A novel amphiphilic compound 2-(heptadecyl) naphtha[2,3]imidazole (NpImC17) was synthesized, and its coordination with AgNO(3) in situ in the monolayer at the air/water interface and ex situ in the Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) film on solid substrate has been investigated. It has been found that interfacial coordination between NpImC17 and Ag(I) ion occurred both in the monolayer and in the LB film. It is interesting to note that the Ag(I)-coordinated ultrathin film became chiral although the ligand itself is achiral. It was suggested that the chirality of the Ag(I)-coordinated LB film was developed due to the formation of a helical coordination polymer through the interfacial coordination. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the formation of chiral monolayer and LB films from an achiral molecule through interfacial coordination.

In this work, Ni-doped manganite perovskite oxides (La0.8Sr0.2Mn(1-x)Ni(x)O3, x = 0.2 and 0.4) and undoped La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 were synthesized via a general and facile sol-gel route and used as bifunctional catalysts for oxygen cathode in rechargeable lithium-air batteries. The structural and compositional characterization results showed that the obtained La0.8Sr0.2Mn(1-x)Ni(x)O3 (x = 0.2 and 0.4) contained more oxygen vacancies than did the undoped La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 as well as a certain amount of Ni(3+) (eg = 1) on their surface. The Ni-doped La0.8Sr0.2Mn(1-x)Ni(x)O3 (x = 0.2 and 0.4) was provided with higher bifunctional catalytic activities than that of the undoped La0.8Sr0.2MnO3. In particular, the La0.8Sr0.2Mn0.6Ni0.4O3 had a lower total over potential between the oxygen evolution reaction and the oxygen reduction reaction than that of the La0.8Sr0.2MnO3, and the value is even comparable to that of the commercial Pt/C yet is provided with a much reduced cost. In the lithium-air battery, oxygen cathodes containing the La0.8Sr0.2Mn0.6Ni0.4O3 catalyst delivered the optimized electrochemical performance in terms of specific capacity and cycle life, and a reasonable reaction mechanism was given to explain the improved performance.

The preliminary results of this retrospective study indicate that ridge expansion alone or in combination with GBR can be considered an effective and safe procedure for treatment of width insufficiency of alveolar ridges on the purpose of implant application.

The fabrication and supramolecular chirality of complex multilayer films of tetrakis(4-sulfonato-phenyl)porphine (TPPS) and long-chain enantiomers of tryptophan derivatives (d-Trp or l-Trp) were investigated. Two methods were employed to assemble the supramolecular films of Trp with TPPS. In one method, Trp was spread on the aqueous subphase containing TPPS at pH 3.1, and the complex monolayer was formed in situ through the adsorption. The subsequent deposition of the thus-formed monolayer onto solid substrates provided type I complex films. In the other method, a preformed multilayer film of Trp on a solid substrate was immersed into the TPPS solution, and ex situ adsorption afford the formation of the type II complex films. A series of techniques such as UV−vis spectroscopy, circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were used to characterize these complex multilayer films. It has been found that TPPS can form J aggregates and show chirality in both types of multilayer films. It was interesting that the sign of the Cotton effect in type I multilayer films appeared to be undetermined no matter what kind of Trp enantiomer was used. However, the supramolecular chirality of the TPPS J aggregate in type II multilayer films was determined by the chirality of Trp. AFM measurement on the films revealed that TPPS formed larger nanorod structures in type I films and produced small granular aggregates in type II film. A possible mechanism was proposed on the difference of the chiral monolayer and multilayer film in controlling the chirality of achiral dye molecules.