No abstract

Two mesoporous fluorinated metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) were synthesized from extensively fluorinated tritopic carboxylate- and tetrazolate-based ligands. The tetrazolate-based framework MOFF-5 has an accessible surface area of 2445 m(2) g(-1), the highest among fluorinated MOFs. Crystals of MOFF-5 adsorb hydrocarbons, fluorocarbons, and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)-the latter two being ozone-depleting substances and potent greenhouse species-with weight capacities of up to 225%. The material exhibits an apparent preference for the adsorption of non-spherical molecules, binding unusually low amounts of both tetrafluoromethane and sulfur hexafluoride.

A codoping strategy is advanced to improve luminescence efficiency, emission color tuning, and thermal stability of LED phosphors.

Eu2+ local environments in various crystallographic sites enable the different distributions of the emission and excitation energies and then realize the photoluminescence tuning of the Eu2+ doped solid state phosphors. Herein we report the Eu2+-doped Ca10M­(PO4)7 (M = Li, Na, and K) phosphors with β-Ca3(PO4)2-type structure, in which there are five cation crystallographic sites, and the phosphors show a color tuning from bluish-violet to blue and yellow with the variation of M ions. The difference in decay rate monitored at selected wavelengths is related to multiple luminescent centers in Ca10M­(PO4)7:Eu2+, and the occupied rates of Eu2+ in Ca(1), Ca(2), Ca(3), Na(4), and Ca(5) sites from Rietveld refinements using synchrotron power diffraction data confirm that Eu2+ enters into four cation sites except for Ca(5). Since the average bond lengths d(Ca–O) remain invariable in the Ca10M­(PO4)7:Eu2+, the drastic changes of bond lengths d(M–O) and Eu2+ emission depending on the variation from Li to Na and K can provide insight into the distribution of Eu2+ ions. It is found that the emission band at 410 nm is ascribed to the occupation of Eu2+ in the Ca(1), Ca(2), and Ca(3) sites with similar local environments, while the long-wavelength band (466 or 511 nm) is attributed to Eu2+ at the M(4) site (M = Na and K). We show that the crystal-site engineering approach discussed herein can be applied to probe the luminescence of the dopants and provide a new method for photoluminescence tuning.

Platinum was coated on the surfaces of copper nanocubes to form Cu−CuPt core−alloy−frame nanocrystals with a rhombic dodecahedral (RD) shape. Co-reduction of Pt 2+ ions and residual Cu + ions in the supernatant of the Cu nanocube solution followed by the interdiffusion of Cu and Pt atoms over the core−shell interface allowed their formation. Growth in the ⟨100⟩ directions of the {100}-terminated Cu nanocubes resulted in the {110}-faceted rhombic dodecahedra. By the introduction of additional Pt precursor, the {100} vertices of the Cu−CuPt RD nanocrystals could be selectively extended to form spiny CuPt RD nanocrystals. After removing the Cu core template, both CuPt alloy RD and spiny CuPt alloy RD nanoframes (NFs) were obtained with Pt/Cu ratios of 26/ 74 and 41/59, respectively. Abundant surface defects render them highly active catalysts due to the open frame structure of both sets of NFs. The spiny RD NFs showed superior specific activity toward the oxygen reduction reaction, 1.3 and 3 times to those of the RD NFs and the commercial Pt/C catalysts, respectively. In 4-nitrophenol reduction, both NFs displayed better activity compared to commercial Pt NPs in the dark. Their activities were improved ∼1.3 times under irradiation of visible light, attributed to the effect of LSPR enhancement by the Cu-rich skeleton.

Au-Pd nanocrystals are an intriguing system to study the integrated functions of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) and heterogeneous catalysis. Gold is both durable and can harness incident light energy to enhance the catalytic activity of another metal, such as Pd, via the SPR effect in bimetallic nanocrystals. Despite the superior catalytic performance of icosahedral (IH) nanocrystals compared to alternate morphologies, the controlled synthesis of alloy and core-shell IH is still greatly challenged by the disparate reduction rates of metal precursors and lack of continuous epigrowth on multiply twinned boundaries of such surfaces. Herein, we demonstrate a one-step strategy for the controlled growth of monodisperse Au-Pd alloy and core-shell IH with terraced shells by turning an ionic switch between [Br(-)]/[Cl(-)] in the coreduction process. The core-shell IH nanocrystals contain AuPd alloy cores and ultrathin Pd shells (<2 nm). They not only display more than double the activity of the commercial Pd catalysts in ethanol electrooxidation attributed to monatomic step terraces but also show SPR-enhanced conversion of 4-nitrophenol. This strategy holds promise toward the development of alternate bimetallic IH nanocrystals for electrochemical and plasmon-enhanced catalysis.

Establishing an effective design principle in solid‐state materials for a blue‐light‐excited Eu2+‐doped red‐emitting oxide‐based phosphors remains one of the significant challenges for white light‐emitting diodes (WLEDs). Selective occupation of Eu2+ in inorganic polyhedra with small coordination numbers results in broad‐band red emission as a result of enhanced crystal‐field splitting of 5d levels. Rb3YSi2O7:Eu exhibits a broad emission band at λmax=622 nm under 450 nm excitation, and structural analysis and DFT calculations support the concept that Eu2+ ions preferably occupy RbO6 and YO6 polyhedra and show the characteristic red emission band of Eu2+. The excellent thermal quenching resistance, high color‐rendering index Ra (93), and low CCT (4013 K) of the WLEDs clearly demonstrate that site engineering of rare‐earth phosphors is an effective strategy to target tailored optical performance.

Surface functionalized nanoparticles have found their applications in several fields including biophotonics, nanobiomedicine, biosensing, drug delivery, and catalysis. Quite often, the nanoparticle surfaces must be post-coated with organic or inorganic layers during the synthesis before use. This work reports a generally one-pot synthesis method for the preparation of various inorganic-organic core-shell nanostructures (Au@polymer, Ag@polymer, Cu@polymer, Fe3O4@polymer, and TiO2@polymer), which led to new optical, magnetic, and catalytic applications. This green synthesis involved reacting inorganic precursors and poly(styrene-alt-maleic acid). The polystyrene blocks separated from the external aqueous environment acting as a hydrophobic depot for aromatic drugs and thus illustrated the integration of functional nanoobjects for drug delivery. Among these nanocomposites, the Au@polymer nanoparticles with good biocompatibility exhibited shell-dependent signal enhancement in the surface plasmon resonance shift, nonlinear fluorescence, and surface-enhanced Raman scattering properties. These unique optical properties were used for dual-modality imaging on the delivery of the aromatic photosensitizer for photodynamic therapy to HeLa cells.