Metal–Organic Frameworks and Their Derived Materials: Emerging Catalysts for a Sulfate Radicals‐Based Advanced Oxidation Process in Water Purification

With the ever‐growing environmental issues, sulfate radical (SO₄^??)‐based advanced oxidation processes (SR‐AOPs) have been attracting widespread attention due to their high selectivity and oxidative potential in water purification. Among various methods generating SO₄^??, employing heterogeneous catalysts for activation of peroxymonosulfate or persulfate has been demonstrated as an effective strategy. Therefore, the future advances of SR‐AOPs depend on the development of adequate catalysts with high activity and stability. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) with large surface area, ultrahigh porosity, and diversity of material design have been extensively used in heterogeneous catalysts, and more recently, enormous effort has been made to utilize MOFs‐based materials for SR‐AOPs applications. In this work, the state‐of‐the‐art research on pristine MOFs, MOFs composites, and their derivatives, such as oxides, metal/carbon hybrids, and carbon materials for SR‐AOPs, is summarized. The mechanisms, including radical and nonradical pathways, are also detailed in the discussion. This work will hopefully promote the future development of MOFs‐based materials toward SR‐AOPs applications.     

Phase-controlled synthesis of thermally stable nitrogen-doped carbon supported iron catalysts for highly efficient Fischer-Tropsch synthesis

Nano Research - Iron-based nanoparticles with uniform and high particle dispersion, which are supported on carbon structures, have been used for various applications. However, their preparation...     

Increased mobility of an <Emphasis Type="Italic">α</Emphasis>-Al<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>3</Subscript> grain boundary by electron-beam irradiation

When subjected to electron-beam irradiation in a transmission electron microscope, the grain boundary in an α-Al₂O₃ bicrystal is observed to migrate even at room temperature. The bicrystal is composed of grains with the same normal direction, and thus the difference in strain energy or surface energy between the two grains cannot explain the observed migration. We attribute this phenomenon to an increase in grain boundary mobility by electron-beam irradiation, especially by radiolysis effects.     

Formation phenomena of iron oxide-silica composite in microwave plasma and DC thermal plasma

Iron oxide-silica composite was synthesized using atmospheric microwave plasma and DC thermal plasma. There has recently been increasing interest in predicting the final product during vapor phase synthesis using plasma because of difficulty obtaining desirable product. In this study, vapor phase synthesis of iron oxide-silica composite from iron pentacarbonyl (Fe(CO)₅) and tetraethyl orthosilicate (SiC₈H₂₀O₄, TEOS) was conducted using various Fe/Si ratios and different types of plasma to identify the formation mechanism in the Fe-Si-O multi-component system. The morphologies and phase compositions of the synthesized particles were analyzed and compared. The results showed that the Fe/Si ratio and the type of plasma influenced the morphologies and the phase composition. A thermodynamic consideration was introduced to investigate the particle formation phenomena, which could explain the differences induced by varying the Fe/Si ratio and type of plasma. The particle formation mechanism was divided into a condensation step and a diffusion step. At the condensation step, the Fe/Si ratio determined the condensation temperature, which is related to the morphology. At the diffusion step, the quenching rate of the plasma determined the degree of diffusion, which was related to the phase composition and formation of the external layer.     

Nanoparticle‐Enhanced Silver‐Nanowire Plasmonic Electrodes for High‐Performance Organic Optoelectronic Devices

Improved performance in plasmonic organic solar cells (OSCs) and organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) via strong plasmon‐coupling effects generated by aligned silver nanowire (AgNW) transparent electrodes decorated with core–shell silver–silica nanoparticles (Ag@SiO₂NPs) is demonstrated. NP‐enhanced plasmonic AgNW (Ag@SiO₂NP–AgNW) electrodes enable substantially enhanced radiative emission and light absorption efficiency due to strong hybridized plasmon coupling between localized surface plasmons (LSPs) and propagating surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) modes, which leads to improved device performance in organic optoelectronic devices (OODs). The discrete dipole approximation (DDA) calculation of the electric field verifies a strongly enhanced plasmon‐coupling effect caused by decorating core–shell Ag@SiO₂NPs onto the AgNWs. Notably, an electroluminescence efficiency of 25.33 cd A^?1 (at 3.2 V) and a power efficiency of 25.14 lm W^?1 (3.0 V) in OLEDs, as well as a power conversion efficiency (PCE) value of 9.19% in OSCs are achieved using hybrid Ag@SiO₂NP–AgNW films. These are the highest values reported to date for optoelectronic devices based on AgNW electrodes. This work provides a new design platform to fabricate high‐performance OODs, which can be further explored in various plasmonic and optoelectronic devices.     

Selective toxicity of hydroxyl-rich carbon nanodots for cancer research

Nano Research - The toxicity of nanoparticles in a biological system is an integration of effects arising from surface functionality, particle size, ionic dissolution, etc. This complexity suggests...     

Superconducting Density of States from the Magnetic Penetration Depth of Electron-Doped Cuprates La2−x Ce x CuO4−y and Pr2−x Ce x CuO4−y

From measurements of the magnetic penetration depth, (T), from 1.6 K to T _c in films of electron-doped cuprates La_2–x Ce _x CuO_4–y and Pr_2–x Ce _x CuO_4–y we obtain the normalized density of states, N _s(E) at T=0 by using a simple model. In this framework, the flat behavior of ^–2(T) at low T implies N _s(E) is small, possibly gapped, at low energies. The upward curvature in ^–2(T) near T _c seen in overdoped films implies that superfluid comes from an anomalously small energy band within about 3k _B T _c of the Fermi surface.     

Evaluation of thermal contact conductance using a new experimental-numerical method in fin-tube heat exchangers

In a fin-tube heat exchanger the contact between fin collar and tube surface is obtained through mechanical expansion of tubes. Since the interfaces between the tubes and fins consist partially of metal-to-metal contact and partially of air, the features of heat transfer through the contact interfaces have not been fully investigated. The present study aims at the development of a new tool including an experiment and a numerical calculation for the estimation of the thermal contact conductance between the fin collar and tube surface, and pursues the evaluation of the factors affecting the thermal contact conductance in a fin-tube heat exchanger. Heat exchangers fabricated for the current study have been put to the test for heat balance in a vacuum chamber with water as an internal fluid. And a finite difference numerical scheme has been used for the data reduction of the experimental data to evaluate the thermal contact conductance. Fin-tube heat exchangers employed in the current research are of tube diameter of 7 mm with different tube expansion ratios, fin spacings, and fin types. The results of the present study imply that these parameters as well as hydrophilic fin coating have a significant effect on the thermal contact conductance. It has been discovered that the portion of the thermal contact resistance is not negligible compared with the total thermal resistance in a fin-tube heat exchanger, and this means that in order to reduce the thermal contact resistance thoughtful care should be taken in fabricating heat exchangers.