Ultrathin 2D nanomaterials possess promising properties due to electron confinement within single or a few atom layers. As an emerging class of functional materials, ultrathin 2D rare‐earth nanomaterials may incorporate the unique optical, magnetic, and catalytic behaviors of rare‐earth elements into layers, exhibiting great potential in various applications such as optoelectronics, magnetic devices, transistors, high‐efficiency catalysts, etc. Despite its importance, reviews on ultrathin 2D rare‐earth nanomaterials or related topics are rare and only focus on a certain family of ultrathin 2D rare‐earth nanomaterials. This work is the first comprehensive review in this impressive field, which covers all families of ultrathin 2D rare‐earth nanomaterials, illustrating their compositions, syntheses, and applications. After summarizing the current achievements, the challenges and opportunities of future research on ultrathin 2D rare‐earth nanomaterials are evaluated.
Covalent bonding is one of the most robust forms of intramolecular interaction between adhesives and substrates. In contrast to most noncovalent interactions, covalent bonds can significantly enhance both the interfacial strength and durability. To utilize the advantages of covalent bonding, specific chemical reactions are designed to occur at interfaces. However, interfacial reactions are difficult to probe in situ, particularly at the buried interfaces found in well-bonded adhesive joints. In this work, sum frequency generational (SFG) vibrational spectroscopy was used to directly examine and analyze the interfacial chemical reactions and related molecular changes at buried nylon/silicone elastomer interfaces. For self-priming elastomeric silicone adhesives, silane coupling agents have been extensively used as adhesion promoters.Here with SFG, the interfacial chemical reactions between nylon and two alkoxysilane adhesion promoters with varied functionalities (maleic anhydride (MAH) and epoxy) formulated into the silicone were observed and investigated. Evidence of reactions between the organofunctional group of each silane and reactive groups on the polyamide was found at the buried interface between the cured silicone elastomer and nylon. The adhesion strength at the nylon/cured silicone interfaces was substantially enhanced with both silane additives. SFG results elucidated the mechanisms of organo-silane adhesion promotion for silicone at the molecular level. The ability to probe and analyze detailed interfacial reactions at buried nylon/silicone interfaces demonstrated that SFG is a powerful analytical technique to aid the design and optimization of materials with desired interfacial properties.
A new fluorescent probe for monitoring Zn(2+) was synthesized based on the structure of 7-hydroxyquinoline. Compared with 8-substituted quinolines, the new probe exhibited higher selectivity for Zn(2+) over Cd(2+). Its fluorescence enhancement (14-fold) and nanomolar range sensitivity (K(d) = 0.117 nM) were favorable toward biological applications. Experiments also showed that a cell-permeable derivative of the new probe was potentially useful for two-photon imaging in living cells.
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