Pincer-Type Phosphorus Compounds with Boryl-Pendant and Application in Catalytic H-2 Generation from Ammonia-Borane: A Theoretical Study

Metal-free catalysts composed of heavy main group element(s) have been limited. Herein, a theoretical study unveils that pincer-type phosphorus compound bearing a boryl-pendant is good catalyst for H-2 generation from ammonia borane through phosphorus-boryl (P-B) cooperation function. Pincer-type phosphorus compound without boryl-pendant is not active for this reaction, indicating the important role of the P-B cooperation function

Fluoride-activated photothermal system for promoting bacteria-infected wound healing

Abstract Although photothermal therapy (PTT) employing nanozymes has shown excellent antibacterial potential, excessive heating generally harms host cells and hinders recovery. Herein, we report an innovative technique for acquiring the programmed temperature by managing the catalytic activity of nanozymes. The photothermal system of CeO2 + F− + TMB can obtain precise photothermal temperature by adjusting the concentration of fluoride ions under near-infrared irradiation. At the optimized photothermal temperature, the photothermal system affords fine photothermal antibacterial treatment with high-efficiency antibacterial effects against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli in vitro. In vivo wound healing experiments confirm that the system can effectively promote fibroblast proliferation, angiogenesis and collagen deposition with remarkable wound healing efficiency. This strategy offers a novel design concept for creating a new generation of PTT and opens the way for the creation of alternative antibiotics

Touch: A Textual Programming Language for Developing APPs of Insect Intelligent Building

Insect intelligent building (I2B) is a novel decentralized, flat-structured intelligent building platform with excellent flexibility and scalability. I2B allows users to develop applications that include control strategies for efficiently managing and controlling buildings. However, developing I2B APPs (applications) is considered a challenging and complex task due to the complex structural features and parallel computing models of the I2B platform. Existing studies have been shown to encounter difficulty in supporting a high degree of abstraction and in allowing users to define control scenarios in a concise and comprehensible way. This paper aims to facilitate the development of such applications and to reduce the programming difficulty. We propose Touch, a textual domain-specific language (DSL) that provides a high-level abstraction of I2B APPs. Specifically, we first establish the conceptual programming architecture of the I2B APP, making the application more intuitive by abstracting different levels of physical entities in I2B. Then, we present special language elements to effectively support the parallel computing model of the I2B platform and provide a formal definition of the concrete Touch syntax. We also implement supporting tools for Touch, including a development environment as well as target code generation. Finally, we present experimental results to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of Touch

High-Performance Ultraviolet Photodetector Based on Graphene Quantum Dots Decorated ZnO Nanorods/GaN Film Isotype Heterojunctions

Abstract A novel isotype heterojunction ultraviolet photodetector was fabricated by growing n-ZnO nanorod arrays on n-GaN thin films and then spin-coated with graphene quantum dots (GQDs). Exposed to UV illumination with a wavelength of 365 nm, the time-dependent photoresponse of the hybrid detectors manifests high sensitivity and consistent transients with a rise time of 100 ms and a decay time of 120 ms. Meanwhile, an ultra-high specific detectivity (up to ~ 1012 Jones) and high photoresponsivity (up to 34 mA W−1) are obtained at 10 V bias. Compared to the bare heterojunction detectors, the excellent performance of the GQDs decorated n-ZnO/n-GaN heterostructure is attributed to the efficient immobilization of GQDs on the ZnO nanorod arrays. GQDs were exploited as a light absorber and act like an electron donor to effectively improve the effective carrier concentration in interfacial junction. Moreover, appropriate energy band alignment in GQDs decorated ZnO/GaN hybrids can also be a potential factor in facilitating the UV-induced photocurrent and response speed

Concentration-Dependent Hydrogen Bond Behavior of Ethylammonium Nitrate Protic Ionic Liquid–Water Mixtures Explored by Molecular Dynamics Simulations

The detailed hydrogen bond (HB) behavior of ethylammonium nitrate (EAN) ionic liquid (IL)–water mixtures with different water concentrations has been investigated at a molecular level by using classical molecular dynamics simulations. The simulation results demonstrate that the increasing water concentration can weaken considerably all cation–anion, cation–water, anion–water, and water–water HBs in EAN–water mixtures, and the corresponding HB networks around cations, anions, and water molecules also change significantly with the addition of water. Meanwhile, both the translational and the rotational motions of anions, cations, and water molecules are found to be much faster as the water concentration increases. On the other hand, the order of their HB strength is found to be cation–anion > anion–water > cation–water > water–water at low water mole fractions (<38%), while the corresponding order is cation–anion > cation–water > anion–water > water–water at high water mole fractions (>38%). The opposite orders of anion–water and cation–water HBs at low and high water concentrations, as well as the different changes of HB networks around cations and anions, should be responsible for the increasing deviation in diffusion coefficient between cations and anions with the water concentration, which is favorable to the cation–anion dissociation. In addition, the competing effect between ionic mobility and ionic concentration leads to that the ionic conductivity of EAN–water mixtures initially increases with the water mole fraction and follows a sharp decrease beyond 90%. Our simulation results provide a molecular-level concentration-dependent HB networks and dynamics, as well as their relationship with unique structures and dynamics in protic IL–water mixtures

Molecular Dynamics Simulations for Loading-Dependent Diffusion of CO₂, SO₂, CH₄, and Their Binary Mixtures in ZIF-10: The Role of Hydrogen Bond

The loading-dependent diffusion behavior of CH₄, CO₂, SO₂, and their binary mixtures in ZIF-10 has been investigated in detail by using classical molecular dynamics simulations. Our simulation results demonstrate that the self-diffusion coefficient <i>D</i>_<i>i</i> of CH₄ molecules decreases sharply and monotonically with the loading while those of both CO₂ and SO₂ molecules initially display a slight increase at low uptakes and follow a slow decrease at high uptakes. Accordingly, the interaction energies between CH₄ molecules and ZIF-10 remain nearly constant regardless of the loading due to the absence of hydrogen bonds (HBs), while the interaction energies between CO₂ (or SO₂) and ZIF-10 decease rapidly with the loading, especially at small amounts of gas molecules. Such different loading-dependent diffusion and interaction mechanisms can be attributed to the relevant HB behavior between gas molecules and ZIF-10. At low loadings, both the number and strength of HBs between CO₂ (or SO₂) molecules and ZIF-10 decrease obviously as the loading increases, which is responsible for the slight increase of their diffusion coefficients. However, at high loadings, their HB strength increases with the loading. Similar loading-dependent phenomena of diffusion, interaction, and HB behavior can be observed for CH_4, CO₂, and SO₂ binary mixtures in ZIF-10, only associated with some HB competition between CO₂ and SO₂ molecules in the case of the CO₂/SO₂ mixture