Fe-based single-atom catalysis for oxidizing contaminants of emerging concern by activating peroxide
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Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Zhou, Zhe.
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Natural organic matter (NOM) is known to affect the microbial reduction and transformation of ferrihydrite, but its implication toward cadmium (Cd) associated with ferrihydrite is not well-known. In this work, we investigated how Cd is redistributed when ferrihydrite undergoes microbial reduction in the presence of NOM. Incubation with Geobacter sulfurreducens showed that both the rate and the extent of reduction of Cd-loaded ferrihydrite were enhanced by increasing concentrations of NOM (i.e., C/Fe ratio). Furthermore, without NOM, only 3–4% of Fe(III) was reduced, but around 61% of preadsorbed Cd was released into solution due to ferrihydrite transformation to lepidocrocite. At high C/Fe ratio (1.6), more than 35% of Fe(III) was reduced, as NOM can facilitate bioreduction by working as an electron shuttle and decreased aggregate size, but only a negligible amount of Cd was released into solution, thus decreasing Cd toxicity and prolonging microbial Fe(III) reduction. No ferrihydrite transformation was observed at high C/Fe ratios using Mössbauer spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction, and X-ray absorption spectroscopy indicated the proportion of Cd-OM bond increased after microbial reduction. This study shows that the presence of NOM leads to less mobilization of Cd under reducing condition possibly by inhibiting ferrihydrite transformation and recapturing Cd through Cd-OM bond.
Spin and valley degrees of freedom in materials without inversion symmetry promise previously unknown device functionalities, such as spin-valleytronics. Control of material symmetry with electric fields (ferroelectricity), while breaking additional symmetries, including mirror symmetry, could yield phenomena where chirality, spin, valley, and crystal potential are strongly coupled. Here we report the synthesis of a halide perovskite semiconductor that is simultaneously photoferroelectricity switchable and chiral. Spectroscopic and structural analysis, and first-principles calculations, determine the material to be a previously unknown low-dimensional hybrid perovskite (R)-(-)-1-cyclohexylethylammonium/(S)-(+)-1 cyclohexylethylammonium) PbI 3 . Optical and electrical measurements characterize its semiconducting, ferroelectric, switchable pyroelectricity and switchable photoferroelectric properties. Temperature dependent structural, dielectric and transport measurements reveal a ferroelectric-paraelectric phase transition. Circular dichroism spectroscopy confirms its chirality. The development of a material with such a combination of these properties will facilitate the exploration of phenomena such as electric field and chiral enantiomer–dependent Rashba-Dresselhaus splitting and circular photogalvanic effects
In this study, we examined the potential for perylene dye doped nanoparticles to enhance Light Emitting Diodes (LED) efficacy by minimizing π–π intermolecular aggregation, and enhancing photoluminescence and photostability of the dye molecules in the solid state. Towards this end, we encapsulated perylene dyes, suitably modified with a reactive silica precursor, into silica nanoparticles within a silica-dye-silica concentric layered shell. We found that the fluorescent yield was higher when the dye was embedded in a buried concentric shell within the silica nanoparticles (NPs) compared to an undoped shell/dye doped core nanoparticle morphology or unencapsulated dye with the same net dye concentration in solution. A strong dependence of relative quantum yield on dye doping concentration in the silica-dye-silica nanoparticles was observed. The uniform ~ 100 nm large silica-dye-silica layered nanoparticles were used to prepare transparent dye doped silica nanoparticle/silicone nanocomposites. Dye doped silica nanoparticle/silicone nanocomposites exhibited higher photostability than the unencapsulated dye samples during long time aging tests under a blue LED with a wavelength of 455 nm at 300 ± 3% mA for 24 h. Novel dye doped layered silica NPs and their nanocomposites offer scope for developing organic luminescent materials into efficient and color-tunable light emitters for low-cost display, lighting, and optical communication applications.