Electrostatic-Gated Kinetics of Rapid Ion Transfers at a Nano-liquid/Liquid Interface.

Charge (ion and electron)-transfer reactions at a liquid/liquid interface are critical processes in many important biological and chemical systems. An ion-transfer (IT) process is usually very fast, making it difficult to accurately measure its kinetic parameters. Nano-liquid/liquid interfaces supported at nanopipettes are advantageous approaches to study the kinetics of such ultrafast IT processes due to their high mass transport rate. However, correct measurements of IT kinetic parameters at nanointerfaces supported at nanopipettes are inhibited by a lack of knowledge of the nanometer-sized interface geometry, influence of the electric double layer, wall charge polarity, etc. Herein, we propose a new electrochemical characterization equation for nanopipettes and make a suggestion on the shape of a nano-water/1,2-dichloroethane (nano-W/DCE) interface based on the characterization and calculation results. A theoretical model based on the Poisson-Nernst-Planck equation was applied to systematically study how the electric double layer influences the IT process of cations (TMA+, TEA+, TPrA+, ACh+) and anions (ClO4-, SCN-, PF6-, BF4-) at the nano-W/DCE interface. The relationships between the wall charge conditions and distribution of concentration and potential inside the nanopipette revealed that the measured standard rate constant (k0) was enhanced when the polarity of the ionic species was opposite to the pipette wall charge and reduced when the same. This work lays the right foundation to obtain the kinetics at the nano-liquid/liquid interfaces.

Detection of Trace Water Based on Electro-oxidation of Molybdenum Disulfide Nanomaterials to Form Molybdenum Oxysulfide.

Molybdenum disulfide nanomaterials nowadays are very popular in electrocatalysis field due to their outstanding catalytic performance toward many electrochemical reactions. However, the electrochemical oxidation reaction of molybdenum disulfide nanomaterials in the range of positive potential has not been studied thoroughly. Herein, we have investigated electro-oxidation of molybdenum disulfide nanomaterials and put forward a new reaction mechanism: molybdenum disulfide nanomaterials are electro-oxidized with water to form molybdenum oxysulfide (MoOS2) and hydrogen ions, leading to the release of hydrogen on the counter electrode. Various characterization methods such as contact angle measurement, scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM) with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), and gas chromatography (GC) were applied to attest the doping of oxygen and the generation of hydrogen. Based on this reaction, we constructed a novel ultrasensitive electrochemical sensor for detecting trace water with the minimum detectable content of 0.0010% (v/v) in various organic solvents and ionic liquids, which is comparable to the Karl Fischer titration, but with much simpler reagent.

Detection of Phosphate in Human Blood Based on a Catalytic Hydrogen Wave at a Molybdenum Phosphide Modified Electrode.

Detection of inorganic phosphate is very important in environmental and health care applications. In this work, we found that phenomenon similar to "catalytic hydrogen wave" occurred on a molybdenum phosphide (MoP) modified electrode in the presence of phosphate, that is, a new wave of catalytic hydrogen evolution appeared before the normal hydrogen evolution reaction. The catalytic hydrogen wave arose from a structure similar to phosphomolybdic acid (noted as MoPO), which was formed by the interaction between phosphate and molybdenum oxides on the surface of the MoP modified electrode, resulting in the altered surface structure and adjusted interface catalytic activity. A novel phosphate electrochemical sensor was constructed based on this phenomenon with a linear range from 0.10 to 20.0 mmol·L-1, an actually determined minimum concentration of 0.030 mmol·L-1, and recoveries of 94%-107%, and this sensor was successfully applied to the detection of phosphate in human blood. Furthermore, this work proposes a new sensing method based on catalytic hydrogen waves on the modified electrodes.

Amine-Ligated Approach for the Synthesis of Extra-Large-Pore Zinc Phosphites with qtz-h and bnn Topologies.

Presented here are two open-framework zinc phosphites, namely, Zn(dabco)0.5(HPO3) (SCU-18) and Zn4(Hdabco)2(CH3COO)2(HPO3)4 (SCU-20), where dabco = 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane. SCU-18 features a rare 3-connected inorganic skeleton with a chiral qtz-h topology. It contains 18-membered-ring (18 MR) channels displaying porosity and second-harmonic-generation response. SCU-20 has a bnn topology containing large 20 MR channels that shows a strong blue emission as a result of excitation at 375 nm.

Solvent-free synthesis of new metal phosphate-oxalates: influence of different metal ions on the framework structures.

A series of new metal phosphate-oxalates were synthesized under solvent-free conditions. These compounds display interesting open-framework structures with mmt, ins, fsd, and hcb topologies, respectively. The extra-large 20-ring channel, nanobelt-like inorganic skeleton, and the use of cadmium ions as framework cations are unprecedented in metal phosphate-oxalate structures.