Solvation dynamics through Raman spectroscopy: hydration of Br2 and Br3(-), and solvation of Br2 in liquid bromine

Halide Exchange in Perovskites Enables Bromine/Iodine Hybrid Cathodes for Highly Durable Zinc Ion Batteries

With the increasing need for reliable storage systems, the conversion-type chemistry typified by bromine cathodes attracts considerable attention due to sizeable theoretical capacity, cost efficiency, and high redox potential. However, the severe loss of active species during operation remains a problem, leading researchers to resort to concentrated halide-containing electrolytes. Here, profiting from the intrinsic halide exchange in perovskite lattices, a novel low-dimensional halide hybrid perovskite cathode, TmdpPb2[IBr]6, which serves not only as a halogen reservoir for reversible three-electron conversions but also as an effective halogen absorbent by surface Pb dangling bonds, C─H…Br hydrogen bonds, and Pb─I…Br halogen bonds, is proposed. As such, the Zn||TmdpPb2[IBr]6 battery delivers three remarkable discharge voltage plateaus at 1.21 V (I0/I-), 1.47 V (I+/I0), and 1.74 V (Br0/Br-) in a typical halide-free electrolyte; meanwhile, realizing a high capacity of over 336 mAh g-1 at 0.4 A g-1 and high capacity retentions of 88% and 92% after 1000 cycles at 1.2 A g-1 and 4000 cycles at 3.2 A g-1, respectively, accompanied by a high coulombic efficiency of ≈99%. The work highlights the promising conversion-type cathodes based on metal-halide perovskite materials.

Bromine Vapor Induced Continuous p- to n-Type Conversion of a Semiconductive Metal-Organic Framework Cu[Cu(pdt)2]

Guest-promoted modulation of the electronic states in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) has brought about a new field of interdisciplinary research, including host-guest chemistry and solid-state physics. Although there are dozens of studies on guest-promoted enhancement of the electrical conductivity properties, including stoichiometry, conductive carriers and structure-property relationships have been scarcely studied in detail. Herein, we studied the effects of continuous and controlled bromine vapor doping on structural, optical, thermoelectric, and semiconducting properties of Cu[Cu(pdt)₂] (pdt = 2,3-pyrazinedithiolate) as a function of bromine stoichiometry. We demonstrated that the same material could act as both p- and n-type semiconductors by tuning the stoichiometry of Br doped in Br_x@Cu[Cu(pdt)₂], and a change in the charge-carrier type from holes in pristine MOF to electrons upon bromine vapor doping was observed. Bromine molecules acted as an oxidant, causing the selective oxidation of [Cu^II(pdt)₂] in the host framework. In addition, a redox hopping pathway between the partially oxidized Cu^II/Cu^III center contributed to the enhancement of the electrical conductivity of the MOF.

Femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy of the cyclobutane thymine dimer repair mechanism: a computational study

Cyclobutane thymine dimer, one of the major lesions in DNA formed by exposure to UV sunlight, is repaired in a photoreactivation process, which is essential to maintain life. The molecular mechanism of the central step, i.e., intradimer C-C bond splitting, still remains an open question. In a simulation study, we demonstrate how the time evolution of characteristic marker bands (C═O and C═C/C-C stretch vibrations) of cyclobutane thymine dimer and thymine dinucleotide radical anion, thymidylyl(3'→5')thymidine, can be directly probed with femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy (FSRS). We construct a DFT(M05-2X) potential energy surface with two minor barriers for the intradimer C₅-C₅' splitting and a main barrier for the C₆-C₆' splitting, and identify the appearance of two C₅═C₆ stretch vibrations due to the C₆-C₆' splitting as a spectroscopic signature of the underlying bond splitting mechanism. The sequential mechanism shows only absorptive features in the simulated FSRS signals, whereas the fast concerted mechanism shows characteristic dispersive line shapes.

Vibronic motion with joint angstrom-femtosecond resolution observed through Fano progressions recorded within one molecule

Electroluminescence (EL) in scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), which enables spectroscopy with submolecular spatial resolution, is shown to be due to radiative ionization with vibronic shape resonances that carry Fano line profiles. Since Fano progressions retain phase information, the spectra can be transformed to the time domain to reconstruct the vibronic motion. In effect, measurements within a molecule are accessible with joint space-time resolution at the Å-fs limit. We demonstrate this through EL-STM on the Jahn-Teller-active Zn-etioporphyrin radical anion and visualize the orbiting motion of scattered electrons upon sudden reduction and oxidation. We discuss the elements that enable spectroscopy with submolecular spatial resolution through EL-STM and the closely related STM-Raman process.

Exploring graphene nanocolloids as potential substrates for the enhancement of Raman scattering

Graphene, especially few-layer graphene solid film, has been found to strongly suppress fluorescence and enhance Raman signals of probe molecules. In this paper, we attempt to explore the possibility of using graphene nanocolloids as potential substrates for the enhancement of Raman scattering. Graphene nanocolloids chemically produced from the reduction of graphene oxide by sodium citrate are nearly all monolayers in solution and are also found to exhibit certain surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activity to common aromatic probe molecules. Interestingly, largely different from few-layer graphene solid film, graphene nanocolloids show maximal SERS activity only when the probe molecules are at resonant laser excitation. According to our analysis, this phenomenon should arise from a combined effect of fluorescence quenching of graphene and a photoinduced charge transfer mechanism, in which the strong charge transfer accounts for the main contribution from close coupling between graphenes and probe molecules photoinduced by resonant excitation as well as the desolvation of graphene sheets and probe molecules.