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Molecular imprinting is an advanced technology in the fabrication of novel chemical sensors recently applied, enabling rapid responses and highly selective binding to specific molecules, thereby enabling efficient detection of material constituents. In this study, a new molecularly imprinted electrochemical sensor (MIES) utilizing ferrocene‐functionalized carbon‐nanotubes (Fc‐CNTs) was developed for the determination of tryptophan (Trp). The formation of molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) involves polymerization in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) using Trp, methacrylic acid (MAA) and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as the template molecules, functional monomers, and cross‐linking agents, respectively. Due to the modification of MIPs, the sensor achieves high performance. The sensor demonstrates a linear range from 1 to 45 μM and from 45 to 330 μM, with the limit of detection of 0.44 μM, exceeding that of the majority of sensors reported in the literature. Furthermore, the sensor can effectively detect Trp in real samples, including human serum and amino acid oral liquid. The recovery rate of Trp in human serum samples is 94.2 % to 105.30 %, and in amino acid oral liquid is 94.3 % to 101.68 %. This study provides a promising approach for the effective detection and analysis of tryptophan constituents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Platinum-based catalysts exhibit outstanding electrocatalytic performance in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, platinum-based catalysts face significant challenges due to their rarity and high cost. This paper endeavors to shed light on a promising alternative: polyoxometalate (POM)-based catalysts, which possess significant potential for the synthesis of non-noble metal-based catalysts for the HER. Utilizing POMs as raw materials to assemble POM-derived materials, including POM-derived crystalline materials, metal sulfides, phosphides, carbides, nitrides, and so on, has emerged as an effective approach for the synthesis of hydrogen evolution electrocatalysts. This approach offers advantages in both stability and electrocatalytic performance. This comprehensive review navigates through latest progress in the assembly strategy and HER performance of POM-based crystal materials, alongside discussion on transition metal compounds derived from POMs, such as carbides, phosphides, and sulfides. Besides, future developments in POM-derived electrocatalyst regulation of the electrochemical HER are prospected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

J‐aggregation and H‐aggregation are identified as two classical models of functionally oriented non‐covalent interactions, and significant attention has been drawn by researchers. However, due to the scarcity of single‐crystal examples of H‐aggregation, a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between its stacking mode and optical behaviour has been hindered. In recent studies, two polyaromatic Schiff base compounds, Cl‐Salmphen and H‐Salmphen, were successfully synthesized, and both were found to exhibit H‐aggregation. In the findings, H‐Salmphen was shown to display typical C─H···π interactions, characteristic of Aggregation‐Induced Emission (AIE) active molecules, whereas its halogenated counterpart was identified as behaving similar to Aggregation‐Caused Quenching (ACQ) active molecules. These types of results suggest that identical intermolecular interactions can produce differing optical behaviours. Light was shed, at least in part, on the formation mechanisms of H‐type aggregates and their luminescence properties from these observations. Additionally, the high optical signal‐to‐noise ratio inherent to H‐aggregates was utilized for the exploration of water content detection. As an outcome, a high‐performance fluorescent filter paper was developed, enabling easy real‐time detection using a smartphone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photocatalytic hydrogen (H2) evolution can effectively solve the global energy problem, in which the key factor is the synthesis of efficient photocatalytic materials. In this study, we successfully synthesized a novel photocatalyst, BiWCo/CuS/PGCN, by functionalizing porous graphitic carbon nitride (PGCN) with sandwich-type polyoxometalate Na3.5Co4[Bi2Co2W19.75O70(H2O)6]·39.5H2O (BiWCo) and introducing copper sulfide (CuS) nanoparticles as a cocatalyst. This approach was aimed at enhancing the built inner electric field between interfaces, resulting in a significant improvement in photocatalytic H2 evolution performance. This research adopts a step-by-step method to synthesize BiWCo/CuS/PGCN composites with p–n heterojunctions, which has high visible light absorption and a synergistic effect of multiple elements. PGCN with a high specific surface area contributes to the uniform distribution of active sites. In addition, the nano-CuS cocatalyst provides abundant active sites and more electron transfer pathways for photocatalysis. Therefore, the H2 production efficiency of BiWCo/CuS/PGCN is 6.3 times that of PGCN, 4.5 times that of BiWCo and 2.5 times that of BiWCo/PGCN under visible light. The H2 production rate of BiWCo/CuS/PGCN reaches 3477.58 μmol g−1 h−1. At the same time, the ternary photocatalyst shows high stability after 30 hours and 5 cycles. This work demonstrates that BiWCo/CuS/PGCN has good application prospects in H2 evolution, and provides a new strategy for the design of efficient ternary photocatalytic materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]