SERS and Raman: deciphering interfacial phenomena and processes.

Raman spectroscopy and surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) are techniques for obtaining fingerprint-like vibrational spectral information from specific substrate surfaces. Attributed to its high sensitivity towards molecular electron density distributions, Raman or SERS employed during chemical reactions can assist in analyzing detailed chemical conversion processes. However, multiple influencing factors impede the development of SERS substrates and in-depth data analysis.

Unveiling Strong Electric Fields of Ultrafine Hollow Nanotubes Axially Orienting Asymmetric Polar [BiO] Units for Efficient Piezocatalytic Water Splitting.

Exploiting efficient piezocatalytic systems for water splitting is a promising avenue to generate clean energy carriers, though it remains challenging. Here, we develop BiOBr ultrafine hollow nanotubes (HNTs) with a wall thickness of ∼1 nm as an efficient force-sensitive piezocatalyst for water dissociation. Compared to symmetric [BiO]-constructed BiOBr, the BiOBr HNTs built by axially oriented asymmetric polar [BiO] units demonstrate high chemical bond anisotropy and greater local electrostatic potential difference (ΔU) at all the [-Bi-Br-], [-Bi-O-] and [-Br-Br-] areas, rendering strong piezoelectricity and internal electric field.

Asymmetric Single-Unit-Cell Layer Enriching Polar Inherent Hydroxyls Eliminates Interlayer Electric Field Shielding Effect and In Situ Self-Polarize for Piezocatalytic Water Splitting.

Piezocatalytic two-electron water splitting into spontaneously isolated H and HO shows huge prospects in meeting industrial requirements. Herein, asymmetric single-unit-cell BiO(OH)(NO) monolayer (BON-M) with superb force-sensitivity are developed for pure water and seawater dissociation. The formation of a monolayer structure allows sufficient exposure of polar inherent hydroxyls and eliminates the interlayer electric field screening induced by hydrogen bonding between [BiOOH] slices and [NO] layers, resulting in larger piezoelectricity and strengthened internal electric field.

Multifunctional Cooling Textiles with Enhanced Radiative and Moisture Management by One-Step Phase Separation.

The development of multifunctional cooling textiles has become crucial in addressing global warming and the increasing need for personal thermal management. Developing textiles with integrated unidirectional moisture transport and radiative cooling functionalities through a simple fabrication method has become a critical challenge in addressing thermal and moisture management under high-temperature conditions. This study presents the development of a radiative cooling and unidirectional moisture-wicking textile (RCUM-Textile) through one-step phase separation method.

A rare multi-emission metal-organic complex fluorescent probe for direct oxytetracycline recognition.

A simple and effective metal-organic coordination polymer, EuIn@MOCPs, which enables the rapid and selective detection of oxytetracycline (OTC) among tetracycline antibiotics was successfully synthesized. Unlike the previously reported rare-earth-doped metal-organic complexes, this probe not only exhibits the common 617-nm characteristic peak in response to OTC but also uniquely generates uncommon peak shifts at 591 nm and 652 nm, allowing it to specifically recognize OTC among tetracycline antibiotics. We found that the response of the probe and OTC had a linear relationship with a detection limit as low as 42.

Enhanced basalt weathering for CO sequestration: Phase dissolution rates, carbon sequestration mechanisms and practical application.

Enhanced rock weathering, particularly using basalt, is a promising method for atmospheric CO reduction. However, the complex mineral phases of basalt and challenges in post-application soil separation hinder experimental determination of phase-specific dissolution rates in real-world settings. This study innovatively combines magnetic separation and XRD-Rietveld full-spectrum fitting to isolate basalt from soil and quantify post-weathering phase changes.

Chiral Inorganic Polar BaTiO/BaCO Nanohybrids with Spin Selection for Asymmetric Photocatalysis.

Chirality-dependent photocatalysis is an emerging domain that leverages unique chiral light-matter interactions for enabling asymmetric catalysis driven by spin polarization induced by circularly polarized light selection. Herein, we synthesize chiral inorganic polar BaTiO/BaCO nanohybrids for asymmetric photocatalysis via a hydrothermal method employing chiral glucose as a structural inducer. When excited by opposite circularly polarized light, the same material exhibits significant asymmetric catalysis, while enantiomers present an opposite polarization preference.

