Triazine-based multicomponent metallacages with tunable structures for SO_(2) selective capture and conversion

The design of novel materials for sulfur dioxide(SO_(2))capture and conversion with considerable efficiency under mild conditions is of great significance for human health and environmental protection yet highly challenging.Herein,we report a series of triazine-based multicomponent metallacages via coordination-driven self-assembly of 2,4,6-tri(4-pyridyl)-1,3,5-triazine,cis-Pt(PEt3)2(OTf)2 and different tetracarboxylic ligands.As the increase of the length of the tetracarboxylates,the structures of the metallacages change from pyramids to extended octahedrons.Owing to their N-rich structure,these metallacages are further used for selective SO_(2)capture,showing good adsorption capacity and remarkable SO_(2)/CO_(2)selectivity in ambient conditions,suggesting their potential applications toward real flue gas desulfurization.The metallacages are further employed for the conversion of SO_(2)into value-added compounds,showing exceptional efficiency even dilute SO_(2)is used as the reactant.This study represents a type of structure-tunable triazinebased metallacages for SO_(2)capture and conversion,which will pave the way on the applications of metal-organic complexes for gas adsorption.

Microwave-assisted Hydrothermal Synthesis of Carbon Materials with Tunable Microstructure

A facile microwave-assisted hydrothermal route has been developed for a synthesis of versatile carbon materials. The monosaccharide fructose aqueous solution was adopted as the starting material, and the p H of the solution was adjusted to be in acidic（pH 4）, neutral（pH 7） and basic（pH 10.5） conditions. The p H buffered fructose solutions were treated at different temperatures by a microwave-assisted hydrothermal technique. As-prepared carbon materials displayed p H and temperature dependent multi-morphologies（porous, spherical or core-shell）, which were determined by transmission and scanning electron microscopic analyses（TEM and SEM）. And the hypothesis of dehydration mechanism of hydrothermal synthesis was analyzed by ultraviolet extinction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. It was found that as compared with normal hydrothermal synthesis, microwave assistance could efficiently increase the production yield and improve the spherical geometry of the carbon particles in neutral condition. By changing the p H of the system, acidic p H induces aggregation of the spheres, while basic p H produces more trends toward core-shell or sponge-like porous structure. The study opens a novel route to the production of polytropic carbon materials and suggests a potential niche market established from the green synthesis.

Narrow and Dual-Band Tunable Absorption of a Composite Structure with a Graphene Metasurface

A tunable absorber, composed of a graphene ribbon on two layers of TiO2-Au between two slabs of dielectric material all on a metal substrate, is designed and numerically investigated. The absorption of the composite structure varies with the geometrical parameters of the structure and the physical parameters of graphene at mid-infrared frequencies. The numerical simulation shows that a near-perfect absorption with single and alum bands can be achieved in a certain frequency range. We also analyze the electric and surface current distributions to study the dual-band absorber. The results show that the absorber can be tuned by the chemical potential and electron phonon relaxation time of graphene, and electromagnetically induced transparency phenomenon can be obtained. The results of this study may be beneficial in the fields of infrared communication, perfect absorbers, sensors and filters.

Fibrous MXene Aerogels with Tunable Pore of Contaminated Seawater

The seawater desalination based on solardriven interfacial evaporation has emerged as a promising technique to alleviate the global crisis on freshwater shortage.However,achieving high desalination performance on actual,oil-contaminated seawater remains a critical challenge,because the transport channels and evaporation interfaces of the current solar evaporators are easily blocked by the oil slicks,resulting in undermined evaporation rate and conversion efficiency.Herein,we propose a facile strategy for fabricating a modularized solar evaporator based on flexible MXene aerogels with arbitrarily tunable,highly ordered cellular/lamellar pore structures for high-efficiency oil interception and desalination.The core design is the creation of 1D fibrous MXenes with sufficiently large aspect ratios,whose superior flexibility and plentiful link forms lay the basis for controllable 3D assembly into more complicated pore structures.The cellular pore structure is responsible for effective contaminants rejection due to the multi-sieving effect achieved by the omnipresent,isotropic wall apertures together with underwater superhydrophobicity,while the lamellar pore structure is favorable for rapid evaporation due to the presence of continuous,large-area evaporation channels.The modularized solar evaporator delivers the best evaporation rate(1.48 kg m-2h-1)and conversion efficiency(92.08%)among all MXene-based desalination materials on oil-contaminated seawater.

Biomimetic Photonic Structures with Tunable Structural Colours： From Natural to Biomimetic to Applications

Natural photonic structure with tunable structural colours is one of the most miraculous structures which always catches our eyes. However, the application of artificial photonic structures is limited. Moreover, because of the ability of tunable colours, photonic structure is the excellent candidate for many fields, such as sensor, bioassay, anti-counterfeiting, optical components, photocatalytic, fibers and fabrics. Considering the superior tunable optical property and other excellent performance such as robust mechanical strength, wettability, there are new domains and novel routes for this material that deserve us to explore. In this review, some natural photonic structures are discussed. Some novel fabrication methods and applications will be mentioned in this article. Furthermore, this review provides an insight and outlook for the photonic material with tunable eolours focusing on fabrication, design and applications.

