Chiral hybrid organic–inorganic metal halides (HOMHs) with intrinsic noncentrosymmetry have shown great promise for applications in second‐order nonlinear optics (NLO). However, established chiral HOMHs often suffer from their relatively small band gaps, which lead to negative impacts on transparent window and laser‐induced damage thresholds (LDT). Here, we have synthesized two chiral HOMHs based on CuI halides, namely (R‐/S‐MBA)CuBr2, which feature well‐balanced NLO performances with a highly efficient SHG response, outstanding optical transparency, and high LDT. The effective second‐order NLO coefficient of (R‐MBA)CuBr2 has been determined to be ≈24.7 pm V−1, which is two orders of magnitude higher than that of their CuII counterparts. This work shows the promising potential of CuI‐based chiral HOMHs for nonlinear photonic applications in wide wavelength regions.

Over the past decades, the development of porous materials has directly or indirectly affected industrial production methods. Metal−organic frameworks (MOFs) as an emerging class of porous materials exhibit some unique advantages, including controllable composition, a large surface area, high porosity, and so on. These attractive characteristics of MOFs have led to their potential applications in energy storage and conversion devices, drug delivery, adsorption and storage, sensors, and other areas. However, powdered MOFs have limited practical applications owing to poor processability, safety hazards from dust formation, and poor recyclability. In addition, the inherent micro/ mesoporosities of MOFs also reduce the accessibility and diffusion kinetics for large molecules. To improve their processability for practical applications, MOFs are often deposited as MOF layers or films (i.e., MOF-coated composites) on supporting materials or are formed into 3D structured composites, such as aerogels and hydrogels. In this article, we review recent researches on these MOF composites, including their synthetic methods and potential applications in energy storage devices, heavy metal ion adsorption, and water purification. Finally, the future outlook and challenges associated with the large-scale fabrication of MOF-based composites for practical applications are discussed.

No abstract

Chiral hybrid organic–inorganic metal halides (HOMHs) with intrinsic noncentrosymmetry have shown great promise for broad applications in chiroptoelectronics, spintronics, and ferroelectronics. However, the construction strategies for chiral HOMHs often involve chiral building blocks in their frameworks, which greatly limit their chemical diversity. Here, we take advantage of a chiral induction approach and have successfully constructed a series of chiral HOMHs, DMA4MX7 (DMA = dimethylammonium, M = Sb or Bi, X = Cl or Br), based on achiral precursors. The resulting chiral products demonstrate a clear enantioenrichment, as confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis and solid-state circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. The induction of chiral HOMHs enables superior nonlinear optical performances with very high thermal stability and laser resistance. The successful employment of such a chiral induction approach might facilitate the construction of libraries of chiral HOMH crystals from diverse achiral precursors, in particular those into which it is not easy to introduce intrinsic chiral centers, and would thus pave a new way for rational preparation and application of chiral HOMH materials.

We investigated the structure and magneto-transport properties of magnetic junctions using a Co 2 Fe(Ga 0.5 Ge 0.5) Heusler alloy as ferromagnetic electrodes and a Cu(In 0.8 Ga 0.2)Se 2 (CIGS) semiconductor as spacers. Owing to the semiconducting nature of the CIGS spacer, large magnetoresistance (MR) ratios of 40% at room temperature and 100% at 8 K were obtained for low resistance-area product (RA) values between 0.3 and 3 X lm 2. Transmission electron microscopy observations confirmed the fully epitaxial growth of the chalcopyrite CIGS layer, and the temperature dependence of RA indicated that the large MR was due to spin dependent tunneling.