Chiral Polar Bifunctional Polyimide Enantiomers for Asymmetric Photo- and Piezo-Catalysis.

Chiral catalysts for asymmetric catalysis represent a crucial research focus in chemistry and materials science. However, a few cases about chiral-dependent photocatalysts primarily focus on plasmonic noble metals. Particularly, developing chiral nano-catalysts that can be driven by mechanical energy remains in the blank stage.

Ultrathin BiOCl-OV/CoAl-LDH S-scheme heterojunction for efficient photocatalytic peroxymonosulfate activation to boost Co =O generation.

Sustainable and rapid production of high-valent cobalt-oxo (Co(IV)=O) species for efficiently removing organic pollutants is challenging in permoxymonosulfate (PMS) based advanced-oxidation-processes (AOPs) due to the limitation of the high 3d-orbital electronic occupancy of Co and slow conversion from Co(III) to Co(II). Herein, S-scheme BiOCl-OV/CoAl-LDH heterojunction were constructed by ultrathin BiOCl with the oxygen-vacancy (OV) self-assembled with ultrathin CoAl-LDH. OV promoted the formation of charge transfer channel (Bi-O-Co bonds) at the interface of the heterojunction and reduced electron occupation of the Co 3d-orbital to facilitate the generation of Co(IV)=O in the BiOCl-OV/CoAl-LDH/PMS/Visible-light system.

High-purity monoclinic pyrrhotite derived from natural pyrite with excellent removal performance for Cr (VI) and its mechanism.

Pyrrhotite, especially the monoclinic type, is a promising material for removing Cr (VI) from wastewater and groundwater due to its high reactivity. However, the purity of the preparation monoclinic pyrrhotite from heated natural pyrite is not high enough, and the role of possible sulfur vacancies in pyrrhotite's crystal structure has been largely ignored in the removal mechanism of Cr (VI). In this work, we characterized the phase composition changes of annealed pyrite in inert gas and prepared high-purity (~ 96%) monoclinic pyrrhotite at the optimal condition.

Mechanism of Potassium Release from Feldspar by Mechanical Activation in Presence of Additives at Ordinary Temperatures.

To improve the potassium availability of feldspar at ordinary temperatures, the mechanical grinding and addition of sodium hydroxide/salts were employed to study the effects of mechanical activation and strong alkali addition on particle characteristics, water-soluble potassium, and the available potassium of feldspar. A laser particle size analyzer was utilized for the direct determination of particle size distribution (PSD) using ground samples. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) method was employed for specific surface areas.

Preparation of Cationic Polyacrylamide Suspension and Its Application in Oilfield Wastewater Treatment.

Cationic polyacrylamide (CPAM) solid particle is one of the most commonly used organic polymer flocculants in oilfield wastewater treatment, but it poses some problems, such as a slow dissolution rate and an easy formation into a "fish-eye" in the process of diluting into aqueous solution. However, the current liquid CPAM products also have some problems, such as low effective content, poor storage stability, degradation in a short time, and high preparation costs. In this paper, a CPAM suspension was successfully prepared with 50.

Machine Learning Algorithms for Intelligent Decision Recognition and Quantification of Cr(III) in Chromium Speciation.

Cr(III) is a common oxidation state of chromium, and its presence in the environment can occur naturally or as a result of human activities, such as industrial processes, mining, and waste disposal. This article explores the application of machine learning algorithms for the intelligent decision recognition and quantification of Cr(III) in chromium speciation. Three different machine learning models, namely, the Decision Tree (DT) model, the PCA-SVM (Principal Component Analysis-Support Vector Machine) model, and the LDA (Linear Discriminant Analysis) model, were employed and evaluated for accurate and efficient classification of chromium concentrations based on their fluorescence responses.

Morphology Control of Electrospun Brominated Butyl Rubber Microfibrous Membrane.

Brominated butyl rubber (BIIR) is a derivative of butyl rubber, with the advantage of high physical strength, good vibration damping performance, low permeability, aging resistance, weather resistance, etc. However, it is hard to avoid BIIR fiber sticking together due to serious swelling or merging, resulting in few studies on BIIR electrospinning. In this work, brominated butyl rubber membrane (mat) with BIIR microfiber has been prepared by electrospinning.

