[Ce3+-OV-Ce4+] Located Surface-Distributed Sheet Cu-Zn-Ce Catalysts for Methanol Production by CO2 Hydrogenation.

The metal-support interaction is crucial for the performance of Cu-based catalysts. However, the distinctive properties of the support metal element itself are often overlooked in catalyst design. In this paper, a sheet Cu-Zn-Ce with [Ce3+-OV-Ce4+] located on the surface was designed by the sol-gel method. Through EPR and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), the relationship between the content of oxygen vacancies and Ce was revealed. Ce itself induces the generation of [Ce3+-OV-Ce4+]. Through ICP-MS, XPS, and SEM-mapping, the Ce-induced formation of [Ce3+-OV-Ce4+] located on the catalyst surface was demonstrated. CO2-TPD and DFT calculations further revealed that [Ce3+-OV-Ce4+] enhanced CO2 adsorption, leading to a 10% increase in methanol selectivity compared to Cu-Zn-Ce synthesized via the coprecipitation method.

InGaN micro-light-emitting diodes monolithically grown on Si: achieving ultra-stable operation through polarization and strain engineering.

Micro or submicron scale light-emitting diodes (µLEDs) have been extensively studied recently as the next-generation display technology. It is desired that µLEDs exhibit high stability and efficiency, submicron pixel size, and potential monolithic integration with Si-based complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) electronics. Achieving such µLEDs, however, has remained a daunting challenge. The polar nature of III-nitrides causes severe wavelength/color instability with varying carrier concentrations in the active region. The etching-induced surface damages and poor material quality of high indium composition InGaN quantum wells (QWs) severely deteriorate the performance of µLEDs, particularly those emitting in the green/red wavelength. Here we report, for the first time, µLEDs grown directly on Si with submicron lateral dimensions. The µLEDs feature ultra-stable, bright green emission with negligible quantum-confined Stark effect (QCSE). Detailed elemental mapping and numerical calculations show that the QCSE is screened by introducing polarization doping in the active region, which consists of InGaN/AlGaN QWs surrounded by an AlGaN/GaN shell with a negative Al composition gradient along the c-axis. In comparison with conventional GaN barriers, AlGaN barriers are shown to effectively compensate for the tensile strain within the active region, which significantly reduces the strain distribution and results in enhanced indium incorporation without compromising the material quality. This study provides new insights and a viable path for the design, fabrication, and integration of high-performance µLEDs on Si for a broad range of applications in on-chip optical communication and emerging augmented reality/mixed reality devices, and so on.

Selective detection of HSO3- in living cells using a pyrroloquinoline structure containing turn-on fluorescent probe.

A turn-on fluorescence probe PQP-1 with a pyrroloquinoline skeleton has been designed and synthesized. Probe PQP-1 showed high sensitivity to HSO3-, low detection limit (16.83 nM), and a wide linear range (50-3000 µM). More importantly, probe PQP-1 could distinguish between HSO3- and SO32-. Furthermore, cell imaging experiments of HSO3- in HeLa cells revealed that probe PQP-1 had potential application value in biological systems.

Unique piezochromic fluorescence behavior of organic crystal of carbazole-substituted CNDSB.

CzCNDSB with a highly twisted conformation in the solid state is constructed. Single crystal measurements prove that it possesses an inside pore with a diameter of 8 Å and further forms a long-range orderly arrayed channel. CzCNDSB can sense external pressure from 1.0 atm to 9.21 GPa, accompanied by color changes from green to red with excellent reversibility and reproducibility.

An ambipolar organic field-effect transistor based on an AIE-active single crystal with a high mobility level of 2.0 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1).

Organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) based on an aggregation-induced emission (AIE) material were fabricated using a calcium-gold asymmetric electrode system. The devices showed very high and balanced mobility, reaching 2.50 and 2.10 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1), respectively, for electron and hole. Strong green electroluminescence from the single-crystal side edge was observed from all the devices. This work demonstrates that AIE active materials could not only achieve high luminescence, but also be used in light emitting transistors and achieve very high mobility.

Cyano-substituted oligo(p-phenylene vinylene) single-crystal with balanced hole and electron injection and transport for ambipolar field-effect transistors.

High and balanced hole and electron mobilities were achieved in OFETs based on the high photoluminescence of a 1,4-bis(2-cyano-2-phenylethenyl)benzene single-crystal with symmetric electrodes. For electron and hole, the operation voltage in the OFETs based on symmetric gold electrodes was 30 and -20 V, respectively. The accumulation threshold voltage is low enough for the OFETs to operate in an ambipolar model with the source/drain voltage (Vds) around 50 V despite the high injection barrier. The highest electron and hole mobility was 0.745 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) and 0.239 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1), and the current density reached 90.7 and 27.4 A cm(-2), respectively with an assumed 10 nm accumulation layer. The high mobility comes from the strong π-π interactions. In addition, the highly ordered hydrogen bonding matrix may create an efficient route to pump the charge to the inner layer which can improve the injection ability.

Controlled transition dipole alignment of energy donor and energy acceptor molecules in doped organic crystals, and the effect on intermolecular Förster energy transfer.

The orientation factor κ(2) ranging from 0 to 4, which depends on the relative orientation of the transition dipoles of the energy donor (D) and the energy acceptor (A) in space, is one of the pivotal factors deciding the efficiency and directionality of resonance energy transfer (RET) in a D-A molecular system. In this work, tetracene (Tc) and pentacene (Pc) are successfully doped in a trans-1,4-distyrylbenzene (DSB) crystalline lattice to form definite D-A mutually perpendicular transition dipole orientations. The cross D-A dipole arrangement results in an extremely small orientation factor, which is about two orders smaller than that in the disordered films. The energy transfer properties from the host (DSB) to the guest (Tc/Pc) were investigated in detail by steady-state as well as time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy. Our experimental research results show that the small value of κ(2) allows less or partial energy transfer from the host (DSB) to the guest (Tc) in a wide range of guest concentration, with the Förster distance of around 1.5 nm. By controlling the doping concentrations in the Tc and Pc doubly doped DSB crystals, we demonstrate, as an example, for the first time the application of the restricted energy transfer by D-A cross transition dipole arrangement for preparation of a large-size, white-emissive organic crystal with the CIE coordinates of (0.36, 0.37) approaching an ideal white light. In contrast, Tc is also doped in an anthracene crystalline lattice to form head-to-tail D-A transition dipole alignment, which is proved to be highly effective to promote the intermolecular energy transfer. In this doped system, the orientation factor is relatively large and the Förster distance is around 7 nm.

Facile fabrication of high quality graphene from expandable graphite: simultaneous exfoliation and reduction.

High quality graphenes were prepared from low-cost expandable graphite via a facile hydrazine hydrate or concentrated ammonia-assisted quenching strategy.