Rational Design of S-Scheme Heterojunction toward Efficient Photocatalytic Cellulose Reforming for H and Formic Acid in Pure Water.

Photocatalytic cellulose reforming usually requires harsh conditions due to its sluggish kinetics. Here, a hollow structural S-scheme heterojunction of ZnSe and oxygen vacancy enriched TiO , namely, h-ZnSe/Pt@TiO , is designed and fabricated, with which the photocatalytic reforming of cellulose for H and formic acid is realized in pure water. H and formic acid productivity of 1858 and 372 µmol g h and a steady H evolution for 300 h are achieved with α-cellulose.

Two-Dimensional Ultrathin Graphic Carbon Nitrides with Extended π-Conjugation as Extraordinary Efficient Hydrogen Evolution Photocatalyst.

Construction of 2D graphic carbon nitrides (g-CN ) with wide visible light adsorption range and high charge separation efficiency concurrently is of great urgent demand and still very challenging for developing highly efficient photocatalysts for hydrogen evolution. To achieve this goal, a two-step pyrolytic strategy has been applied here to create ultrathin 2D g-CN with extended the π-conjugation. It is experimentally proven that the extension of π-conjugation in g-CN is not only beneficial to narrowing the bandgap, but also improving the charge separation efficiency of the g-CN .

Tuning the current rectification behavior of Rh-based molecular junctions by varying their supramolecular structures.

Molecular junctions with similar backbones, tunable chemical structures and controllable length are critical for the systematic study of the structure-functionality relationships of their charge transport behavior. Taking advantage of the feasibility and tunability of stepwise fabrication, we built series of asymmetric supramolecular SAMs on gold using Rh(OCCR) (Rh, R = CH, H, and F) as the building blocks and conjugated ,'-bidentate ligands (pyrazine (L), 4,4'-bipyridine (L) and 1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethene (L)) as the bridges. By varying the Rh units and bridging ligands, series of supramolecules with similar backbone and tunable chemical structures were assembled on gold.

Simple and efficient fabrication of multi-stage color-changeable photonic prints as anti-counterfeit labels.

Color changeable photonic prints (CCPPs) show their potential applications in high-level information storage and anti-counterfeiting, but usually suffer from the complex fabrication process and limited color variation. Here, a simple and efficient method is developed to generate CCPPs with multilevel tunable color contrasts by packing the solvent responsive photonic crystals with diverse cross-linking degrees and desired way. The key to the successful fabrication is to create and control over the optical response of each part of the CCPPs through altering the cross-linking degree of PCs and thus the affinity between the CCPPs and solvents.

Understanding the charge transport properties of redox active metal-organic conjugated wires.

Layer-by-layer assembly of the dirhodium complex [Rh(OCCH)] (Rh) with linear ,'-bidentate ligands pyrazine (L) or 1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethene (L) on a gold substrate has developed two series of redox active molecular wires, (RhL) @Au and (RhL) @Au ( = 1-6). By controlling the number of assembling cycles, the molecular wires in the two series vary systematically in length, as characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry and atomic force microscopy. The current-voltage characteristics recorded by conductive probe atomic force microscopy indicate a mechanistic transition for charge transport from voltage-driven to electrical field-driven in wires with = 4, irrespective of the nature and length of the wires.

Control of the rectifying effect and direction by redox asymmetry in Rh-based molecular diodes.

Four asymmetrical self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) consisting of two subunits with different Rh2 building blocks present a pronounced rectifying behavior. The rectification ratio (RR) increases on increasing the redox potential difference between the two Rh2 subunits, and the rectifying direction can be reversed by reordering the subunits in the assembly.

Regulation of local structure and composition of binary disulfide and thiol self-assembled monolayers using nanografting.

Nanografting is used to create spatial confinement, which enables regulation of self-assembly reaction pathways and outcome. The degree and outcome of this regulation is revealed using binary self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of organothiols and disulfides. In naturally grown systems, these SAMs have more complex morphology when compared with corresponding binary alkanethiol SAMs.