A Eu³⁺ MOF with ideally spaced electron-deficient viologen moieties is capable of highly sensitive colorimetric/luminescence detection of electron-rich aromatic contaminants in water through charge transfer and resonance energy transfer.

N-doped porous carbon incorporating N-doped TiO ₂ with a butterfly-like structure has been synthesized by using a Ti-based metal–organic framework as a hard template. The nanocomposites exhibit excellent photocatalytic activity.

An interface between N-doped Cu₂O nanoparticles and a N-doped C matrix was successfully engineered, which exhibited extraordinary photoredox catalysis in C–C bond forming reactions.

Background: Dopamine (DA) is an important neurotransmitter in the hypothalamus and pituitary gland, which can produce a direct influence on mammals’ emotions in midbrain. Additionally, the level of DA is highly related with some important neurologic diseases such as schizophrenia, Parkinson, and Huntington’s diseases, etc. In light of the important roles that DA plays in the disease modulation, it is of considerable significance to develop a sensitive and reproducible approach for monitoring DA. Purpose: The objective of this study was to develop an efficient approach to quantitatively monitor the level of DA using Ag nanoparticle (NP) dimers and enhanced Raman spectroscopy. Methods: Ag NP dimers were synthesized for the sensitive detection of DA via surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Citrate was used as both the capping agent of NPs and sensing agent to DA, which is self-assembled on the surface of Ag NP dimers by reacting with the surface carboxyl group to form a stable amide bond. To improve accuracy and precision, the multiplicative effects model for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy was utilized to analyze the SERS assays. Results: A low limits of detection (LOD) of 20 pM and a wide linear response range from 30 pM to 300 nM were obtained for DA quantitative detection. The SERS enhancement factor was theoretically valued at approximately 10⁷ by discrete dipole approximation. DA was self-assembled on the citrate capped surface of Ag NPs dimers through the amide bond. The adsorption energy was estimated to be 256 KJ/mol using the Langmuir isotherm model. The density functional theory was used to simulate the spectral characteristics of SERS during the adsorption of DA on the surface of the Ag dimers. Furthermore, to improve the accuracy and precision of quantitative analysis of SERS assays with a multiplicative effects model for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy. Conclusion: A LOD of 20 pM DA-level was obtained, and the linear response ranged from 30 pM to 300 nM for quantitative DA detection. The absolute relative percentage error was 4.22% between the real and predicted DA concentrations. This detection scheme is expected to have good applications in the prevention and diagnosis of certain diseases caused by disorders in the DA level.

The role of the intermolecular charge transfer state during ultrafast intersystem crossing in compact chromophores is revealed by spectroscopy and theoretical investigations.