Journal of Materials Chemistry Blog

Replicating single butterfly wing scales with ZrO₂ can create building blocks for small complex photonic devices say UK and Chinese scientists.

In this hot paper the team uses individual single wing scales from the tropical butterfly M. didius as bio-templates to synthesis 3D ZrO₂ photonic crystals.  The optical properties can be tuned by controlling the lattice size during replication. The teams says that the vast number of species of moths and butterflies, each with several different type of wing scale with different morphologies, offer a wide variety of bio-templates to create complicated photonic crystals with desirable properties via this approach.  

Read the article for free until 11th November: Yu Chen, Jiajun Gu, Di Zhang, Shenmin Zhu, Huilan Su, Xiaobin Hu, Chuanliang Feng, Wang Zhang, Qinglei Liu and Andrew R. Parker, J. Mater. Chem., 2011, 21, 15237-15243  

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A core–multisheath SiC–SiO2–BN nanocable has been fabricated by a team of scientists at Harbin Institute of Technology, China. The team led by Guangwu Wen say the nanocable could potentially be used as a blue and ultraviolet emitter in harsh and demanding environments.

Novel coaxial SiC–SiO2–BN nanocable: large-scale synthesis, formation mechanism and photoluminescence property: Bo Zhong, Liang Song, Xiaoxiao Huang, Xiaodong Zhang, Guangwu Wen and Yu Zhou, J . Mater. Chem., 2011, 21, 14432-14440

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UV-induced fluorescence recovery and solubility modulation of photocaged conjugated oligomers: A series of conjugated oligomers that show both increased fluorescence efficiency and pH-dependant solubility upon UV irradiation have been designed by a team at Tufts University, USA. The team behind the research say this approach is effective at tuning the properties of conjugated organics with light after traditional synthetic operations, and has potential for use in photoactivatable fluorophores or solution-processable multilayer devices. (J. Mater. Chem., 2011, 21, 14041-14047)

Direct write tethered protein arrays: Protein arrays can be written directly onto a protein resistant surface. This approach eliminates the need for additional back-filling steps. The team behind the research say their method can tolerate a broad range of process conditions which allows the retention of proteins’ biological functionality. (J. Mater. Chem., 2011, 21, 14072-14078)

Atomic layer deposition of metal fluorides through oxide chemistry: This hot article describes the deposition of metal fluoride thin films by an atomic layer deposition process using ozone based chemistry. The team say that using hexafluoroacetylacetonate as a fluorine source increased the purity of the films by reducing the oxygen content. (J. Mater. Chem., 2011, 21, 14461-14465)

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A flux coating method for preparing high-performance upconverting crystal layers has been developed by Japanese scientists. These upconverting crystal layers could improve the absorption properties of solar cells. The method developed by the Japanese team uses a relatively low temperature of 350 °C and makes it easier to create large-scale crystal layers. These advantages should make it more feasible for use in large-scale applications. Interested to know more? Read the full article for free until 24^th October:

Novel fabrication of NIR-vis upconversion NaYF₄:Ln (Ln = Yb, Er, Tm) crystal layers by a flux coating method: Sayaka Suzuki, Katsuya Teshima, Toshiko Wakabayashi, Hiromasa Nishikiori, Takahiro Ishizaki and Shuji Oishi, J. Mater. Chem., 2011, 21, 13847-13852

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