surface shows (photo)catalytic activity, while the oxygen-terminated surface is inert.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Tao Wang, Qitang Fan, Junfa Zhu
Summary: On-surface synthesis is a powerful tool for fabricating functional low-dimensional nanostructures with atomic precision. Various strategies have been employed to control reaction pathways and improve the yield/quality of products. This Perspective discusses these strategies in view of basic reaction steps, providing insights for the rational design of high-quality functional nanomaterials on surfaces.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY LETTERS
(2023)