Graphite intercalation compounds (GICs) have attracted tremendous attention due to their exceptional properties that can be finely tuned by controlling the intercalation species and concentrations. Here, we report for the first time that potassium (K) ions can electrochemically intercalate into graphitic materials, such as graphite and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) at ambient temperature and pressure. Our experiments reveal that graphite can deliver a reversible capacity of 207 mAh/g. Combining experiments with ab initio calculations, we propose a three-step staging process during the intercalation of K ions into graphite: C → KC24 (Stage III) → KC16 (Stage II) → KC8 (Stage I). Moreover, we find that K ions can also intercalate into RGO film with even higher reversible capacity (222 mAh/g). We also show that K ions intercalation can effectively increase the optical transparence of the RGO film from 29.0% to 84.3%. First-principles calculations suggest that this trend is attributed to a decreased absorbance produced by K ions intercalation. Our results open opportunities for novel nonaqueous K-ion based electrochemical battery technologies and optical applications.

A new compound with electride characteristics, Li@calix[4]pyrrole, is designed in theory. The Li atom in Li@calix[4]pyrrole is ionized to form a cation and an excess electron anion. Its structure with C(4v) symmetry resembles a cup-like shape. It may be a stable organic electride at room temperature. The first hyperpolarizability of the cup-like electride molecule is first investigated by the DFT (B3LYP) method. The result shows that this electride molecule has a considerably large first hyperpolarizability with beta(0) = 7326 au (63.3 x 10(-30) esu), while the beta(0) value of the related calix[4]pyrrole system is only 390 au. Obviously, the Li atom doped in calix[4]pyrrole brings a dramatic change to the electronic structure, so that the first hyperpolarizability of Li@calix[4]pyrrole is almost 20 times larger than that of calix[4]pyrrole. We find that the excess electron from the Li atom plays an important role in the large first hyperpolarizability of Li@calix[4]pyrrole. The present investigation reveals a new idea and different means for designing and synthesizing high-performance NLO materials.

Nanocrystalline SnO 2 particles have been synthesized by a simple sol-gel method. The structural and optical properties of these SnO 2 particles are investigated using X-ray powder diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, UV-visible absorption, and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The oxygen-vacancies-related photoluminescence of pure, cerium-, and manganese-doped SnO 2 nanoparticles was systematically investigated. The origin of the luminescence is assigned to the recombination of electrons in a conduction band with holes in the V o •• center. Experimental results reveal that increasing calcining temperature can decrease the oxygenvacancies-related luminescence intensity of the sample. After introducing Ce 3+ /Mn 2+ ions into the host, the oxygen-vacancies-related luminescence has been enhanced remarkably resulting from the formation of many more oxygen vacancies. The dependence of the oxygen-vacancies-related luminescence intensity on the Ce 3+ / Mn 2+ concentration is also discussed.

An alkali-metal-doped effect on the nonlinear optical (NLO) property in new electrides is studied. The electrides are formed by doping alkali atom Li into a fluorocarbon chain H-(CF2-CH2)3-H. Six stable structures of the Lin-H-(CF2-CH2)3-H (n = 1, 2) complexes with all real frequencies are obtained at the MP2/6-31+G (d) level. Among these six structures, the largest first static hyperpolarizabilities (beta(0)) are found to be 76,978 au, which is much larger than the beta(0) value of 112 au for H-(CF2-CH2)3-H. Clearly, the Li-atom-doped effect on the first hyperpolarizability is dramatic. Three interesting relationships between the structure and beta(0) value have been observed. (1) For the one-Li-atom-doped systems as well as for the structures with two opposite Li atoms, the shorter the distance between the Li atom and difluoromethyl group, the larger the beta(0) value. (2) The beta(0) values of the two-Li-atom-doped chains are much larger than those of the one-Li-atom-doped systems, except for the case of cis-AB where the Li-Li distance (2.847 Angstrom) is close to the bond length of the Li2 molecule (2.672 Angstrom). (3) For the two-Li-atom-doped chains, the beta(0) value increases as the Li-Li distance increases. These relationships between the structure and beta(0) value may be beneficial to experimentalists for designing electrides with large NLO responses by using the alkali-metal-doped effect.

