Dithienoarsinines: stable and planar π-extended arsabenzenes.

Stable planar dithienoarsinines were synthesized and structurally characterized. These compounds exhibit monomeric structures in the solution and solid states, avoiding dimerization, even in the absence of steric protection. They exhibited high global aromaticity with 14 or 22π-electron systems.

High-entropy intermetallics: emerging inorganic materials for designing high-performance catalysts.

Alloy materials have been used as promising platforms to upgrade catalytic performance that cannot be achieved with conventional monometallic materials. As a result of numerous efforts, the recent progress in the field of alloy catalysis has been remarkable, and a wide range of new advanced alloys have been considered as potential electro/thermal catalysts. Among advanced alloy materials, high-entropy intermetallics are novel materials, and their excellent catalytic performance has recently been reported.

Network topology diversification of porous organic salts.

Hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs) are porous organic materials constructed hydrogen bonds. HOFs have solubility in specific high-polar organic solvents. Therefore, HOFs can be returned to their components and can be reconstructed, which indicates their high recyclability.

First-principles study of highly sensitive graphene/hexagonal boron nitride heterostructures for application in toxic gas-sensing devices.

Graphene-based sensors exhibit high sensitivity, fast response, and good selectivity towards toxic gases but have low mechanical stability. The combination of graphene and two-dimensional hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is expected to increase the mechanical stability and enhance the adsorption performance of these gas sensors. Using first-principles calculations, we demonstrate that two-dimensional graphene/h-BN double layers can be used as good substrates for gas sensors with a small lattice mismatch of only 1.

Complexation study of a 1,3-phenylene-bridged cyclic hexa-naphthalene with fullerenes C and C in solution and 1D-alignment of fullerenes in the crystals.

To investigate the host ability of a simple macrocycle, 1,3-phenylene-bridged naphthalene hexamer N6, we evaluated the complexation of N6 with fullerenes in toluene and in the crystals. The complexes in the solid-state demonstrate the one-dimensional alignment of fullerenes. The single-crystals of the C@N6 composite have semiconductive properties revealed by photoconductivity measurements.

Radioluminescence from polymer dots based on thermally activated delayed fluorescence.

We demonstrate that polymer dots doped with thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) molecules clearly exhibit blue radio-luminescence upon hard X-ray and electron beam irradiation, which is a new design for nano-sized scintillators.

Red, green, and blue radio-luminescent polymer dots doped with heteroleptic tris-cyclometalated iridium complexes.

In this study, we synthesized radioexcitable luminescent polymer dots (P-dots) doped with heteroleptic tris-cyclometalated iridium complexes that emit red, green, and blue light. We investigated the luminescence properties of these P-dots under X-ray and electron beam irradiation, revealing their potential as new organic scintillators.

Machine learning of atomic force microscopy images of organic solar cells.

The bulk heterojunction structures of organic photovoltaics (OPVs) have been overlooked in their machine learning (ML) approach despite their presumably significant impact on power conversion efficiency (PCE). In this study, we examined the use of atomic force microscopy (AFM) images to construct an ML model for predicting the PCE of polymer : non-fullerene molecular acceptor OPVs. We manually collected experimentally observed AFM images from the literature, applied data curing and performed image analyses (fast Fourier transform, FFT; gray-level co-occurrence matrix, GLCM; histogram analysis, HA) and ML linear regression.

Surface modification and adhesive-free adhesion of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and silicone gel containing oleophilic SiO powder by plasma treatment.

Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) has high-frequency characteristics and low transmission loss, and is expected to be used as a substrate material of printed wiring board for high-frequency applications. Meanwhile, silicone gel has superior properties such as attaching/detaching, weather resistance, and human safety. If the PTFE and silicone gel can be strongly adhered to, they can be applied to internet of things (IoT) devices that can be attached and detached freely.

Correction: Construction of isostructural hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks: limitations and possibilities of pore expansion.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1039/D1SC02690A.].

Acceleration Effect of Bowl-Shaped Structure in Aerobic Oxidation Reaction: Synthesis of Homosumanene ortho-Quinone and Azaacene-Fused Homosumanenes.

An oxidation reaction of hydroxyhomosumanene on silica gel providing homosumanene ortho-quinone and its synthetic application for azaacene-fused homosumanenes is described. Hydroxyhomosumanene is photochemically oxidized by air, when it is coated on silica gel; this aerobic oxidation proceeds faster than that of planar analogues. The difference of such reactivity was attributed to the unusual keto-enol tautomerization due to structural difference between planar and curved π-system.

Flexible selection of the functional-group ratio on a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) surface using a single-gas plasma treatment.

