Fabrication of vertically aligned diamond whiskers from highly boron-doped diamond by oxygen plasma etching.

Conductive diamond whiskers were fabricated by maskless oxygen plasma etching on highly boron-doped diamond substrates. The effects of the etching conditions and the boron concentration in diamond on the whisker morphology and overall substrate coverage were investigated. High boron-doping levels (greater than 8.4 × 10(20) cm(-3)) are crucial for the formation of the nanosized, densely packed whiskers with diameter of ca. 20 nm, length of ca. 200 nm, and density of ca. 3.8 × 10(10) cm(-2) under optimal oxygen plasma etching conditions (10 min at a chamber pressure of 20 Pa). Confocal Raman mapping and scanning electron microscopy illustrate that the boron distribution in the diamond surface region is consistent with the distribution of whisker sites. The boron dopant atoms in the diamond appear to lead to the initial fine column formation. This simple method could provide a facile, cost-effective means for the preparation of conductive nanostructured diamond materials for electrochemical applications as well as electron emission devices.

Preparation and characterization of self-cleaning glass for vehicle with niobia nanosheets.

Self-cleaning glasses were prepared by coating niobia nanosheets and investigated on the performance. The coated glass heated at >450 degrees C had very low turbidity, high hardness, and excellent adhesion properties. Niobia nanosheets ([Nb(3)O(8)](-)) reacted with sodium ions (Na(+)) diffused from the glass into the films to form a crystalline phase of NaNb(3)O(8) and this phase was converted to NaNbO(3) at >450 degrees C. The films exhibited photoinduced hydrophilicity under UV irradiation but low photocatalytic oxidation activity. Excellent self-cleaning ability of the niobia nanosheet coated glass was confirmed by the Taber abrasion test, which is thought to be a candidate as self-cleaning glasses for vehicles.

Photocatalytic activity of NaNbO(3) thin films.

NaNbO(3) thin films prepared by the sol-gel method had homogeneous microstructure with an average grain size of 15-25 nm and exhibited photoinduced hydrophilic conversion under UV irradiation. However, the films had little photocatalytic oxidation activity under UV irradiation. This is the first observation that NaNbO(3) undergoes photoinduced hydrophilicity under UV irradiation.

Layered double hydroxide hybrids with dicetylphosphate.

Dicetyl phosphate (DCP) ions incorporated into layered double hydroxide (LDH) clays to form a DCP/LDH hybrid were prepared and structurally characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis, scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetry, and differential thermal analyses. DCP was concluded not only to form well-aligned bilayer structures along the vertical axis of the LDH layers but also to be arranged in a distorted hexagonal packing orientation in the lateral planes within the DCP/LDH hybrid interlayers.

Odd-even effect of the methylene chain number in the template polymerization of alpha,beta-diacetylenecarboxylates incorporated in layered double hydroxide clay.

The present investigation reports on the significant differences observed in the efficiency of the polymerization depending on the odd- or even-numbered methylene chains of diacetylenecarboxylates, CH3(CH2)(m-1)C[triple bond]C-C[triple bond]C(CH2)(n-1)CO2- (mono-[m,n]), incorporated in layered double hydroxide (LDH) clay. Upon gamma-ray irradiation of the diacetylenecarboxylates, or mono-[m,n], in LDH clay, polymer hybrids or poly-[m,n]/LDH, which exhibited coloring from light orange to violet, were obtained. The color of the poly-[m,n]/LDH hybrids was strongly dependent on the extent of the polymerization degrees. Moreover, the polymerization degrees were controlled by the number of methylene spacers n between the carboxyl and diacetylene groups. An odd-numbered n for the methylene chain of mono-[m,n] was found to be the determining factor in the efficient polymerization of these self-assembling aggregates within the interlayers of LDH clay.

Reversible color changes in lamella hybrids of poly(diacetylenecarboxylates) incorporated in layered double hydroxide nanosheets.

The present study is an investigation of a reversible thermal color change induced in lamella hybrids of poly(diacetylenecarboxylates) incorporated in layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanosheets. These poly-[m,n]/LDH hybrids prepared by the photo- or gamma-ray-induced polymerization of diacetylenecarboxylates, i.e., CH(3)(CH(2))(m)()(-)(1)CC-CC(CH(2))(n)()(-)(1)CO(2)(-) (mono-[m,n]), and intercalated in LDH lamella sheets, were observed to develop colors ranging from yellow to blue. The change in color was found to depend greatly on the alkyl carbon numbers of the mono-[m,n] (m,n = 10,11; 5,11; 10,5; 16,1) values. Moreover, the conformational alignment of the mono-[m,n] within the LDH was observed to be a crucial factor in color development, which was greatly affected by the intercalation degrees and extent of poly(ene-yne) linkage elongation of the polymers. For the poly-[m,n]/LDH hybrids investigated, a reversible color change was found to occur repeatedly and remarkably for the poly-[10,11]/LDH hybrid. This color change occurred at temperatures between ca. 20 and 80 degrees C back and forth from purple red to bright orange, in stark contrast to the irreversible color change for poly-[10,11] without LDH. Moreover, DSC and Raman spectroscopic studies of the LDH hybrids showed that the thermochromic temperature corresponded to the phase transition temperature of 80 degrees C. XRD analysis also indicated that the poly-[m,n]/LDH hybrid could retain its lamella structure during such thermochromic color changes, enabling conformational recovery in the polymer chains by a cooling down of the hybrids to temperatures lower than the transition temperature, while the nonhybrid poly-[10,11] powders exhibited an irreversible color change at 60 degrees C, above which the polymer powder turned amorphous.

Reactive-state spin-dependent diastereoselective photoisomerization of trans,trans-2,3-diphenylcyclopropane-1- carboxylic acid derivatives included in zeolites.

[reaction: see text] The asymmetric induction facilitated by a chiral auxiliary during the photoisomerization of trans,trans-2,3-diphenylcyclopropane derivatives depends on the medium (solution vs zeolite) and the reactive state (singlet vs triplet). Within zeolites, direct excitation most likely proceeds via a zwitterionic intermediate, while triplet sensitization most likely proceeds via a diradical intermediate.

Use of chirally modified zeolites and crystals in photochemical asymmetric synthesis.

Three different approaches to asymmetric induction in the cis-to-trans photoisomerization of a number of 1-benzoyl-2,3-diphenylcyclopropane derivatives are reported: the use of chiral inductors and covalent chiral auxiliaries in MY zeolites and the use of ionic chiral auxiliaries in crystals. High levels of asymmetric induction were achieved using the latter two methods-up to 71% through the use of covalent chiral auxiliaries in zeolites and a remarkable 99% via the solid state ionic chiral auxiliary approach. In the zeolite method, the diastereomeric excess was found to depend strongly on the nature of the zeolite cation, M(+), and in the ionic chiral auxiliary approach, evidence is presented that it is the fixed orientation of the benzoyl group with respect to the cyclopropane ring that controls enantioselectivity in the crystalline state-a finding that is directly relevant to theoretical work on this topic.