Trade-in strategies in closed-loop supply chain when considering manufacturer entrustment behavior and wholesale price contract

Many enterprises are implementing trade-in programs through multiple methods, but some lack experience or insufficient conditions to carry out the trade-in program. The previous literature did not consider the impacts of the manufacturer authorizing the third-party information platform (3IP) to implement the trade-in strategy for each member of the closed-loop supply chain. To address this gap, we established three models based on consumer choice behavior: (1) the benchmark model without trade-in strategy; (2) the trade-in model with manufacturer entrustment behavior; (3) the extension model with wholesale price contract. We obtained and compared the equilibrium solutions of the three models. Our results indicate that, compared to the case where there is no entrustment, the manufacturer’s profit is higher if they entrust the 3IP to implement the trade-in program under certain conditions (which is related to the proportion of primary and replacement consumers in the market). Under reasonable circumstances, we find that introducing a wholesale price contract can benefit the manufacturer and increase the profit of the 3IP, stimulate the 3IP to carry out trade-in better, and achieve a win-win situation. Some numerical examples are provided to explain these findings further.</p

Controlled Intercalation and Chemical Exfoliation of Layered Metal–Organic Frameworks Using a Chemically Labile Intercalating Agent

Creating ordered two-dimensional (2D) metal–organic framework (MOF) nanosheets has attracted extensive interest. However, it still remains a great challenge to synthesize ultrathin 2D MOF nanosheets with controlled thickness in high yields. In this work, we demonstrate a novel intercalation and chemical exfoliation approach to obtain MOF nanosheets from intrinsically layered MOF crystals. This approach involves two steps: first, layered porphyrinic MOF crystals are intercalated with 4,4′-dipyridyl disulfide through coordination bonding with the metal nodes; subsequently, selective cleavage of the disulfide bond induces exfoliation of the intercalated MOF crystals, leading to individual freestanding MOF nanosheets. This chemical exfoliation process can proceed efficiently at room temperature to produce ultrathin (∼1 nm) 2D MOF nanosheets in ∼57% overall yield. The obtained ultrathin nanosheets exhibit efficient and far superior heterogeneous photocatalysis performance compared with the corresponding bulk MOF