Tunable electronic band structure,luminescence properties and thermostability of(Gd_(1-x)La_(x))_(2)Si_(2)O_(7):Ce scintillator by adjusting La/Gd ratio

Mixed crystal strategy is an effective approach of improving the luminescence properties of optical materials and has been adopted widely in many systems.In this paper,the La-mixed Gd_(2)Si_(2)O_(7):Ce polycrystalline samples were successfully synthesized by a sol-gel method.The crystal structure and luminescence properties were confirmed and discussed by XRD,UV-Vis luminescence spectra,and XEL,respectively.The vacuum ultraviolet excitation spectra and thermoluminescence glow curves were also systematically investigated and discussed at varied temperature.A combination of the first-principles calculations and optical characterization experiments was employed to study the electronic band structure of host material,revealing that the band gap is narrowed and the 5d_(1) level of Ce^(3+) shifts to higher energy as the La content increases.The luminescence the rmo-stability and activation energy were also measured and calculated.It indicates that thermo-stability is strongly dependent on the La concentration.An effective approach is developed to tune the electronic band structure,luminescence properties and thermostability of(Gd_(1-x)La_(x))_(2)Si_(2)O_(7):Ce scintillator by adjusting La/Gd ratio.

High-speed 3D imaging based on structured illumination and electrically tunable lens

In this Letter, we present a high-speed volumetric imaging system based on structured illumination and an electrically tunable lens（ETL）, where the ETL performs fast axial scanning at hundreds of Hz. In the system,a digital micro-mirror device（DMD） is utilized to rapidly generate structured images at the focal plane in synchronization with the axial scanning unit. The scanning characteristics of the ETL are investigated theoretically and experimentally. Imaging experiments on pollen samples are performed to verify the optical cross-sectioning and fast axial scanning capabilities. The results show that our system can perform fast axial scanning and threedimensional（3D） imaging when paired with a high-speed camera, presenting an economic solution for advanced biological imaging applications.

Electrically tunable generation of vectorial vortex beams with micro-patterned liquid crystal structures

We develop a new method for smooth and continuous space-variant alignment of the liquid crystal medium in micro-patterned structures, which is based on a radial micro-structured pattern of polymeric ribbons exhibiting out-of-plane orientation with respect to the ITO-coated glass plates. Thanks to the broad range of electrical tunability of the optical retardation for the micro-patterned liquid crystal structures, transformation of the fundamental Gaussian beam into different types of specific beams, including generalized cylindrical vector beams, vortex beams, and vectorial vortex beams, is efficiently demonstrated.

Optimized guided mode resonant structure as thermooptic sensor and liquid crystal tunable filter

Applicability of guided mode resonant structures to tunable optical filtering and sensing is demonstrated using nematic liquid crystals. As a sensor, a minimum refractive index detectivity of 10^-5 is demonstrated while as a tunable filter, tunability range of few tens of nanometers with 2-nm bandwidth is presented. The optimum design is achieved by maximizing the evanescent field region in the analyte which maximizes the overlap integral. The device can be operated in reflection or transmission modes at normal incidence. It can also be operated at a single wavelength by measuring the angular profile of the light beam.

Optimization of Waveguide Structure for Tunable Optical Switch in Si/SiGe System

A new electro-optical device using Si/SiGe-system with two parallel ridge waveguides is proposed for optical switching and the optimization of the structure for a single mode operation is investigated.

Multi-functional epoxides cross-linked collagen sponges for tissue engineering scaffolds

With the efficient cross-linking abilities and the flexible regulation abilities to the performances of cross-linked products,the multi-functional aliphatic epoxides were once widely used to cross-link the collagen-based materials in the last century.In present work,the multi-functional epoxides were used to construct and cross-link collagen sponges for tissue engineering scaffolds,which was hoped to board the theoretical system of epoxides and explore their potentials for modern applications.The bi-to tetra-functional epoxides were used to cross-link collagen solutions and establish the gel-like precursors,then using freeze-drying to form the final sponges.The SEM observed that the sponges had shown regular porous structures with a wide range of pore sizes from 160 to 440μm.The sponges had presented the resistance to enzymatic degradation,shape-remaining ability,and reversible compressibility in aqueous environments,which all could be regulated through the functionalities of epoxides.The regulation abilities of multi-functional epoxides on the performances of sponges had been mainly achieved through the cross-linking degrees that the higherfunctionality of epoxides would bring higher cross-linking degree.Such higher cross-linking degrees could enhance the elastic behaviors of gel-like precursors,and improve the compressive strengths and thermal stabilities of sponges.Nevertheless,the multi-functional epoxides had barely affected the safety of collagen sponges at the cellular level according to the results of CCK8 assay and the SEM and CLSM images of L929 fibroblasts cultured on the cross-sections of sponges.