Facile Synthesis and Versatilities of Polyanthraquinoylamine Nanofibril Bundles with Self Stability and High Carbon Yield

A facile synthesis for nanosized conducting polymers with inherent self-stability and multi-functionalities is a main challenge. Here we simply synthesize intrinsically self-stabilized nanofibril bundles of poly(1-anthraquinoylamine) (PAQ) by a template-free method. The critical polymerization parameters were studied to significantly optimize the synthesis, size, properties, and functionalities of the resulted fine nanofibrils with a diameter of ca. 30 nm and length of ~6 μm. The PAQ obtained with ammonium persulfate possesses higher polymerization yield, purer composition, higher conductivity, better melting behaviour, higher thermostability, lower burning enthalpy, and slower degradation than that with other oxidants. Furthermore, the polymer nanofibrils exhibit high self-stability, powerful redispersibility, high purity, and clean surface because of a complete avoidance of the contamination from external stabilizer. The PAQ exhibits widely controllable conductivity moving across ten orders of magnitudes from 10^-9^ to 50 S/cm, photoluminescence, lead-ion adsorbability, very high thermostability in air and extremely high char yield in nitrogen at 1000˚C. These materials would be useful as advanced materials including photoluminescent materials, highly cost-effective carbon precursors, sorbents of toxic metal ions, and cost-efficient conductive nanocomposite with low percolation threshold

Interfacial chemical oxidative synthesis of multifunctional polyfluoranthene.

A novel polyfluoranthene (PFA) exhibiting strong visual fluorescence emission, a highly amplified quenching effect, and widely controllable electrical conductivity is synthesized by the direct cationic oxidative polymerization of fluoranthene in a dynamic interface between n-hexane and nitromethane containing fluoranthene and FeCl3, respectively. A full characterization of the molecular structure signifies that the PFAs have a degree of polymerization from 22-50 depending on the polymerization conditions. A polymerization mechanism at the interface of the hexane/nitromethane biphasic system is proposed. The conductivity of the PFA is tunable from 6.4 × 10-6 to 0.074 S cm-1 by doping with HCl or iodine. The conductivity can be significantly enhanced to 150 S cm-1 by heat treatment at 1100 °C in argon. A PFA-based chemosensor shows a highly selective sensitivity for Fe3+ detection which is unaffected by other common metal ions. The detection of Fe3+ likely involves the synergistic effect of well-distributed π-conjugated electrons throughout the PFA helical chains that function as both the fluorophore and the receptor units

Single-photon-triggered quantum chaos

We demonstrate how to manipulate quantum chaos with a single photon in a hybrid quantum device combining cavity QED and optomechanics. Specifically, we show that this system changes between integrable and chaotic relying on the photon-state of the injected field. This onset of chaos originates from the photon-dependent chaotic threshold of the qubit-field coupling induced by the optomechanical interaction. By deriving the Loschmidt Echo we observe clear differences in the sensitivity to perturbations in the regular versus chaotic regimes. We also present classical analog of this chaotic behavior, and find good correspondence between chaotic quantum dynamics and classical physics. Our work opens up a new route to achieve quantum manipulations, which are crucial elements in engineering new types of on-chip quantum devices and quantum information science.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Biogeochemistry of dimethylsulfide in the South China Sea

The distribution of dimethylsulfide (DMS) was studied in surface seawater and vertical profiles at nineteen stations in the Nansha Islands sea area of the South China Sea. The concentrations of DMS in surface-layer (0-1 m) seawater vary from 64 to 140 ng S/L with high values found in the productive regions, in agreement with the horizontal distribution of chlorophyll a. The vertical profiles of DMS show a single peak shape with maximum concentrations occurring at depths between 30-75 m. The DMS concentrations are correlated with chlorophyll a levels both in the upper 20 m of seawater as well as in vertical profiles. A clear diel variation in DMS concentration is observed at the 50-m water layer at a fixed station with the highest DMS concentration found in the late afternoon. The DMS concentrations are associated with environmental factors such as seawater temperature, dissolved O2 and nutrient contents. Although DMS is correlated to chlorophyll a, the phytoplankton species is a major factor responsible for the obviously higher DMS concentration than expected from the phytoplankton biomass in this sea area. The sea-to-air flux of DMS from this sea area is calculated to be 7.6 µmol m-2 d-1