Building Co16-N3-Based UiO-MOF to Expand Design Parameters for MOF Photosensitization.

The construction of secondary building units (SBUs) in versatile metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) represents a promising method for developing multi-functional materials, especially for improving their sensitizing ability. Herein, we developed a dual small molecules auxiliary strategy to construct a high-nuclear transition-metal-based UiO-architecture Co16-MOF-BDC with visible-light-absorbing capacity. Remarkably, the N3 - molecule in hexadecameric cobalt azide SBU offers novel modification sites to precise bonding of strong visible-light-absorbing chromophores via click reaction. The resulting Bodipy@Co16-MOF-BDC exhibits extremely high performance for oxidative coupling benzylamine (~100 % yield) via both energy and electron transfer processes, which is much superior to that of Co16-MOF-BDC (31.5 %) and Carboxyl @Co16-MOF-BDC (37.5 %). Systematic investigations reveal that the advantages of Bodipy@Co16-MOF-BDC in dual light-absorbing channels, robust bonding between Bodipy/Co16 clusters and efficient electron-hole separation can greatly boost photosynthesis. This work provides an ideal molecular platform for synergy between photosensitizing MOFs and chromophores by constructing high-nuclear transition-metal-based SBUs with surface-modifiable small molecules.

Water-Mediated Selectivity Control of CH3 OH versus CO/CH4 in CO2 Photoreduction on Single-Atom Implanted Nanotube Arrays.

Controllable methanol production in artificial photosynthesis is highly desirable due to its high energy density and ease of storage. Herein, single atom Fe is implanted into TiO2 /SrTiO3 (TSr) nanotube arrays by two-step anodization and Sr-induced crystallization. The resulting Fe-TSr with both single Fe reduction centers and dominant oxidation facets (001) contributes to efficient CO2 photoreduction and water oxidation for controlled production of CH3 OH and CO/CH4 . The methanol yield can reach to 154.20 µmol gcat -1 h-1 with 98.90% selectivity by immersing all the catalyst in pure water, and the yield of CO/CH4 is 147.48 µmol gcat -1 h-1 with >99.99% selectivity when the catalyst completely outside water. This CH3 OH yield is 50 and 3 times higher than that of TiO2 and TSr and stands among all the state-of-the-art catalysts. The facile gas-solid and gas-liquid-solid phase switch can selectively control CH3 OH production from ≈0% (above H2 O) to 98.90% (in H2 O) via slowly immersing the catalyst into water, where abundant •OH and H2 O around Fe sites play important role in selective CH3 OH production. This work highlights a new insight for water-mediated CO2 photoreduction to controllably produce CH3 OH.

Graphene Oxide-Mediated Synthesis of Ultrathin Co-MOL for CO2 Photoreduction.

Metal-organic framework (MOF) materials have broad application prospects in catalysis because of their ordered structure and molecular adjustability. However, the large volume of bulky MOF usually leads to insufficient exposure of the active sites and the obstruction of charge/mass transfer, which greatly limits their catalytic performance. Herein, we developed a simple graphene oxide (GO) template method to fabricate ultrathin Co-metal-organic layer (2.0 nm) on reduced GO (Co-MOL@r-GO). The as-synthesized hybrid material Co-MOL@r-GO-2 exhibits highly efficient photocatalytic performance for CO2 reduction, and the CO yield can reach as high as 25,442 µmol/gCo-MOL, which is over 20 times higher than that of the bulky Co-MOF. Systematic investigations demonstrate that GO can act as a template for the synthesis of the ultrathin Co-MOL with more active sites and can be used as the electron transport medium between the photosensitizer and the Co-MOL to enhance the catalytic activity for CO2 photoreduction.

W Single-Atom Catalyst for CH4 Photooxidation in Water Vapor.

