Supercooling Behavior and Dipole-Glass-like Relaxation in a Three-Dimensional Water Framework

Heat- and Pressure-driven Room-temperature Polymorphic Transition Accompanied with Switchable SHG Signal in a New Chiral Hexagonal Perovskite

Endowing room-temperature polymorphs with both long-term stability and easy interconvertibility is a big challenge due to the complexity of intermolecular interactions. Herein, we present a chiral hexagonal perovskite (R-3-hydroxy-1-methylpiperidinium)[CdCl3 ] having two room-temperature crystalline forms featuring obviously distinct second-harmonic-generation (SHG) signals with a high switching contrast of ~18 times. The two room-temperature forms could be long-term stable yet easily interconvertible through an irreversible thermal-induced phase transition and a pressure-driven backward transition, by switching hydrogen bonds via collective reorientation of ordered homochiral cations. Based on the essential role of homochiral organic cations in inducing switchable hydrogen bond linkages, this present instance provides good evidence that relatively irregular organic cations could induce more obvious inorganic chain deformations, thus endowing polymorphs with significantly different SHG signals at room temperature.

Synthesis and crystal structure of catena-poly[[hexa-aqua{μ3-2-[bis-(carboxyl-atometh-yl)amino]-terephthalato}dicobalt(II)] penta-hydrate] containing water tapes and penta-mers

The title coordination polymer, {[Co2(C12H7NO8)(H2O)6]·5H2O} n , was crystallized at room temperature from an aqueous solution of 2-aminodi-acetic terephthalic acid (H4adtp) and cobalt(II) nitrate. The asymmetric unit consists of one adtp4- ligand, one and two half CoII ions, six water ligands coordinated to CoII ions and five uncoordinated water mol-ecules. Two of the cobalt cations lie on centres of inversion and are coordinated in octa-hedral O2(OH2)4 environments, whereas the other adopts a slightly distorted octa-hedral NO3(OH2)2 environment. The crystal structure contains parallel stacked, one-dimensional zigzag chains, {[Co2(C12H7NO8)(H2O)6]} n , which assemble into a three-dimensional supra-molecular architecture via networks of hydrogen bonds involving the coordinated and free water mol-ecules. One-dimensional 'water tapes' are formed, containing alternating six-membered and twelve-membered rings of water mol-ecules, together with water penta-mers, in which a central uncoordinated water mol-ecule is hydrogen bonded to two coordinated and two free water mol-ecules in a tetra-hedral arrangement.

Unique Dynamics of Water Confined on the Surface of Metal Oxide Clusters

Water confined on metal oxide surface plays significant roles in heterogeneous catalysis. Heteropolyacid, a 1.2 nm-metal oxide cluster with well-defined structure, is applied as a model to understand the dynamics of water on its surface. The surface water strongly associates with heteropolyacid cluster and form the so-called 'pseudoliquid phase' where catalytic reactions are conducted. Broadband dielectric spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry have been applied to probe the dynamics of water in this pseudoliquid phase. A supercooling phase transition of water below its normal melting temperature and a dipolar glassy relaxation behaviour due to the hindered dynamics of water have been observed. The rich dynamic behavior on the surface of such well-defined metal clusters provide new perspectives to understand the properties of surface water and their relation to catalytic performance of heteropolyacid.

Designing and Constructing a High-Temperature Molecular Ferroelectric by Anion and Cation Replacement in a Simple Crown Ether Clathrate

Molecular ferroelectrics have displayed a promising future since they are light-weight, flexible, environmentally friendly and easily synthesized, compared to traditional inorganic ferroelectrics. However, how to precisely design a molecular ferroelectric from a non-ferroelectric phase transition molecular system is still a great challenge. Here we designed and constructed a molecular ferroelectric by double regulation of the anion and cation in a simple crown ether clathrate, 4, [K(18-crown-6)]⁺ [PF₆ ]^- . By replacing K⁺ and PF₆ ^- with H₃ O⁺ and [FeCl₄ ]^- respectively, we obtained a new molecular ferroelectric [H₃ O(18-crown-6)]⁺ [FeCl₄ ]^- , 1. Compound 1 undergoes a para-ferroelectric phase transition near 350 K with symmetry change from P21/n to the Pmc21 space group. X-ray single-crystal diffraction analysis suggests that the phase transition was mainly triggered by the displacement motion of H₃ O⁺ and [FeCl₄ ]^- ions and twist motion of 18-crown-6 molecule. Strikingly, compound 1 shows high a Curie temperature (350 K), ultra-strong second harmonic generation signals (nearly 8 times of KDP), remarkable dielectric switching effect and large spontaneous polarization. We believe that this research will pave the way to design and build high-quality molecular ferroelectrics as well as their application in smart materials.

Fast identification of optimal pure platinum nanoparticle shapes and sizes for efficient oxygen electroreduction

Recent advances in experimental synthesis of nanostructures have shown that the interplay between nanoparticle shapes and sizes is crucial to achieve catalysts with high mass activity toward oxygen electroreduction. This is particularly important for proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), in which expensive and scarce Pt electrocatalysts are used. In this work, we propose a theoretical approach for oxygen electroreduction on PEMFCs to identify not only the size of optimal nanoparticles, but also their shapes. Remarkably, high mass activities up to 4.28 A mg_Pt ^-1 are predicted for rod-like nanostructures. Furthermore, we examine nanostructure size effects to guide chemical routes for experimental synthesis of the identified electrocatalysts. Our fast theoretical evaluation of thousands of different nanostructures aids in the search for active catalysts, as substantially enhanced mass activities over commercial Pt/C are predicted for pure Pt electrocatalysts, thus unveiling great potential to reduce the Pt loading in PEMFCs.

Switching hydrogen bonds to readily interconvert two room-temperature long-term stable crystalline polymorphs in chiral molecular perovskites

Two room-temperature polymorphic forms could be long-term stable yet easily interconvertible by switching the inter-cationic H-bonds in chiral molecular perovskites.