Though an excellent protection material, graphene possesses an unpleasant adverse side effect, which refers to the phenomenon that graphene can aggravate metal corrosion. This effect potentially impedes its applications in metal protection. This work aims to demonstrate a facile graphene encapsulation strategy to effectively inhibit the corrosion-promotion activity of graphene. We encapsulated reduced graphene oxide (rGO) with (3-aminopropyl)-triethoxysilane (APTES). The composite of encapsulated rGO (rGO@APTES) has a flake-like structure with high aspect-ratio. Embedding appropriate amounts of rGO@APTES in polyvinyl butyral coating effectively enhances the barrier properties of the coating by suppressing the penetration of aggressive species. Besides, scratch tests further reveal that the corrosion-promotion activity of the graphene incorporated into the coating is completely inhibited. The strategy of graphene encapsulation can be extended to develop new graphene-based materials with superior physical and chemical properties for the protection of metal components.

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Hydrazine is an important industrial chemical but also very toxic thus requiring rapid detection agents. A ratiometric fluorescence probe that enables rapid, low-limit and naked-eye detection is successfully designed and used for hydrazine determination in live cells.

Microenvironment-related parameters like viscosity, polarity, and pH play important roles in controlling the physical or chemical behaviors of local molecules, which determinate the physical or chemical behaviors of surrounding molecules....

Based on modulation of the conjugated polymethine π-electron system of a cyanine dye derivative, a ratiometric near-infared fluorescent probe (Cy7A) for hydrazine (N2H4) has been designed and synthesized. Cy7A can be selectively hydrazinolysized with great changes in its fluorescent excitation/emission profiles, which makes it possible to detect N2H4 in water samples and living cells and, for the first time, visualize N2H4 in living mice.

The application of low pressure membranes (microfiltration/ultrafiltration) has undergone accelerated development for drinking water production. However, the major obstacle encountered in its popularization is membrane fouling caused by natural organic matter (NOM). This paper firstly summarizes the two factors causing the organic membrane fouling, including molecular weight (MW) and hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity of NOM, and then presents a brief introduction of the methods which can prevent membrane fouling such as pretreatment of the feed water (e.g., coagulation, adsorption, and pre-oxidation) and membrane hydrophilic modification (e.g., plasma modification, irradiation grafting modification, surface coating modification, blend modification, etc.). Perspectives of further research are also discussed.

Light is not the only stimulus that can induce linear-to-cyclic isomerization of donor-acceptor Stenhouse adducts (DASAs). Here we demonstrate the water-induced linear-to-cyclic isomerization of DASAs. The mechanism of the water-induced linear-to-cyclic isomerization of DASAs is investigated by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Water molecules coordinate with DASAs and stabilize the intermediates and cyclic isomers, which favors cyclization thermodynamically. Moreover, the linear-to-cyclic isomerization is reversible. Heating removes the coordinated H 2 O molecules, which further triggers cyclic-to-linear isomerization. DASAs have been applied in information hiding/displaying and color switching under water vapor and heating control.

Graphene is an excellent one-atom-thick coating for metal protection because it is completely impermeable to gases, vapours and liquids. However, recent works support that graphene tends to promote metal corrosion at its defects. In this paper, a study on the inhibition of the corrosionpromotion activity of graphene is presented. We encapsulated graphene in nanosized SiO 2 . Our work reveals that embedding the graphene@SiO 2 composites into anticorrosive coating greatly enhances its corrosion resistance; the SiO 2 grown on graphene acts as a spacer separating graphene and metal substrates so as to prevent graphene from connecting with the metal substrates and further inhibit the corrosionpromotion activity of graphene.