investigation of hot electron transfer in CO plasmonic photocatalysis in the presence of hydroxyl adsorbate.

Photoreduction of carbon dioxide (CO) on plasmonic structures is of great interest in photocatalysis to aid selectivity. While species commonly found in reaction environments and associated intermediates can steer the reaction down different pathways by altering the potential energy landscape of the system, they are often not addressed when designing efficient plasmonic catalysts. Here, we perform an atomistic study of the effect of the hydroxyl group (OH) on CO activation and hot electron generation and transfer using first-principles calculations.

Hierarchical Metal-Organic Framework Films with Controllable Meso/Macroporosity.

The structuring of the metal-organic framework material ZIF-8 as films and membranes through the vapor-phase conversion of ZnO fractal nanoparticle networks is reported. The extrinsic porosity of the resulting materials can be tuned from 4% to 66%, and the film thickness can be controlled from 80 nm to 0.23 mm, for areas >100 cm.

Photonic Fractal Metamaterials: A Metal-Semiconductor Platform with Enhanced Volatile-Compound Sensing Performance.

Advance of photonics media is restrained by the lack of structuring techniques for the 3D fabrication of active materials with long-range periodicity. A methodology is reported for the engineering of tunable resonant photonic media with thickness exceeding the plasmonic near-field enhancement region by more than two orders of magnitude. The media architecture consists of a stochastically ordered distribution of plasmonic nanocrystals in a fractal scaffold of high-index semiconductors.

Janus Conductive/Insulating Microporous Ion-Sieving Membranes for Stable Li-S Batteries.

Lithium-sulfur batteries are one of the most promising next-generation high-density energy storage systems. Despite progress, the poor electrical conductivity and cycling stability of sulfur cathodes still hinder their practical implementation. Here, we developed a facile approach for the engineering of Janus double-sided conductive/insulating microporous ion-sieving membranes that significantly enhance recharge efficiency and long-term stability of Li-S batteries.

Non-Periodic Epsilon-Near-Zero Metamaterials at Visible Wavelengths for Efficient Non-Resonant Optical Sensing.

Epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) materials offer unique properties for applications including optical clocking, nonlinear optics, and telecommunication. To date, the fabrication of ENZ materials at visible wavelengths relies mostly on the use of periodic structures, providing some manufacturing and material challenges. Here, we present the engineering of nonperiodic sodium tungsten bronzes (NaWO) metamaterials featuring ENZ properties in the visible spectrum.

Light-activated inorganic CsPbBrI perovskite for room-temperature self-powered chemical sensing.

Halide perovskite materials are excellent light harvesters that have generated enormous interest for photovoltaic technology and an increasing number of other optoelectronic applications. Very recently, their use for miniaturized chemical sensors has shown a promising room-temperature response. Here, we present some insights on the use of CsPbBr2I (CPBI) perovskites for self-powered room-temperature sensing of several environmentally and medically relevant compounds demonstrating rapid detection of down to concentrations of 1 ppm.

Nanostructured Dielectric Fractals on Resonant Plasmonic Metasurfaces for Selective and Sensitive Optical Sensing of Volatile Compounds.

Advances in the understanding and fabrication of plasmonic nanostructures have led to a plethora of unprecedented optoelectronic and optochemical applications. Plasmon resonance has found widespread use in efficient optical transducers of refractive index changes in liquids. However, it has proven challenging to translate these achievements to the selective detection of gases, which typically adsorb non-specifically and induce refractive index changes below the detection limit.

The effect of β-sheet breaker peptides on metal associated Amyloid-β peptide aggregation process.

Far-UV Circular Dichroism experiments and Atomic Force Microscopy tomography are employed to assess the impact of β-sheet breakers on the Aβ peptide aggregation process in the presence of Cu or Zn transition metals. In this work we focus on two specific 5-amino acids long β-sheet breakers, namely the LPFFD Soto peptide, already known in the literature, and the LPFFN peptide recently designed and studied by our team. We provide evidence that both β-sheet breakers are effective in reducing the Aβ aggregation propensity, even in the presence of metal ions.

Drosophila muller f elements maintain a distinct set of genomic properties over 40 million years of evolution.

The Muller F element (4.2 Mb, ~80 protein-coding genes) is an unusual autosome of Drosophila melanogaster; it is mostly heterochromatic with a low recombination rate. To investigate how these properties impact the evolution of repeats and genes, we manually improved the sequence and annotated the genes on the D.