Search for: All records

Abstract Recently, chiral metal‐organic coordination materials have emerged as promising candidates for a wide range of applications in chiroptoelectronics, chiral catalysis, and information encryption, etc. Notably, the chiroptical effect of coordination chromophores makes them appealing for applications such as photodetectors, OLEDs, 3D displays, and bioimaging. The direct synthesis of chiral coordination materials using chiral organic ligands or complexes with metal‐centered chirality is very often tedious and costly. In the case of ionic coordination materials, the combination of chiral anions with cationic, achiral coordination compounds through noncovalent interactions may endow molecular materials with desirable chiroptical properties. The use of such a simple chiral strategy has been proven effective in inducing promising circular dichroism and/or circularly polarized luminescence signals. This concept article mainly delves into the latest advances in exploring the efficacy of such a chiral anion strategy for transforming achiral coordination materials into chromophores with superb photo‐ or electro‐chiroptical properties. In particular, ionic small‐molecular metal complexes, metal clusters, coordination supramolecular assemblies, and metal‐organic frameworks containing chiral anions are discussed. A perspective on the future opportunities on the preparation of chiroptical materials with the chiral anion strategy is also presented. 

Abstract Chiral organic molecules possessing high quantum yields, circular dichroism, and circularly polarized luminescence values have great potential as optically active materials for future applications. Recently, the identification of a promising class of inherently chiral compounds was reported, namely macrocyclic 1,3‐butadiyne‐linked pseudo‐meta[2.2]paracyclophanes, displaying high circular dichroism and related g_absvalues albeit modest quantum yields. Increasing the quantum yields in an attempt to get bright circularly polarized light emitters, the high‐yielding heterocyclization of those 1,3‐butadiyne bridges resulting in macrocyclic 2,5‐thienyls‐linked pseudo‐meta[2.2]paracyclophanes is herein described. The chiroptical properties of both, the previously reported 1,3‐butadiyne, and the novel 2,5‐thienyl bridged macrocycles of various sizes, are experimentally recorded, and theoretically described using density‐functional theory. 

Abstract BaTiO₃heated in an excess of SrCl₂at 1150 °C converts to SrTiO₃through an ion exchange reaction. The SrTiO₃synthesized by ion exchange produces hydrogen from pH 7 water at a rate more than twice that of conventional SrTiO₃treated identically. The apparent quantum yield for hydrogen production in pure water of the ion exchanged SrTiO₃is 11.4% under 380 nm illumination. The catalyst resulting from ion‐exchange differs from conventional SrTiO₃by having ≈2% residual Ba, inhomogeneous Cl‐doping at a concentration less than 1%, Kirkendall voids in the centers of particles that result from the unequal rates of Sr and Ba diffusion together with the transport of Ti and O, and nanoscale regions near the surface that have lattice spacings consistent with the Sr‐excess phase Sr₂TiO₄. The increased photochemical efficiency of this nonequilibrium structure is most likely related to the Sr‐excess, which is known to compensate donor defects that can act as charge traps and recombination centers. 

In this work, colorimetric hydrogen detection films are presented as an open source, high-throughput approach for the investigation of photo-driven hydrogen evolution reactions.