Fuhua Zhang

Structural evolution from CuS nanoflowers to Cu9S5 nanosheets and their applications in environmental pollution removal and photothermal conversion

Three-dimensional (3D) CuS nanoflowers and 2D single crystalline Cu9S5 nanosheets with irregular hexagonal holes have been successfully synthesized by easily hydrothermally treating a solution of copper dichloride dihydrates and thiourea at 180 °C for several hours without any surfactants and morphology-controlling agents. Irregular hexagonal holes were widely distributed over the Cu9S5 nanosheets, which could efficiently enlarge the surface area. The UV-vis-NIR absorption spectroscopy showed an obvious increase of the near-IR absorbance. The influence of the reaction time, morphology, and crystal phase on the photocatalysis and photothermal conversion was discussed. The results revealed that CuS nanoflowers displayed the maximum removal value of rhodamine B of 67%. The Cu9S5 nanosheets obtained with the increase reaction time displayed an adsorption and photo-degradation decrease for RhB. The exposure of the aqueous dispersion of the Cu9S5 nanosheets prepared with 6 h (2.0 g L−1) under the irradiation of a 980 nm laser can increase its temperature by 25.1 °C in 600 s, exhibiting a good photothermal conversion performance. The photothermal efficacy increases with the samples obtained from 1 h to 18 h.

Highly efficient one-step synthesis of carbon encapsulated nanocrystals by the oxidation of metal pi-complexes

Various carbon encapsulated nanocrystals, including MnS and MnO, Cr2O3, MoO2, Fe7S8 and Fe3O4, and ZrO2, are prepared in one step and in situ by a simple and highly efficient synthesis approach. The nanocrystals have an equiaxed morphology and a median size smaller than 30 nm. Tens and hundreds of these nanocrystals are entirely encapsulated by a wormlike amorphous carbon shell. The formation of a core-shell structure depends on the strongly exothermic reaction of metal π-complexes with ammonium persulfate in an autoclave at below 200 °C. During the oxidation process, the generated significant amounts of heat will destroy the molecular structure of the metal π-complex and cleave the ligands into small carbon fragments, which further transform into an amorphous carbon shell. The central metal atoms are oxidized to metal oxide/sulfide nanocrystals. The formation of a core-shell structure is independent of the numbers of ligands and carbon atoms as well as the metal types, implying that any metal π-complex can serve as a precursor and that various carbon encapsulated nanocrystals can be synthesized by this method.

A ring-like coordination structure constructed by Cu(II) and bis(2-(pyridin-2-ylthio)ethyl)ether ligand

The reaction of bis(2-(pyridin-2-ylthio)ethyl)ether (L) with CuCl2 in CH3OH/CHCl3 solution gives a novel 24-membered ring-like coordination structure which has been characterized by elemental analysis, IR, and X-ray single-crystal diffraction. The X-ray diffraction analysis reveals that [Cu2L2Cl4] crystallizes in the triclinic, space group

Influence of Alumina Content and Thermal Treatment on the Thermal Conductivity of UPE/Al2O3 Composite

P\bar 1

Low temperature synthesis and formation mechanism of carbon encapsulated nanocrystals by electrophilic oxidation of ferrocene

. The ring-like structure is consisted of two ligands with two copper ions coordinated to the pyridyl nitrogen atoms from two ligands respectively. The largest diameters of the planarshaped dinuclear ring are about 12.7 Å. The adjacent ring-like units are linked via C-H…O hydrogen bonds to generate an infinite linear chain, which are further linked by C-H…Cl hydrogen bonds and weak intermolecular interactions to form a three-dimensional network.