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Sunlight-driven photocatalytic dinitrogen (N

Au nanoparticles loaded on semiconductor TiO2 absorb visible light due to their surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and inject the photogenerated hot electrons (ehot-) into the conduction band of TiO2. The separated charges promote oxidation and reduction reactions. The step that determines the rate of the plasmonic photocatalysis on the Au/TiO2 system is the ehot- injection through the Schottky barrier created at the Au-TiO2 interface. In the present work, niobium (Nb5+) oxide species were doped at the Au-TiO2 interface by loading Nb5+ onto the TiO2 surface followed by deposition of Au particles (2 wt % of TiO2). Visible light irradiation of the Au/Nb5+/TiO2 catalysts promotes aerobic oxidation of alcohols with much higher efficiency than that of undoped Au/TiO2. Lewis acidity of the Nb5+ species located at the interface cancels the negative charges of Au and creates a barrier with a narrower depletion layer, promoting tunneling ehot- injection. Efficiency of the ehot- injection depends on the amount of Nb5+ doped. Loading small amounts of Nb5+ (∼0.1 wt % of TiO2) creates mononuclear NbO4 species and shows large activity enhancement. In contrast, loading larger amounts of Nb5+ creates aggregated polynuclear Nb2O5 species. They decrease the electron density of Au particles and weaken their SPR absorption. This suppresses the ehot- generation on the Au particles and decreases the activity of plasmonic photocatalysis.

The local viscosity of Pluronic F127 triblock copolymer micelles in water was determined with cyanine dyes as fluorescent probes. These dyes show very weak fluorescence at a low temperature, but show enhanced fluorescence at a temperature higher than the critical micellization temperature (T(cm)). This is because a viscous environment within the micelle suppresses the formation of a nonradiative twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) excited state of the dyes. The good correlation between the fluorescence quantum yields of the dyes and the viscosity and the temperature of the media allows a determination of local viscosity of micelle based on the fluorescence quantum yields. The local viscosity of both core and corona regions of micelles increases atT(cm) and shows a maximum at a temperature 7-9 °C higher than T(cm), and decreases at higher temperature due to the increased fluidity. The core viscosity is larger than that of the corona, and the corona viscosity increases toward the micelle center. The polymer concentration has different effects on the core and corona viscosity: the corona viscosity increases with a polymer concentration increase at the entire temperature range, whereas the core viscosity increases only at a low temperature. The corona viscosity increase is due to the condensation of a large number of polyethylene oxide (PEO) blocks. In contrast, the dehydration degree of polypropylene oxide (PPO) blocks in the core scarcely changes, and the core has a similar composition regardless of polymer concentration. The larger polymer concentration promotes a micelle formation at lower temperature where the fluidity increase is very weak, resulting in larger core viscosity.

Photocatalytic activity of microporous titanosilicate ETS-10 has been studied in water. The photoactivated ETS-10 shows catalytic activity driven by size and polarity of substrates. ETS-10 efficiently catalyzes a conversion of substrates with a size larger than the pore diameter of ETS-10. In contrast, the reactivity of small substrates depends strongly on substrate polarity; less polar substrates show higher reactivity on ETS-10. Electron spin resonance analysis reveals that large substrates or less polar substrates scarcely diffuse inside the highly polarized micropores of ETS-10 and, hence, react efficiently with hydroxyl radicals (*OH) formed on titanol (Ti-OH) groups exposed on the external surface of ETS-10. In contrast, small polar substrates diffuse easily inside the micropores of ETS-10 and scarcely react with *OH, resulting in low reactivity. The photocatalytic activity of ETS-10 is successfully applicable to selective transformations of large reactants or less polar reactants to small polar products, enabling highly selective dehalogenation and hydroxylation of aromatics.

A cross-linked poly- N-isopropylacrylamide (polyNIPAM) nanocapsule, TH@PC, containing thionine (TH), an organic photosensitizer, has been synthesized. This capsulated polymeric photosensitizer promotes a singlet oxygen oxygenation ( (1)O 2) accurately controlled by temperature: it shows high oxygenation activity at low temperature, but shows activity decrease with a rise in temperature, resulting in almost zero activity at40 degrees C. The clear on-off activity control is driven by a heat-induced structure change of the capsule from the swollen single capsule to contracted state, and then to aggregate, behaving as an intelligent (1)O 2 filter. At low temperature, the capsule exists as the swollen single capsule, which allows (1)O 2 diffusion to bulk water, resulting in high oxygenation activity. A rise in temperature leads to contraction of the capsule, reducing the mesh size of the capsule wall. This suppresses (1)O 2 diffusion to bulk water and shows decreased activity. Intercapsule aggregation at30 degrees C further suppresses (1)O 2 diffusion and shows almost no activity. The capsule promotes reversible activity control regardless of the heating/cooling process and can be reused with a simple recovery process.

A simple-structured copolymer, poly(NIPAM-co-HC), consisting of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) and 4-(4-dimethylaminostyryl)pyridine (hemicyanine, HC) units as thermoresponsive and fluorescent signaling parts, respectively, has been synthesized. This copolymer dissolved in water shows very weak fluorescence at25 degrees C, while showing fluorescence enhancement at25 degrees C. The fluorescence intensity increases with a rise in temperature and saturates at40 degrees C, enabling temperature detection at 25-40 degrees C. The fluorescence enhancement is driven by a heat-induced phase transition of the polymer from coil to globule state. The HC units within the coil state polymer exist as the nonfluorescent benzenoid form; however, the less polar domain formed inside the globule state polymer leads to transformation of the HC unit to the fluorescent quinoid form, resulting in heat-induced fluorescence enhancement. The fluorescence intensity measured at 40 degrees C is20-fold higher than the intensity at25 degrees C, which is the highest enhancement value among the fluorescent thermometers proposed so far. The polymer shows reversible fluorescence enhancement/quenching, regardless of the heating/cooling process. In addition, the polymer shows high reusability with a simple recovery process.

Calcium phosphate fine particles were prepared by using an emulsion liquid membrane (ELM, water-in-oil-in-water (W/O/W) emulsion) system, consisting of Span 83 (sorbitan sesquioleate) as surfactant and VA-10 (2-methyl-2-ethyl heptanoic acid) as extractant (cation carrier). Calcium ions were extracted from the external water phase and stripped into an internal water phase containing phosphate anions, to form calcium phosphate particles. The submicrometer-sized spherical calcium phosphate particles obtained were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrophotometry and thermal analysis (TG-DTA). The characterization revealed that the fine particles obtained were calcium-deficient apatite in combination with various other calcium phosphate species. Decomposition from hydroxyapatite to β-TCP (whitlokite) occurred at 973 K, and thermal treatment above 1073 K produced a β-TCP and CaO composite. The freeze−thaw demulsification met...

Acicular ferrite fine particles (CoFe2O4 and NiFe2O4) were prepared by using an emulsion liquid membrane (ELM, water-in-oil-in-water (W/O/W) emulsion) system, consisting of Span 83 (sorbitan sesqui...

A double water-in-oil-in-water emulsion system was used as a biomimetic environment for the preparation of calcium carbonate particles. Calcium ions were extracted from an external aqueous phase (calcium nitrate solution) into the organic membrane phase (kerosene containing Span 83 as a surfactant and bis(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid as an extractant) and stripped into the internal aqueous phase (sodium carbonate solution), where the precipitation of calcium carbonate occurred. In this pseudovesicular system it has been found that both the physical and polymorphic forms of the particles could be controlled by change of pH and method of demulsification such that either calcite or vaterite appeared as single crystals or heirarcically ordered aggregates.