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X-ray imaging and computed tomography (CT) technology, as the important non-destructive measurements, can observe internal structures without destroying the detected sample, which are always used in biological diagnosis to detect tumors, pathologies, and bone damages. It is always a challenge to find materials with a low detection limit, a short exposure time, and high resolution to reduce X-ray damage and acquire high-contrast images. Here, we described a low-cost and high-efficient method to prepare centimeter-sized anthracene crystals, which exhibited intense X-ray radioluminescence with a detection limit of ∼0.108 μGy s

The organization of the self-assembled monolayer (SAM) determines its electronic structure and so governs the charge transport process and device performance when adopted into a molecular device. We report a systematic study on the supramolecular structure and rectification performance of the ferrocene (11-ferrocenyl-1-undecanethiol, FUT) based SAM modulated by mixed SAM with inert 1-undecanethiol (C

Small-molecule organic single crystals (SCs) with an inherent in-plane anisotropic nature enable direct linearly polarized light emission without the need for spatially separated polarizer and complex optical structures. However, the device performance is severely restricted by the starvation of appropriate SC emitters and the difficulty in the construction of efficient SC electroluminescence (EL) devices, leading to a low external quantum efficiency (EQE) of usually smaller than 1.5%. Here, we demonstrate highly efficient inherent linearly polarized light-emitting diodes (LP-LEDs) by exploiting 2,6-diphenylanthracene (DPA) SCs as intrinsically polarized emitters. The LP-LEDs exhibit a 2.5-fold enhanced maximum EQE of 3.38%, which approaches the theoretical limit for the DPA SC-based EL device and is the highest among organic SC-based light-emitting diodes reported thus far. More importantly, a high degree of polarization (DOP) up to 0.74 is achieved for the intrinsically polarized EL emission of the DPA SC-based LP-LEDs. By leveraging the highly efficient LP-LED, we demonstrate for the first time an inter-chip polarized optical communication system consisting of organic SCs. This work creates a solid foundation for the exploitation of a vast new library of small-molecule organic SCs for LP-LEDs and carries broad implications for polarized optics and relevant optoelectronic devices. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Using earth abundant elements to develop oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts presents one of the most promising strategies to generate clean and renewable energy systems to deal with the ever-growing energy crisis. The challenge comes as how to rationally design the chemical composition and nanostructure to increase the OER efficiency. In this work, we demonstrated an operational ion strategy to improve OER performances of iron cobalt bimetallic phosphide (Fe

Li-S batteries have been regarded as one of the most promising alternatives of the next-generation Li batteries. However, the dissolution and shuttling of lithium polysulfides lead to low cycle stability and low Coulombic efficiency, which intensively hinder the practical application of Li-S batteries. Herein, we propose a strategy to simultaneously promote the redox kinetics and inhibit the shuttle of lithium polysulfides, through in situ synthesis of insoluble organopolysulfides by adding a special additive. Attractively, the thus-formed insoluble organopolysulfides in the form of nanoparticle aggregates are also capable of adsorbing unconverted lithium polysulfides and hence effectively spatially suppress the shuttle effect. Furthermore, the organopolysulfides served as active redox mediators, showing faster redox kinetics of S chemistry than that of lithium polysulfides. As a result, the Li-S batteries showed impressive capacity, improved rate performance, and long cycling stability even under lean-electrolyte and high sulfur loading conditions.

The increase of atmospheric CO2 concentration has caused many environmental issues. Electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) has been considered as a promising strategy to mitigate these challenges. The electrocatalysts with a low overpotential, high Faradaic efficiency, and excellent selectivity are of great significance for the CO2RR. Carbon-based materials including metal-free carbon catalysts and metal-based carbon catalysts have shown great potential in the CO2RR, owing to the tailorable porous structures, abundant natural resources, resistance to acids and bases, high-temperature stability, and environmental friendliness. In this review, various carbon materials including graphene, carbon nanotubes, quantum dots, porous carbon, and MOF-derived catalysts, etc., for the CO2RR have been summarized. Particularly, recent progress in terms of the mechanism and pathway of CO2 conversion has been comprehensively reviewed. Finally, the opportunities and challenges of carbon-based electrocatalysts for the CO2RR are proposed.

A conductive MOF, named Bi-based catecholate BiHHTP, exhibited excellent catalytic performance towards CO2 electroreduction.

Intrinsically stretchable bioelectronic devices based on soft and conducting organic materials have been regarded as the ideal interface for seamless and biocompatible integration with the human body. A remaining challenge is to combine high mechanical robustness with good electrical conduction, especially when patterned at small feature sizes. We develop a molecular engineering strategy based on a topological supramolecular network, which allows for the decoupling of competing effects from multiple molecular building blocks to meet complex requirements. We obtained simultaneously high conductivity and crack-onset strain in a physiological environment, with direct photopatternability down to the cellular scale. We further collected stable electromyography signals on soft and malleable octopus and performed localized neuromodulation down to single-nucleus precision for controlling organ-specific activities through the delicate brainstem.

In October 2021, an India-based pharmaceutical company withdrew a number of batches of irbesartan and irbesartan hydrochlorothiazide finished products from the US market, due to the presence of unacceptable level of the “probably carcinogenic” nitrosamine “N-nitrosoirbesartan”. Nevertheless, there is no revealing of the exact structure of this so called “N-nitrosoirbesartan”. In the current study, we performed a set of 10 reactions of irbesartan with nitrous acid under various conditions and found no trace of this “N-nitrosoirbesartan” by a sensitive and accurate LC-MS method with limit of detection (LOD) of 30 ppb. With the use of LC-PDA/UV-high resolution MSn as well as 1D/2D NMR, the reaction products formed are found to be the two isomeric oxime derivatives of irbesartan, with the Z-isomer as the predominant product. Furthermore, no trace of this “N-nitrosoirbesartan” can be detected in representative commercial batches of irbesartan. Despite of the fact that in silico evaluation suggests that the two irbesartan oximes may be controlled as regular impurities, analysis of representative irbesartan commercial batches by the LC-MS method indicates that the oximes are not detected (LOD: 30 ppb).