Facile Fabrication of Co-Doped Porous Carbon from Coal Hydrogasification Semi-Coke for Efficient Microwave Absorption.

A Co-doped porous carbon was successfully fabricated by a facile carbonizing procedure using coal hydrogasification semi-coke (SC) as the carbon and cobalt nitrate as the magnetic precursors, respectively. The mass ratio of the precursors was changed to regulate the microwave absorption (MA) capabilities. The favorable MA capabilities are a result of a synergistic interaction be-tween the dielectric loss from the carbon framework, the magnetic loss from nano-sized Co particles, and multiple scattering from the residual pores. At a thickness of 4.0 mm, the Co/C composite showed the lowest reflection loss of -33.45 dB when the initial mass ratio of cobalt nitrate and SC was 1:1. The effective absorbing bandwidth (EAB) could achieve 3.5 GHz at 2 mm thickness. This work not only opens up a new avenue for the facile fabrication of dielectric and magnetic loss combinations and their structural design, but it also creates a new route for the high value-added exploitation of SC.

Response Properties of Electrorheological Composite Hydrophilic Elastomers Based on Different Morphologies of Magnesium-Doped Strontium Titanate.

As smart materials, electrorheological elastomers (EREs) formed by pre-treating active electrorheological particles are attracting more and more attention. In this work, four Mg-doped strontium titanate (Mg-STO) particles with spherical, dendritic, flake-like, and pinecone-like morphologies were obtained via hydrothermal and low-temperature co-precipitation. XRD, SEM, Raman, and FT-IR were used to characterize these products. The results showed that Mg-STOs are about 1.5-2.0 µm in size, and their phase structures are dominated by cubic crystals. These Mg-STOs were dispersed in a hydrogel composite elastic medium. Then, Mg-STO/glycerol/gelatin electrorheological composite hydrophilic elastomers were obtained with or without an electric field. The electric field response properties of Mg-doped strontium titanate composite elastomers were investigated. We concluded that dendritic Mg-STO composite elastomers are high-performance EREs, and the maximum value of their energy storage was 8.70 MPa. The significant electrorheological performance of these products is helpful for their applications in vibration control, force transducers, smart structures, dampers, and other fields.

Ultrasensitive Photochromic Iodocuprate(I) Hybrid.

By employing in situ methylnicotinohydrazide dication (MNH(2+)) as an electron acceptor, we have constructed an iodocuprate(I) hybrid {[MNH][Cu2I3]2}n (1), which exhibits charge transfer (CT) thermochromism due to the intense absorption of CT and electron transfer (ET) photochromism with high photocoloration contrast and fast response to UV irradiation due to the synergetic effect of valence change of copper ions.

Five monocyclic pyridinium derivative based halo-argentate/cuprate hybrids or iodide salts: influence of composition on photochromic behaviors.

The rational choice of an electron acceptor was proved to be an effective strategy for the development of novel electron transfer (ET) photochromic iodides, but the types and amounts of reported electron acceptors are relatively limited so far, especially for monocyclic aromatic molecules. Herein, using monocyclic pyridinium derivatives (N-protonation-4-carboxypyridinium/N-protonation-4-carbamoylpyridinium/1-methyl-4-(carbomethoxy)pyridinium) as structural directing agents and electron acceptors, five new electron donor-acceptor-based halo-argentate/cuprate hybrids or iodide salts have been synthesized, including [HINA][Ag4I5] (1), [HINAM]I (2), [HINAM]I·0.5(I2) (3), [MCMP][Ag2Br3] (4) and [MCMP][Cu2I3] (5). Noteworthily, compounds 1-3 exhibit interesting photochromic behaviours, while compounds 4 and 5 are non-photochromic. Finally, the possible chromic mechanisms and influencing factors for the title compounds were also discussed.

Halogen-dependent photoinduced electron transfer and chromism of three protonated nicotinohydrazide halozincates.

Three isostructural halozincates, [HNH][ZnX4]·H2O (HNH2+ = protonated nicotinohydrazide, X = I (1), Br (2), Cl (3)), have been synthesized and exhibit halogen-dependent photoinduced electron transfer and chromic properties. Due to the different electron-donating nature of halogen atoms, only iodozincate hybrid 1 can easily undergo photoinduced electron transfer and eye-detectable photochromic behavior, revealing a unique matching rule between a moderate electron acceptor and halozincates.

Stoichiometry-controlled structural and functional variation in two photochromic iodoargentates with a fast and wide range response.

By using 1-methyl-4-(carbomethoxy)pyridinium (MCMP+) as counterions, two iodoargentate hybrids, 1D [MCMP][AgI2] (1) and 3D [MCMP][Ag3I4] (2) have been synthesized and they exhibit rare electron transfer photochromism with a fast response rate, a wide response range and a long-lived charge-separated state in iodometallate systems. Noteworthily, the marked differences in the structure and photochromic performance of 1 and 2 are largely ascribed to the different aggregating behavior of electron-deficient MCMP+ counterions (C-HO hydrogen bonded trimer in 1 and π-π/C-Hπ chain in 2).