Fluorescence-enhanced detection of hypochlorite based on in situ synthesis of functionalization-free carbon spheres.

Hypochlorite (ClO) exposure has been confirmed to be associated with many serious diseases. Although abundant organic molecule-based probes have demonstrated high sensitivity and selectivity for ClO response, they often suffer from limitations including tedious preparation steps, poor water solubility, and the use of toxic solvent. In this work, a novel fluorescent sensor based on carbon spheres (CS) synthesized by solvothermal method was presented for ClO detection.

Preparation of water-dispersed monolayer LDH nanosheets by SMA intercalation to hinder the restacking upon redispersion in water.

We present a novel method for preparing water-dispersed monolayer layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanosheets (m-LDH). By intercalating styrene-maleic anhydride copolymer (SMA) into LDH, we obtained m-LDH through a simple aging step that produced stable, translucent colloidal solutions. After drying, the resulting powder can be redispersed in water to recover the m-LDH monolayer structure.

Alloy Catalysts for Electrocatalytic CO Reduction.

CO conversion is an anticipated route to resolve the energy crisis and environmental pollution, in which electrocatalysis is one of the technologies closest to industrialization. Alloy catalysts are promising candidates for electrocatalysis, and the high tenability in electronic structures and surface physical and chemical properties allows alloy catalysts high catalytic activity and selectivity for electrocatalytic CO reduction. Herein, the recent advances in alloy catalysts for electrocatalytic CO reduction have been systematically summarized, with insight into the structure of the active center, catalytic performance, and mechanism, to uncover the key to their high catalytic performance.

Utilizing Cationic Vacancies and Spontaneous Polarization on Cathode to Enhance Zinc-Ion Storage and Inhibit Dendrite Growth in Zinc-Ion Batteries.

High energy density and intrinsic safety are the central pursuits in developing rechargeable Zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs). The capacity and stability of nickel cobalt oxide (NCO) cathode are unsatisfactory because of its semiconductor character. Herein, we propose a built-in electric field (BEF) approach by synergizing cationic vacancies and ferroelectric spontaneous polarization on cathode side to facilitate electron adsorption and suppress zinc dendrite growth on the anode side.

A Lead-Free 0D/2D CsBiBr/BiWO S-Scheme Heterojunction for Efficient Photoreduction of CO.

Photocatalytic reduction of CO into valuable hydrocarbon fuels is one of the green ways to solve the energy problem and achieve carbon neutrality. Exploring photocatalyst with low toxicity and high-efficiency is the key to realize it. Here we report a lead-free halide perovskite-based 0D/2D CsBiBr/BiWO (CBB/BWO) S-scheme heterojunction for CO photoreduction, prepared by a facile electrostatic self-assembly approach.

Application of SERS in In-Vitro Biomedical Detection.

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), as a rapid and nondestructive biological detection method, holds great promise for clinical on spot and early diagnosis. In order to address the challenging demands of on spot detection of biomedical samples, a variety of strategies has been developed. These strategies include substrate structural and component engineering, data processing techniques, as well as combination with other analytical methods.

Highly selective and sensitive determination of ceftriaxone sodium using nitrogen-rich carbon dots based on ratiometric fluorescence.

Selective and sensitive determination of ceftriaxone sodium (CTR) trace residues is of great importance for food safety and environmental protection. Herein, a determination method based on ratiometric fluorescence and colorimetric method with nitrogen-rich carbon dots as fluorophore is reported. The functional surfaces of indole-derived carbon dots (I-CDs) containing nitrogen and carbon groups can be selectively bound to CTR by electrostatic forces, leading to a hindered conjugation system and deprotonation of the amine on the pyrrole ring, resulting in a distinct variety in fluorescence and absorption wavelength and intensity.

Removal of rhodamine 6G with different types of clay minerals.

With an increased use of color dye in textile industries and elevated fabrics output, more scientific studies and technology developments are needed to effectively treat wastewater containing dyes. However, better understanding of the interactions between dyes and suspended solids is a necessity to advance such developments. In this study the interactions between rhodamine 6G (R6G), a cationic dye, and different types of clays minerals, commonly found in the wastewater sludge, were elucidated.