An ultra-high quantum yield Tb-MOF with phenolic hydroxyl as the recognition group for a highly selective and sensitive detection of Fe³⁺.

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) as templates can easily form homogeneous multimetallic materials via metal ion exchange, and they have been widely used as electrocatalysts in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) due to the synergistic effect of the metal ions. Herein, by selecting Cu(BDC) as a template, a simple one-step impregnation method was used to prepare CuCoNi trimetallic electrocatalysts, which exhibited excellent catalytic performance for the OER with a low overpotential of 327 mV at a 10 mA cm⁻² current density and a small Tafel slope of 75.7 mV dec⁻¹. The outstanding OER activity may be attributed to the transformed 2D lamellar morphology, amorphous structure and the synergistic effect of the metal species.

Amorphous bimetallic coordination polymers have been prepared by a mild room temperature solution phase method and utilized as an OER electrocatalyst. Their excellent performance with an overpotential of 228 mV at 10 mA cm⁻² and a Tafel slope of 30.3 mV dec⁻¹ exhibits their great potential in the field of the OER.

Series of novel star-shaped liquid crystals containing [1,1ʹ-biphenyl]-4,4ʹ-diyl diisonicotinate mesogens with various counterions (Br⁻, B-SO₃⁻,C-SO₃⁻,H₂PO₄⁻, BF₄⁻) have been synthesized and characterized, which display a nematic phase. The molecular structures of the liquid crystals, thereof consisting of rod-like mesogens linked together by different long alkyl spacers to a small disc-like core of central benzene-1,3,5-triyl triisonicotinate, have been fully characterized by ¹H NMR. Their thermal and supramolecular organization behaviours have been studied by combining polarized optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and small-angle X-ray scattering. These investigations showed that the mesophase temperature range increased with increasing alkyl chain length and the clearing point decreased with increase of anion size. These star-shaped liquid crystals have a long and ordered molecular structure, the electron delocalization of the π-π stacking conjugation effect and the electrostatic attraction of ionic make them have good ferroelectric properties and ionic conductivity properties. The interest in preparing ionic liquid crystal with a nematic phase lies in the technological applications as it is well known that the nematic phase has the highest fluidity of all liquid crystalline phases and hence the possibility to align it by applying an external electric/magnetic field, commonly used in electro-optical devices. Graphical Abstract