A brief overview of siloxane-based low-density aerogels and aerogels-like xerogels is presented. Aerogels are highly porous solids composed of inorganic oxides, metals, cross-linked polymers and carbons, and are known to possess a number of excellent physical properties such as high visible-light transparency with low refractive index, low dielectric properties, and extremely-low thermal conduc...

Highly dispersed iron oxide supported catalysts, prepared using HNO3-treated CMK-3 mesoporous carbons as supports, exhibit relatively high catalytic activity in selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol with oxygen.

Ordered mesoporous carbon-supported calcium oxide materials have been rationally synthesized for the first time. Large specific surface area, high content of nanosized calcium oxides can be easily obtained and tuned. The structure, porosity and the particle size evolution as a function of calcium content and carbonization temperature are extensively characterized and well correlated with their ...

The emerging graphene-based material, an atomic layer of aromatic carbon atoms with exceptional electronic and optical properties, has offered unprecedented prospects for developing flat two-dimensional displaying systems. Here, we show that reduced graphene oxide enabled write-once holograms for wide-angle and full-colour three-dimensional images. This is achieved through the discovery of subw...

To better utilize the sunlight for efficient solar energy conversion, the research on visible-light active photocatalysts has recently attracted a lot of interest. The photosensitization of transition metal oxides is a promising approach for achieving effective visible-light photocatalysis. This review article primarily discusses the recent progress in the realm of a variety of nanostructured p...

Investigating active, stable, and low-cost materials for the oxygen reduction reaction is one of the key challenges in fuel-cell research. In this work, we describe the formation of N-doped carbon shell coated Co@CoO nanoparticles supported on Vulcan XC-72 carbon materials (Co@CoO@N-C/C) based on a simple supramolecular gel-assisted method. The double-shelled Co@CoO@N-C/C core-shell nanoparticl...

Magnetic inducing hyperthermia (MIH) is gaining great popularity due to its good targeted therapy and less side effects. Magnetic agents play a crucial role in this technique. As novel candidates, recently, carbon nanotubes/iron oxide nanoparticles composites have demonstrated great potential in MIH by combining the unique characteristics of carbon nanotubes with the excellent magnetic properti...

Modern chemical synthesis makes heavy use of different types of catalytic systems: homogeneous, heterogeneous and nano-sized. The latter--nano-sized catalysts--have given rise in the 21st century to a rapidly developing area of research encompassing several prospects and opportunities for new technologies. Catalytic reactions ensure high regio- and stereoselectivity of chemical transformations,...

Small-size (<5 nm) gold nanostructures supported on reducible metal oxides have been widely investigated because of the unique catalytic properties they exhibit in diverse redox reactions. However, arguments about the nature of the gold active site have continued for two decades, due to the lack of comparable catalyst systems with specific gold species, as well as the scarcity of direct experim...

To improve the CO2/N2 separation performance, mixed-matrix carbon molecular sieve membranes (mixed-matrix CMSMs) were fabricated and tested. Two carbon-based fillers, graphene oxide (GO) activated (YP-50F), separately incorporated into two polymer precursors (Matrimid® 5218 ODPA-TMPDA), resulting CMSMs demonstrated improved CO2 permeability. The improvement afforded by YP-50F was more substanti...