Role of OH Intermediates during the Au Oxide Electro-Reduction at Low pH Elucidated by Electrochemical Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy and Implicit Solvent Density Functional Theory
A team led by Hans-Jürgen Butt at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research has discovered that altering the thickness of nano-scale polymer layers, even within a range of 10 nm, can significantly influence drop motions. They found a 'magic thickness' of 5 nm for polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) which results in the lowest interfacial friction…
When water droplets move over a hydrophobic surface, they and the surface become oppositely charged by what is known as slide electrification. This effect can be used to generate electricity, but the physical and especially the chemical processes that cause droplet charging are still poorly understood. Here, we investigate the influence of the…
The generation of persistent, stable free radicals is a key feature of eumelanin physiochemistry. Scientists carried out EPR and IR to study the comproportionation reaction of eumelanin. The investigation of the formation of eumelanin radicals in the complex, dynamic and inhomogeneous environment of living cells has not yet been achieved, due to…
Nanographenes, synthesized with biocompatibility and functionalization groups, hold great promise as fluorophores for optical super-resolution microscopy. Such molecules exhibit excellent photo-blinking properties across diverse environments, including air, phosphate-buffered saline, and acidic or basic conditions. In our study, we demonstrated…
We present a relatively simple aqueous proton-based memristive device based on a calcium fluoride (CaF2)-supported monolayer graphene in contact with bulk water. The device design is enabled by molecular-level insights into the memristive ion/water dynamics and the corresponding synaptic phenomena in this aqueous memristive device. The memristive behavior arises from the fast proton transfer across the graphene and the relatively slow diffusion process of protons. Despite the device's simplicity, this aqueous device exhibits long-term and tunable memory (from 60 seconds to 6000 seconds) and promising potential for large-scale integration and multiplication.
Artificial organelles made of dipeptide coacervates enable bioorthogonal catalysis inside cells. These coacervates provide a stable, biocompatible, and hydrophobic microenvironment that effectively encapsulates and enhances the efficiency of transition metal-based catalysts in aqueous environments. When incorporated into cells, they function as…
Photocatalytic nanoparticles are presented that are active and well-dispersed under acidic conditions but aggregate instantly upon elevation of pH. These responsive photocatalytic polymers can be used in various photocatalytic transformations, including CrVI reduction and photoredox alkylation of an indole derivative. The particles could be…
A consortium of scientists led by University of Mons and MPI for Polymer Research have studied the temperature dependent hole mobility of two structurally similar organic semiconductors: DNTT, and its alkylated derivative, C8-DNTT-C8. They demonstrated that the charge delocalization – directly linked to charge mobility - is larger in C8-DNTT-C8…
A delicate balance between preferential interaction, hydrogen bonding and dipole-dipole interactions determines polyalanine α-helix (un)folding in aqueous urea. This study clarifies and reconciles existing literature and highlights an operational understanding of polypeptide interactions in binary solutions, which is critical for designing…
Finding potential organic alternatives to traditional silicon-based semiconductors has been a long-standing goal in the field of organic chemistry. A work recently published in ‘Nature Materials’ reports highly conjugated two-dimensional conjugated polymers with exceptionally high short-range charge mobility of approaching cm2V-1s-1 at room…
A study on van der Waals heterostructures unveils that the photoinduced processes at the interface between the different materials can be modified by electrically controlling the occupancy of the interfacial defects. The findings are just published in Nano Letters.
Living organisms compartmentalize their catalytic reactions in membranes for increased efficiency and selectivity. Here we developed a mild approach for in situ encapsulating enzymes in aqueous-core silica nanoreactors that can mimic the basic structure and reactions of organelles in the eukaryotic cells.
