Inspired by natural autonomous systems that demonstrate controllable shape, appearance, and actuation under external stimuli, a facile preparation of moisture responsive graphene‐based smart actuators by unilateral UV irradiation of graphene oxide (GO) papers is reported. UV irradiation of GO is found to be an effective protocol to trigger the reduction of GO; however, due to the limited light transmittance and thermal relaxation, thick GO paper cannot be fully reduced. Consequently, by tuning the photoreduction gradient, anisotropic GO/reduced GO (RGO) bilayer structure can be easily prepared toward actuation application. To get better control over the responsive properties, GO/RGO bilayer paper with a certain curvature and RGO patterns are successfully prepared for actuator design. As representative examples, smart humidity‐driven graphene actuators that mimic the cilia of respiratory tract and tendril climber plant are successfully developed for controllable objects transport.

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A new type of molecular fragmentation induced by femtosecond intense laser at the intensity of 2 x 10(14) W/cm2 is reported. For the parent molecule of methane, ethylene, n-butane, and 1-butene, fluorescence from H (n = 3-->2), CH (A 2Delta, B 2Sigma-, and C 2Sigma+-->X 2Pi), or C2 (d 3Pi g-->a 3Pi u) is observed in the spectrum. It shows that the fragmentation is a universal property of neutral molecule in the intense laser field. Unlike breaking only one or two chemical bonds in conventional UV photodissociation, the fragmentation caused by the intense laser undergoes vigorous changes, breaking most of the bonds in the molecule, like an explosion. The fragments are neutral species and cannot be produced through Coulomb explosion of multiply charged ion. The laser power dependence of CH (A-->X) emission of methane on a log-log scale has a slope of 10 +/- 1. The fragmentation is thus explained as multiple channel dissociation of the superexcited state of parent molecule, which is created by multiphoton excitation.

Nickel cobalt oxides with various Ni/Co ratios were synthesized using a facile template-free approach for electrochemical supercapacitors. The texture and morphology of the nanocomposites were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis (BET). The results show that a hierarchical porous structure assembled from nanoflakes with a thickness of ∼10 nm was obtained, and the ratio of nickel to cobalt in the nanocomposites was very close to the precursors. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge and discharge tests were carried out to study the electrochemical performance. Both nickel cobalt oxides (Ni-Co-O-1 with Ni : Co = 1, Ni-Co-O-2 with Ni : Co = 2) outperform pure NiO and Co(3)O(4). The Ni-Co-O-1 and Ni-Co-O-2 possess high specific capacities of 778.2 and 867.3 F g(-1) at 1 A g(-1) and capacitance retentions of 84.1% and 92.3% at 10 A g(-1), respectively. After full activation, the Ni-Co-O-1 and Ni-Co-O-2 could achieve a maximum value of 971 and 1550 F g(-1) and remain at ∼907 and ∼1450 F g(-1) at 4 A g(-1), respectively. Also, the nickel cobalt oxides show high capacity retention when fast charging.

A well-defined core-double-shell structured magnetic polydopamine@zeolitic idazolate frameworks-8 (MP@ZIF-8) hydrid microsphere consisting of the core of magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles, the inner shell of a polydopamine layer, and the outer shell of a porous ZIF-8 nanocrystal was prepared through a facile and green approach to achieve synergistic reduction and adsorptive removal of Cr­(VI). The microsphere property was characterized methodically. The batch adsorption experiments showed that the MP@ZIF-8 exhibited high efficiency in the Cr­(VI) removal from aqueous solutions, affording Cr­(VI) removal capacity of 136.56 mg g–1, surpassing pristine MP (92.27 mg g–1). The pseudo-second-order model fitted the Cr­(VI) removal kinetics well. Cr­(VI) removal on the MP@ZIF-8 relied highly on pH values. More significantly, with the reduction of nitrogen atom group on ZIF-8 and PDA, Cr­(VI) was easily converted into low toxicity Cr­(III) and then immobilized on the MP@ZIF-8. Thus, the hybrid microspheres provided excellent adsorptive activity in treating Cr-contaminated wastewater.

A novel kind of Fe3O4 hollow spheres/reduced graphene oxide (r-GO) composites has been synthesized by a facile solvothermal method. The scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy images show bowl-like Fe3O4 hollow spheres with an average outer diameter of 395 nm and a shell thickness of 100 nm decorating on the both sides of r-GO sheets. The co-existence of both D and G peaks in Raman spectra confirms the presence of r-GO state, and an increased D/G intensity ratio of the composites suggests a substantial increase in disorder degree in the r-GO sheets due to the Fe3O4 hollow spheres anchoring on the surface. Compared to pristine r-GO, pure Fe3O4 nanoparticles, and the reported solid nano-Fe3O4/r-GO, both a wider and stronger absorption have been achieved in the frequency range of 2–18 GHz. In particular, the sample containing 30 wt. % as-synthesized hollow Fe3O4/r-GO with a coating layer thickness of 2.0 mm exhibits a maximum absorption of 24 dB at 12.9 GHz as well as a bandwidth of 4.9 GHz (from frequency of 10.8–15.7 GHz) corresponding to reflection loss at −10 dB. The measured complex relative permittivity and permeability data reveal that the enhanced microwave properties are contributed by a major improved dielectric loss and a minor magnetic loss resulting from the incorporation of hollow Fe3O4 on r-GO.

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