Direct capture of the alanine ghost in alanine-doped triglycine sulfate crystals.

In this report, ghostly ultra-trace amounts of alanine in alanine-doped triglycine sulfate crystal were directly observed by solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance, and the presence of two chemical states in the cation form and neutral form in the doped alanine was revealed. As the result, the crystal structure of alanine-doped triglycine sulfate was determined for the first time.

Giant piezoresponse in nanoporous (Ba,Ca)(Ti,Zr)O thin film.

Lattice strain effects on the piezoelectric properties of crystalline ferroelectrics have been extensively studied for decades; however, the strain dependence of the piezoelectric properties at nano-level has yet to be investigated. Herein, a new overview of the super-strain of nanoporous polycrystalline ferroelectrics is reported for the first time using a nanoengineered barium calcium zirconium titanate composition (BaCa)(TiZr)O (BCZT). Atomic-level investigations show that the controlled pore wall thickness contributes to highly strained lattice structures that also retain the crystal size at the optimal value (<30 nm), which is the primary contributor to high piezoelectricity.

Mesoporous Gold: Substrate-Dependent Growth Dynamics, Strain Accumulation, and Electrocatalytic Activity for Biosensing.

Understanding the growth of mesoporous crystalline materials, such as mesoporous metals, on different substrates can provide valuable insights into the crystal growth dynamics and the redox reactions that influence their electrochemical sensing performance. Herein, it is demonstrated how the amorphous nature of the glass substrate can suppress the typical <111> oriented growth in mesoporous Au (mAu) films. The suppressed <111> growth is manifested as an accumulation of strain, leading to the generation of abundant surface defects, which are beneficial for enhancing the electrochemical activity.

Synthesis of millimeter-scale ZIF-8 single crystals and their reversible crystal structure changes.

Among various metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), the zeolitic imidazole framework (ZIF), constructed by the regular arrangement of 2-methylimidazole and metal ions, has garnered significant attention due to its distinctive crystals and pore structures. Variations in the sizes and shapes of ZIF crystals have been reported by changing the synthesis parameters, such as the molar ratios of organic ligands to metal ions, choice of solvents, and temperatures. Nonetheless, the giant ZIF-8 single crystals beyond the typical range have rarely been reported.

Single-crystal structure analysis of non-deuterated triglycine sulfate by neutron diffraction at 20 and 298 K: a new disorder model for the 298 K structure.

Precise single-crystal structure analyses of the title compound, bis-(glycinium) sulfate-glycine (1/1), 2CHNO ·SO ·CHNO (or CHNOS), non-deuterated triglycine sulfate (HTGS) at 20 K and 298 K were undertaken using time-of-flight neutron diffraction data. At 20 K for the O-H⋯O hydrogen bond between the glycinium cation and the zwitterionic, unprotonated glycine mol-ecule that is associated with the ferroelectric behaviour of HTGS, O-H = 1.070 (3), H⋯O = 1.