Zhiwei Men

Study of high-pressure Raman intensity behavior of aromatic hydrocarbons: Benzene, biphenyl and naphthalene☆

Raman spectra of benzene, naphthalene and biphenyl have been taken up to a pressure of 13 GPa. The results for benzene and naphthalene indicate that the perturbation of inter-molecular π-π stacking effect on the Raman intensity is neglectable. For biphenyl, all the Raman peaks show intensity enhancement during the compression process, which indicates the planar intra-molecular aromatic conformation play an important role in the intensity increments of Raman bands. For three aromatic compounds, C-H stretching vibration bands located at about 3000 cm(-1) show intriguing intensity changes during compression account for the inter-molecular C-H⋯π interaction.

Raman spectra from Symmetric Hydrogen Bonds in Water by High-intensity Laser-induced Breakdown

Raman spectra of ice VII and X were investigated using strong plasma shockwave generated by laser-induced breakdown (LIB) in liquid water. Simultaneously, the occurrence of the hydrogen emission lines of 656 nm (Hα), 486 nm (Hβ), 434 nm (Hγ) and 410 nm (Hδ) was observed. At 5 × 1012 W/cm2 optical power density, the O-H symmetric stretching, translational and librational modes of ice VII and a single peak at 785 cm−1 appeared in the spectra. The band was assigned to the Raman-active O-O mode of the monomolecular phase, which was the symmetric hydrogen bond of cuprite ice X. The spectra indicated that ice VII and X structure were formed, as the trajectory of the strong plasma shockwave passes through the stable Pressure-Temperature range of ice VII and X. The shockwave temperature and pressure were calculated by the Grüneisen model.

Stimulated Raman scattering of lattice translational modes in liquid heavy water.

A study was conducted on stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) when laser-induced plasma is formed in heavy water by focusing an intense picosecond pulsed Nd:YAG laser beam with wavelength 532 nm at room temperature. An unexpected 280 cm(-1) low frequency SRS line attributed to the lattice translational modes is observed. This SRS line and the internal-mode SRS lines indicate that the ice VII structure is formed in heavy water under the condition of laser-induced shockwave production.

Pressure-induced isostructural phase transition of a metal–organic framework Co2(4,4′-bpy)3(NO3)4·xH2O

Based on the 4,4′-bipyridine organic linker, metal–organic frameworks of Co2(4,4′-bpy)3(NO3)4·xH2O (CB-MOF) have been prepared. The pressure-dependent structure evolution of CB-MOF has been investigated up to 11 GPa. An isostructural phase transition was observed at about 6 GPa followed by negative compressibility along the b axis.

Influence of strong and weak hydrogen bonds in ices on stimulated Raman scattering

Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) in liquid water and ice Ih using Nd:YAG laser is investigated. The spectrum of backward SRS (BSRS) in water is acquired. The spectrum shows an unexpected SRS peak at around 3453  cm(-1) besides the normal peak, which is similar to the spontaneous Raman spectrum of ice VII. The ice VII phase will be formed by laser-induced shock compression in liquid water. Simultaneously, unlike the spontaneous Raman spectrum, the pre-resonance SRS of ice Ih at around 3110 and 3210  cm(-1) is observed. The Raman peaks appeared in liquid water and ice Ih are attributed to the effect of strong and weak hydrogen bonds (H bonds), which should be ubiquitous in other ice phases.

Pre-resonance-stimulated Raman scattering for water bilayer structure on laser-induced plasma bubble surface.

Pre-resonance-stimulated Raman scattering (PSRS) from water molecules in the air/water interfacial regions was studied when the laser-induced plasma bubble was generated at the interfaces. A characteristically lower Raman shift of OH-stretching vibrational modes of water molecules at around 3000  cm(-1) (370 meV) was observed, in which the mechanisms were possibly attributed to the strong hydrogen bond in a well-ordered water bilayer structure that was formed on a laser-induced plasma bubble surface. Simultaneously, the PSRS of ice Ih at about 3100  cm(-1) was obtained, which also belonged to the strong hydrogen bond effect in ice Ih structure.

Estimating the pressure of laser-induced plasma shockwave by stimulated Raman shift of lattice translational modes

The current paper investigates stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) when laser-induced plasma is formed in heavy water by focusing an intense pulsed 532 nm Nd:YAG laser beam at room temperature. An unexpected low-frequency SRS line attributed to the lattice translational modes of ice-VII (D2O) is observed. The pressure of the plasma shockwave is estimated using low-frequency SRS line shift.

The Chlorophyll a Fluorescence Modulated by All-Trans-β-Carotene in the Process of Photosystem II

Modulating the chlorophyll a (Chl-a) fluorescence by all-trans-β-Carotene (β-Car) in the polarity and non-polarity solutions was investigated. The fluorescence intensity of Chl-a decreased as the concentration of β-Car increased. The excited electronic levels of Chl-a and β-Car became much closer owing to the solvent effect, which led to the electron transfer between both two molecules. A electron-separated pair Chl−·Chl+ that is not luminous was formed due to electron transfer. The solution of Chl-a and β-car in C3H6O was similar to the internal environment of chloroplast. We conclude that the polar solvent is good for the fluorescent modulation in photosystem II.

Carbon disulfide assisted polymerization of benzene.

The chemical transformation of benzene (C(6)H(6)) and carbon disulfide (CS(2)) binary solution under high pressure condition is investigated by means of Raman spectroscopy up to 6.8 GPa. On increasing the pressure, all the Raman bands of benzene decrease in intensity, whereas new broad bands start to be observed at 1520 and 1450 cm(-1), indicating that a highly cross-linked polymer is formed. The recovered sample is analyzed through Raman and FT-IR spectroscopy and is identified as a saturated hydrocarbon and element sulfur.

Anharmonic coupling between fundamental modes in tetramethylurea

In situ high pressure Raman spectra of tetramethylurea have been measured up to 25 GPa, liquid-solid and solid-solid phase transitions were detected at 0.2 GPa and 7.4 GPa, respectively. An unprecedented spectral phenomenon is the observation of a Fermi resonance between the fundamental modes. An exponential relationship between the intensity and the frequency difference was concluded. Pressure provides us a new way to study the correlation between Fermi resonance parameters.