This month, the outside cover is proposed by Dr Jinbao Guo (Beijing University of Chemical Technology, China). In their work, the authors develop a facile bilayered structural device composed of a silver nanoparticle array with a liquid crystal elastomer. The device is elastic and changes color by sensing deformations induced by changing temperature, attributed to alignment of the liquid crystal molecules induced by the nanoparticle array. This actuator design could be a promising candidate for smart environmental-responsive devices such as thermal-camouflage skin and color-changing actuators.
A color-changing plasmonic actuator based on silver nanoparticle array/liquid crystalline elastomer nanocomposites
Yang Shi, Chao Zhu, Juntao Li, Jie Wei and Jinbao Guo, New J. Chem., 2016, 40, 7311-7319. DOI: 10.1039/C6NJ00492J.
Miss Maruša Mazej designed the inside cover to illustrate a study by Dr Zoran Mazej and his colleague Dr Goreshnik (Jožef Stefan Institute, Slovenia). Based on a short communication published in 1976 presenting three compounds described as XeF6·TiF4, 4XeF6·TiF4 and XeF6·2TiF4, and on the synthesis of [XeF5]3[Ti4F19] (i.e. 3XeF6·4TiF4) published in 2009, the authors reveal in this study the crystal structures of these 3 compounds, which can be formulated as XeF5TiF5, [XeF5]5[Ti10F45] and [XeF5][Ti3F13]. [XeF5]5[Ti10F45] contains the largest known discrete decameric [Ti10F45]5− anion built from ten TiF6 octahedra that share vertices and that are arranged in a double-star shape.
Largest perfluorometallate [Ti10F45]5− oligomer and polymeric ([Ti3F13]−)∞ and ([TiF5]−)∞ anions prepared as [XeF5]+ salts
Zoran Mazej and Evgeny A. Goreshnika, New J. Chem., 2016, 40, 7320-7325. DOI: 10.1039/C6NJ00955G.
Discover the full contents of the September issue here.