Solar-driven high-efficiency and direct conversion of methane into high-value-added liquid oxygenates against overoxidation remains a great challenge. Herein, facile and mass fabrication of low-cost tungsten single-atom photocatalysts is achieved by directly calcining urea and sodium tungstate under atmosphere (W-SA-PCN-m, urea amount m = 7.5, 15, 30, and 150 g). The single-atom photocatalysts can manage H2 O2 in situ generation and decomposition into ·OH, thus achieving highly efficient CH4 photooxidation in water vapor under mild conditions. Systematic investigations demonstrate that integration of multifunctions of methane activation, H2 O2 generation, and decomposition into one photocatalyst can dramatically promote methane conversion to C1 oxygenates with a yield as high as 4956 µmol gcat -1 , superior to that of the most reported non-precious photocatalysts. Liquid-solid phase transition can induce the products to facilely switch in from HCOOH to CH3 OH by pulling the catalyst above water with CH3 OH/HCOOH ratio from 10% (in H2 O) to 80% (above H2 O).

Modeling of drug release from biodegradable triple-layered microparticles.

Numerous models that predict drug release from nonerodible reservoir-membrane sphere systems have been presented. Most of these models cater only to a phase of drug release from a constant reservoir. All these models, however, are not applicable to drug release from biodegradable triple-layered microparticle system, in which the drug-loaded core (reservoir) is surrounded by nondrug holding outer layers (membrane). In this article, a mathematical model was developed for ibuprofen release from degradable triple-layered microparticles made of poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide, 50:50) (PLGA), poly(L-lactide) (PLLA), and poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate, 40 wt % vinyl acetate) (EVA), where ibuprofen was localized within the nonconstant reservoir (EVA core). The model postulated that the drug release through the bulk-degrading PLLA and PLGA layers consisted of two mechanisms: simple diffusional release followed by a degradation-controlled release through a rate-limiting membrane. The proposed model showed very good match with the experimental data of release from microparticles of various layer thicknesses and particle sizes. The underlying drug release mechanisms are dictated by three parameters determined by the model, including constant characteristic of diffusion, end time point of simple diffusion-controlled release and partition coefficient of drug. The presented model is effective for understanding the drug release mechanisms and for the design of this type of dosage form.

Structure, interfacial properties, and dynamics of the sodium alkyl sulfate type surfactant monolayer at the water/trichloroethylene interface: a molecular dynamics simulation study.

In this work, we perform a series of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations on the category of sodium alkyl sulfate (SDS-type) surfactant monolayers at the water/trichloroethylene (TCE) interface. Three separate tail-length SDS-type molecules are used. We investigate the conformation of surfactant chain (i.e., packing, orientation, and order), interfacial properties (i.e., interfacial thickness, interfacial tension, area compressibility, and bending modulus), their dependence on the chain length, and the average area per surfactant chain. We also examine the behavior of the surfactant monolayer in the metastable regime of negative surface tension with reference to collapse. The simulation has clearly shown that the very dilute monolayer is well described as a two-dimensional gas. With the increase of interfacial surfactant coverage, the monolayer is in the liquid-expanded (LE) phase. The surfactant tails at the interface become straighter, more ordered, and thicker at higher surfactant coverage. At the same time, interfacial tension of long-tail systems is always lower than that of short-tail systems. In the LE phase, the area compressibility modulus and the bending modulus increase with an increase in tail length. With a further decrease in molecular areas, the monolayer with large negative surface tension becomes unstable. Our simulations show that buckling of the monolayers is of dynamic nature as a response to mechanical instability. The further transformation pathway from buckling to bud can be controlled by the bending modulus, which depends crucially on the tail length and interfacial surfactant coverage. At a given area per molecule, the short tail chain makes the monolayer softer, and the budding process becomes more probable. For the supersaturated softer SDS monolayer, the collapse transition is initiated by the buckling of monolayers, followed primarily by budding and detachment of the nanoscale swollen micelle from the monolayer. Despite a number of extensive studies of monolayer collapse at the air/water interface, to our knowledge the conversion of surfactants from the liquid-liquid interface to swollen micellar aggregates as described here has not been reported in the literature.