Facile fabrication of reusable starch sponge with adjustable crosslinked networks for efficient nest-trap and in situ photodegrade methylene blue.

The fabrication of reusable natural polysaccharide sponges with nanoscale dispersed photocatalysts to achieve robust photocatalytic efficiency is desirable yet challenging. Herein, inspired by the nesting behavior when fishing, we designed reusable starch sponge with chemically anchored nano-ZnO into carboxylated starch matrix by thermoplastic interfacial reactions and solvent replacement for absorbing and photodegrading methylene blue (MB) in situ. The plasticization and interfacial reactions promoted a simultaneous increase in the reactivity of the starch hydroxyl/carboxyl groups and the specific surface area of ZnO.

Theoretical study of local S coordination environment on Fe single atoms for peroxymonosulfate-based advanced oxidation processes.

Tuning the electronic structure of single atom catalysts (SACs) is an effective strategy to promote the catalytic activity in peroxymonosulfate (PMS)-based advanced oxidation processes (AOPs). Herein, a series of Fe-based SACs with S-coordination numbers on graphene were designed to regulate the electronic structural of SACs at molecular level, and their effects on PMS activation were investigated via density function theory (DFT). The calculation results demonstrate that the electron structure of the active center can be adjusted by coordination environment, which further affects the activation of PMS.

Effect of local coordination on catalytic activities and selectivities of Fe-based catalysts for N reduction.

Electrochemical reduction of nitrogen is considered a promising route for achieving green and sustainable ammonia synthesis under ambient conditions. A transition metal atom loaded on N-doped graphene is commonly used in the nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR), but the effect of the graphene's coordination environment on electron transfer has rarely been studied. Herein, the NRR performance of Fe clusters, anchored on single-vacancy and N-doped graphene, is investigated systematically density functional theory (DFT).

Graphene oxide-highly anisotropic noble metal hybrid systems for intensified surface enhanced Raman scattering and direct capture and sensitive discrimination in PCBs monitoring.

Graphene oxide (GO)-anisotropic noble metal hybrid systems were developed as highly sensitive and reproducible surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) platform, in which ultrathin GO was embedded between two metallic layers of flower-like Ag nanoparticles (AgNFs) and gold nanostars (AuNSts). Due to multi-dimensional plasmonic coupling effect, the well-designed AgNFs-GO-AuNSts sandwich structures possessed ultrahigh sensitivity with the detection limit of R6G as low as 1.0 × 10 M and high enhancement factor of 2.

Synthesis of mono- and bisadducts of thieno-o-quinodimethane with C60 for efficient polymer solar cells.

A series of mono- and bisadducts of thieno-o-quinodimethane with C(60) (TOQC) was efficiently prepared through the Diels-Alder reaction of pristine or solubilizing side-chain-substituted 2,3-bis(chloromethyl)thiophene with C(60). The pristine TOQC bisadduct (bis-TOQC) shows much higher performance than the side-chain-substituted TOQC bisadducts in polymer solar cells, while the situation is inverse for the TOQC monoadducts. The best power conversion efficiency of 5.