A new type of alkalide compound, Li+(calix[4]pyrrole)M- (M = Li, Na, and K), is presented in theory, which may be stable at room temperature. It has been shown by our calculations that the first hyperpolarizability (beta) is considerably large by means of the density functional theory method. The beta values are determined at the B3LYP/6-311++G level (for the alkali atoms the 6-311++G(3df) basis set is employed) as 8.9 x 103, 1.0 x 104, and 2.4 x 104 au for M = Li, Na, and K, respectively. These beta values are much larger than that of electride Li+(calix[4]pyrrole)e- (beta = 7.3 x 103 au) by a factor of 1.2 to 3.4. Comparing to the cryptand calix[4]pyrrole, the beta values of Li+(calix[4]pyrrole)M- are enhanced by 20-60 times. It is revealed, for the first time, that the beta value of alkalide compounds depends on the atomic number of the alkali anion, and it can be enhanced by choosing the akali anions with larger atomic numbers. The alkali anion in the alkalide compound decreases the transition energy and also increases the oscillator strength of the main transition, consequently the beta value is enhanced. This study proposes such a novel way to synthesize and design new NLO materials by using the alkali atom with a larger atomic number to create an anion in alkalide compounds.

Ultralong organic phosphorescence (UOP) has attracted increasing attention due to its potential applications in optoelectronics, bioelectronics, and security protection. However, achieving UOP with high quantum efficiency (QE) over 20 % is still full of challenges due to intersystem crossing (ISC) and fast non‐radiative transitions in organic molecules. Here, we present a novel strategy to enhance the QE of UOP materials by modulating intramolecular halogen bonding via structural isomerism. The QE of CzS2Br reaches up to 52.10 %, which is the highest afterglow efficiency reported so far. The crucial reason for the extraordinary QE is intramolecular halogen bonding, which can not only effectively enhance ISC by promoting spin–orbit coupling, but also greatly confine motions of excited molecules to restrict non‐radiative pathways. This work provides a reasonable strategy to develop highly efficient UOP materials for practical applications.

No abstract

The interesting radical ion pair salts M(2)*(+)TCNQ*(-) (M=Li, Na, K) are a particular class of charge transfer complexes with excess electron. The ground states of these complexes are triplet. The C(2v) symmetry geometrical structures of the M(2)*(+)TCNQ*(-) (M=Li, Na, K) with all-real frequencies are obtained at the density functional theory (DFT) B3LYP/6-31+G(d) level. All calculations of electric properties in this paper have been carried out at the restricted open-shell second order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (ROMP2) level. Owing to existing excess electron (from the polarized alkali metal atoms) these charge transfer complexes exhibit large nonlinear optical (NLO) responses dominated by excess electron transitions.For these radical ion pair salts M(2)*(+)TCNQ*(-), the static first hyperpolarizabilities (beta(0)) are large. The order of beta(0) values is 19 203 (M=Li)<24 140 (M=Na) < 29 065 a.u. (M=K). Specially, the second hyperpolarizability (gamma(0)) of the complexes with excess electron is obtained for the first time. These static second hyperpolarizabilities are also large. The order of gamma(0) values is 2,213,006 (M=Li)<3,136,754 (M=Na)<7,905,623 a.u. (M = K). Among the three structures, K(2)*(+)TCNQ*(-) has the largest gamma(0) value to be 7.9 x 10(6) a.u. (3982 x 10(-36) esu), which is about 9 times larger than that of the intramolecular charge transfer complex sigma-arylvinylidene trans-[Ru(4-C[double bond, length as m-dash]CHC(6)H(4)C[triple bond, length as m-dash]CC(6)H(4)NO(2))Cl(dppm)(2)]PF(6) [Hurst et al., Organometallics, 2001, 20, 4664]. The present investigation provides a new kind of candidates for the high-performance NLO materials.