Recently, titanium compounds with one-dimensional nanostructures, such as nanotubes and nanofibers, have recently attracted much attention. Among these 1-D compounds, nanotubes composed of titanium dioxide and titanate are now being studied actively. Titanium dioxide nanotubes can be synthesized using porous anodic alumina membranes (Imai et al., 1999; Yamanaka et al., 2004), organic molecules ...

Proton and hydroxyl ion play an essential role for tuning functionality of oxides because their electronic state can be controlled by modifying oxygen off-stoichiometry and/or protonation. Tungsten trioxide (WO3), a well-known electrochromic (EC) material for smart window, is a wide bandgap insulator, whereas it becomes a metallic conductor HxWO3 by protonation. Although one can utilize electro...

This review is devoted to the angular selectivity that can be obtained in thin films prepared under conditions such that they contain inclined absorbing regions of sizes much smaller than the wavelength of visible light. The films are of considerable interest as window coatings for energy-conscious architecture and, potentially, in the automotive sector. The theoretical basis for modelling the ...

Recent investigations on the design and synthesis of electrochromic materials based on switchable three-station [2]catenanes are summarized. The reasoning and preliminary experiments behind the design of electrochemically controllable red-green-blue (RGB), donor-acceptor [2]catenanes are presented. A basis for color generation is discussed in which the tetracationic cyclophane, cyclobis(paraqua...

A star-shaped cyclometalated triruthenium complex 2(PF6)n (n = 3 and 4) with a triarylamine core was synthesized, which functions as a molecular switch with five well-separated redox states in both solution and film states. The single-crystal X-ray structure of 2(PF6)3 is presented. This complex displays four consecutive one-electron redox waves at +0.082, +0.31, +0.74, and +1.07 V vs Ag/AgCl. ...

We investigated the proton conductance of the channel portion of chloroplast ATP synthase (CFa). Thylakoids were CFi-depleted by EDTA treatment. Proton pumps were stimulated by short flashes of light. Proton flux through CFo was measured spectrophotometrically in three different ways: as proton efflux from the lumen (via neutral red), charge flow across the membrane (via electrochromism) and pr...

A series of novel aromatic polyamides with pendent 4,40-dimethoxy-substituted triphenylamine (TPA) units were prepared via the direct phosphorylation polycondensation from a new dicarboxylic acid monomer, N,N-bis(4-carboxyphenyl)-N0,N0-di(4-methoxyphenyl)-1,4-phenylenediamine (4), and various aromatic diamines. These polyamides were amorphous with good solubility in many organic solvents, such ...

Chromic materials have the ability to change their colour reversibly according to external environmental conditions. They are categorised by the stimulus that triggers the colour change. For example, thermochromic materials can be defined as those in which a colour change is induced by a change in temperature and electrochromic materials are those in which a colour change is induced when an ele...