Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) were fabricated using AC dielectrophoresis into chemocapacitive sensors, and molecular receptors were applied for the selective detection of several chemical warfare agents (CWAs). The selective responses toward nerve simulants (G and V), choking and blister agents as well as a pesticide were investigated with specific receptor molecules that were either covalently functionalized or noncovalently coated onto the surfaces of the SWCNTs. The SWCNT-based chemocapacitive sensors showed reproducibility and sensitivity to 200 ppb for several target molecules. The fabricated sensor arrays were assessed for the selective detection of six different CWAs, and the principal component analysis demonstrated their specificity. VX, a real nerve agent, was tested on the fabricated SWCNT-based chemocapacitive sensor coated with a thiourea-functionalized siloxane polymer, and the successful detection of VX at 100 ppb confirmed that our SWCNT-based sensors are suitable for practical applications.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are promising for materials science because of their high thermal and chemical stability, electron mobility, and unique photophysical properties. However, flat PAHs have limited applications owing...

Stimuli-responsive polymeric systems are of considerable interest due to their potential applications in environment-adaptive technologies such as smart surfaces. Traditionally, such systems can be constructed either by dynamic noncovalent (supramolecular) or dynamic covalent chemistry, but the use of both chemistries in one system may offer unique opportunities for structural diversity and various controllability. Herein, we report that hydrazone–pyridinum conjugates, which can be dynamically exchanged by transimination, assemble to form one-dimensional nanowires due to direct intermolecular interactions (without metal-ion coordination). The self-assembly process can be controlled not only by dynamic covalent chemistry but also by pH adjustment. The hydrazone–pyridinum conjugates are transformed to merocyanine-type dyes of distinctive negative solvatochromism via deprotonation, which also affects their self-assembly. Such a dual control of the dynamic molecular assembly will provide unique way to develop diverse smart nanomaterials with multistimuli-responsiveness.

Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) phenomena have gained intense interest over the last decades because of its importance in solid-state emission. However, the elucidation of a working mechanism is difficult owing to the limited characterization methods on solid-state molecules, further complicated if dynamic structural changes occur. Here, a series of bis-arylacylhydrazones (BAHs) were synthesized, for which their AIE properties are only turned on by the reversible adsorption of water molecules. We used microcrystal electron diffraction (MicroED) to determine the molecular structures of two BAHs directly from bulk powders (without attempting to grow crystals) prepared in the absence or presence of water adsorption. This study reveals the unambiguous characterization of the dependence of crystal packing on the specific cocrystallization with hydrates. The structural analysis demonstrates that water molecules form strong hydrogen bonds with three neighboring BAH-1, resulting in the almost complete planarization and restriction of the intramolecular rotation of the molecule. MicroED plays an important role in providing a decisive clue for the reversible polymorphism changes induced by the adsorption of water molecules, regulating emissive properties.