Themed collection Most popular 2023 materials chemistry articles

Numerous pieces of evidence in the literature suggest that zeolitic materials exhibit significant intrinsic flexibility as a consequence of the spring-like behavior of Si–O and Al–O bonds and the distortion ability of Si–O–Si and Al–O–Si angles.

Naphthopyran molecular switches undergo a ring-opening reaction upon external stimulation to generate colored merocyanine dyes. We highlight the features of naphthopyran that render it a powerful platform for designing mechanochromic materials.

In this perspective, we provide an overview of the recent achievements in luminescent lanthanide-based molecular cluster-aggregates (MCAs) and illustrate why MCAs can be seen as the next generation of highly efficient optical materials.

Synchrotron radiation enables probing a wide range of length scales operando, hence being a powerful tool in battery research. Challenges ahead involve cell design (especially for multi-modal approaches) and protocols for automated data analysis.

A primer that covers the discovery and validation process for novel aptamers and highlights recent applications of aptamers in biosensing and cell separations.

Carbon dot-based room temperature phosphorescence materials are reported, mainly focusing on the outstanding contributions over the years, phosphorescence emission, phosphorescence lifetime, preparation and application.

This work reviewed the new progress of conductive hydrogels in the application of tissue repair and provided a useful reference for further preparation of safer and more efficient conductive hydrogels for tissue engineering.

Recent advances in hematite nanomaterials for newly emerging applications were reviewed with a special focus on the relationship between the practical performance and electronic structure modulation.

EPR spectroscopy is used to interrogate nucleophilic and radical reactions at colloidal metal chalcogenide quantum dot surfaces via thermal or photochemical formation of surface-bound nitroxide radicals from spin trap molecules.

Ag_N-DNAs emitters at the far red/NIR spectral border have either 6 or 8 valence electrons and at least three distinct ligand compositions. Stokes shift magnitude and CD signatures are correlated with ligand composition.

HPLC-MS monitoring provides insights into the synthesis of uniquely stable NHC-protected gold nanoclusters with applications in catalysis, bioimaging and optoelectronics.

The stereo-assembly of ultrathin Pd nanosheets in situ grown on the MXene surface was achieved via a convenient wet-chemical approach, which possess superior electrocatalytic performance for the methanol oxidation reaction.

The progress of graphene-zipping reactions in graphene-based materials is successfully visualized using advanced temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) up to 2073 K.

The precisely controllable ligand exchange and ligand addition reaction on Au₂₅SR₁₈ are achieved via the manipulation of incoming ligands and charge of Au₂₅; this provides a novel tool to control the surface ligand chemistry on Au nanoclusters.

Transparent nanotubes made by coating track etched membranes with amorphous titania are used to study the evolutionary pathways of calcium sulfate crystallization in confinement.

We have developed a covalent organic framework foam with ordered and disordered pores which can immobilize various enzymes towards one-pot tandem glucose synthesis from CMC with excellent recyclability and can be used in biofuel production.

Studying the toxicity of zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) in context of intranasal administration will help researchers in building depot platforms for this non-invasive route of delivery.

Chiral copper clusters displaying good luminescence and extended lifetimes were synthesised. Enantiomerically pure clusters capped using L- and D-isomers of the ligand displayed mirror image circular dichroism and circularly polarized luminescence.

We show that the π-face strapped repeat units, unlike conventional monomers, help to overcome the strong interchain interactions, extend network residence time, tune network growth, and increase chemical doping and conductivity in 3D-conjugated porous polymers.

Three new Cu(I) based metal halides with excellent optical properties were developed by rational structural design, and a high-performance WLED was fabricated with the resulting material.

In situ grafting 1%-1‱ N-phenyl carbazol-2-yl-boronic acid to PVA by thermoplastic processing can achieve RTP lifetimes of 3.512–4.444 s, revealing the dual importance of dopant molecular modification and material aggregate structure.

A theranostic probe was developed by conjugating NIR-II emitting Au₄₄MBA₂₆ nanoclusters with photothermal Cy7 molecules via click chemistry, achieving NIR-II luminescent and photoacoustic imaging-guided cancer photothermal therapy.

Mechanically flexible single crystals of molecular materials offer potential for exciting new directions in advanced materials design. Unravelling the mechanisms of this fascinating bending phenomenon is needed and developed here.

We investigated singlet fission (SF) effects of a biphenyl-bridged pentacene dimer upon hydrostatic pressurization, revealing that the desolvation process in polar solvents plays an important role in the SF dynamics under high pressure.

In this work, we present a powerful synthetic strategy for selectively converting phosphole oxides by reaction with sulfonyl isocyanates into the corresponding sulfonylimino phospholes, which show a decrease or increase in solid-state emission.

Saddle-shaped nanographene encompassing a pyrrolopyrrole core possesses an unusual propensity to oxidize (E_HOMO = −4.44 eV) while being stable at ambient conditions.

Organic–inorganic halide perovskites (OIHPs) are very eye-catching due to their chemical tunability and rich physical properties such as ferroelectricity, magnetism, photovoltaic properties and photoluminescence.

Stimulus-responsive biodegradable nanocarriers with tumor-selective targeted drug delivery are critical for cancer therapy.

A facile approach using simple biomolecules as precursors is adopted for the synthesis of three sets of optically active carbon nanodots that exhibited circularly polarized luminescence in both solution state and in solid films.