During plasma treatment of polymers, etching occurs and functional groups are introduced on their surface. We assumed that controlling the etching rate would enable plasma treatment using a single gas to control the ratio of functional groups generated on a polymer's surface, although previous studies have indicated that several different types of functional groups are formed when the gaseous species are varied. In this study, we selected the base pressure (BP) as a parameter for controlling the etching rate and subjected polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) to plasma treatments using only He gas at various BPs.

Porphyrin covalent organic nanodisks synthesized using acid-assisted exfoliation for improved bactericidal efficacy.

Porphyrin covalent organic nanodisks (CONs) were synthesized by exfoliating covalent organic frameworks (COFs) in acidic aqueous solutions at pH 4. The synthesized CONs showed remarkable bactericidal activity against owing to enhanced generation of singlet oxygen upon visible light irradiation.

Revealing hydrogen spillover pathways in reducible metal oxides.

Hydrogen spillover, the migration of dissociated hydrogen atoms from noble metals to their support materials, is a ubiquitous phenomenon and is widely utilized in heterogeneous catalysis and hydrogen storage materials. However, in-depth understanding of the migration of spilled hydrogen over different types of supports is still lacking. Herein, hydrogen spillover in typical reducible metal oxides, such as TiO, CeO, and WO, was elucidated by combining systematic characterization methods involving various techniques, kinetic analysis, and density functional theory calculations.

Efficient visible/NIR light-driven uncaging of hydroxylated thiazole orange-based caged compounds in aqueous media.

In photoactivation strategies with bioactive molecules, one-photon visible or two-photon near-infrared light-sensitive caged compounds are desirable tools for biological applications because they offer reduced phototoxicity and deep tissue penetration. However, visible-light-sensitive photoremovable protecting groups (PPGs) reported so far have displayed high hydrophobicity and low uncaging cross sections ( < 50) in aqueous media, which can obstruct the control of bioactivity with high spatial and temporal precision. In this study, we developed hydroxylated thiazole orange (HTO) derivatives as visible-light-sensitive PPGs with high uncaging cross sections ( ≈ 370) in aqueous solution.

Chemo- and regioselective cross-dehydrogenative coupling reaction of 3-hydroxycarbazoles with arenols catalyzed by a mesoporous silica-supported oxovanadium.

Cross-dehydrogenative coupling between 3-hydroxycarbazoles and 2-naphthols has been achieved by using a mesoporous silica-supported oxovanadium catalyst.

Sr sorption property of seaweed-like sodium titanate mats: effects of crystallographic properties.

Layered sodium titanate is a typical ion-exchanger for water purification aimed at removing cationic heavy metals and radionuclides. The material design of an ion-exchanger is effective for cation removal. For that purpose, understanding the basic impacts of crystallographic properties such as crystal size, morphology, and phase is critical for developing highly functional nanoscale ion-exchangers.

Adsorption of toxic gases on borophene: surface deformation links to chemisorptions.

β borophene has received great attention because of its intriguing mechanical and electronic properties. One of the possible applications of borophene is gas sensing. However, the interaction between common gases and β borophene remains to be clarified.

Preparation and characterization of nanofibrous cellulose as solid polymer electrolyte for lithium-ion battery applications.

A novel bacterial cellulose (BC)-based nanofiber material has been utilized as an ionic template for the battery system solid polymer electrolyte (SPE). The effect of drying techniques such as oven and freeze-drying on the gel-like material indicate differences in both visual and porous structures. The morphological structure of BC after oven and freeze-drying observed by field-emission scanning electron microscopy indicates that a more compact porous structure is found in freeze-dried BC than oven-dried BC.

Manipulation of charge carrier flow in BiNbOCl nanoplate photocatalyst with metal loading.

Separation of photoexcited charge carriers in semiconductors is important for efficient solar energy conversion and yet the control strategies and underlying mechanisms are not fully established. Although layered compounds have been widely studied as photocatalysts, spatial separation between oxidation and reduction reaction sites is a challenging issue due to the parallel flow of photoexcited carriers along the layers. Here we demonstrate orthogonal carrier flow in layered BiNbOCl by depositing a Rh cocatalyst at the edges of nanoplates, resulting in spatial charge separation and significant enhancement of the photocatalytic activity.

Copper(II) tetrakis(pentafluorophenyl)porphyrin: highly active copper-based molecular catalysts for electrochemical CO reduction.

We report a highly active copper-based catalyst for electrochemical CO reduction. Electrochemical analysis revealed that the maximum turnover frequency for CO to CO conversion reached 1 460 000 s at an overpotential () of 0.85 V.

Mixed lead-tin perovskite films with >7 μs charge carrier lifetimes realized by maltol post-treatment.

Mixed lead-tin (Pb-Sn) halide perovskites with optimum band gaps near 1.3 eV are promising candidates for next-generation solar cells. However, the performance of solar cells fabricated with Pb-Sn perovskites is restricted by the facile oxidation of Sn(ii) to Sn(iv), which induces self-doping.