Solvation controlled excited-state dynamics in a donor-acceptor phenazine-imidazole derivative.

In the past few decades, significant efforts have been devoted to developing phenazine derivatives in various fields such as medicine, pesticides, dyes, and conductive materials owing to their highly Stokes-shifted fluorescence and distinctive photophysical properties. The modulation of the surrounding environment can effectively influence the luminescent behavior of phenazine derivatives, prompting us to investigate the solvent effect on the excited state dynamics. Herein, we present the solvent controlled excited state dynamics of a novel triphenylamine-based phenazine-imidazole molecule (TPAIP) through steady-state spectra and femtosecond transient absorption spectra.

Synergistic effect between InO and ZrO in the reverse water gas shift reaction.

Efficient activation of CO at low temperature was achieved through the interface effect between InO and ZrO by their geometric and electronic effects. The results show that 75InO-25ZrO (InO : ZrO molar ratio of 3 : 1), as a catalyst for the reverse water gas shift reaction, can achieve 28% CO conversion with 96% CO selectivity at 400 °C, 0.1 MPa, a H : CO molar ratio of 3 : 1 and a gas hourly space velocity of 10 000 mL g h.

The impact of aggregation of AIE and ACQ moiety-integrating material on the excited state dynamics.

The investigation of the properties of aggregate materials is highly interesting because the process of aggregation can result in the disappearance of original properties and the emergence of new ones. Here, a novel fluorescent material (TPEIP), which synergistically combines aggregation-induced emission (AIE) and aggregation caused quenching (ACQ) moieties, was first synthesized by the cyclization reaction of 2,3-diamino-phenazine with 4-tetraphenylenthenealdehyde. We controlled the degree of aggregation of TPEIP to shed light on the impact of the aggregation on the excited state dynamics.

Highly selective generation of singlet oxygen from dioxygen with atomically dispersed catalysts.

Singlet oxygen (O) as an excited electronic state of O plays a significant role in ubiquitous oxidative processes from enzymatic oxidative metabolism to industrial catalytic oxidation. Generally, O can be produced through thermal reactions or the photosensitization process; however, highly selective generation of O from O without photosensitization has never been reported. Here, we find that single-atom catalysts (SACs) with atomically dispersed MN sites on hollow N-doped carbon (M/HNC SACs, M = Fe, Co, Cu, Ni) can selectively activate O into O without photosensitization, of which the Fe/HNC SAC shows an ultrahigh single-site kinetic value of 3.

A single-atom Cu-N catalyst eliminates oxygen interference for electrochemical sensing of hydrogen peroxide in a living animal brain.

Hydrogen peroxide (HO) plays essential roles in various physiological and pathological processes. The electrochemical hydrogen peroxide reduction reaction (HPRR) has been recognized as an efficient approach to HO sensing; however, the HPRR has always suffered from low tolerance against the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), resulting in poor selectivity of the HPRR-based sensing platform. In this study, we find that the electrochemical HPRR occurs preferentially compared to the ORR when isolated Cu atoms anchored on carbon nitride (Cu/CN) are used as a single-atom electrocatalyst, which is theoretically attributed to the lower energy barrier of the HPRR than that of the ORR on a Cu/CN single-atom catalyst (SAC).

Orthogonally aligned cyclic BODIPY arrays with long-lived triplet excited states as efficient heavy-atom-free photosensitizers.

In photosensitizers, long triplet excited state lifetimes are key to their efficient electron transfer or energy transfer processes. Herein, we report a novel class of cyclic trimeric BODIPY arrays which were efficiently generated from easily accessible -mesityldipyrrinone and arylboronic acids in one pot. Arylboronic acid, for the first time, was used to provide a boron source for BODIPY derivatives.