A new compound, 1,1-thiene-2,5-diyldibutane-1,3-ditone, having a large conjugation structure, has been synthesized by the Claisen reaction. And the compound was characterized with IR and1H-NMR; its structure of enol form was confirmed by the calculation of ChemBioOffice 2008. Its fluorescence in solid state and in solution was measured to confirm the role of hydrogen bond in the structure.

{100}-faceted copper nanostructures with different morphology of nanowires and nanocubes have been prepared by one-pot method. The electroactivity of Cu nanowires and nanocubes was evaluated by degradation of p-nitrophenol. As-prepared copper nanowires exhibit higher catalytic activity for p-nitrophenol degradation than copper nanocubes, and outperform most of Cu catalysts reported in literature. Electrochemical reductive reaction of p-nitrophenol is shown to be kinetically first-order.

Potassium tantalates is one kind of important semiconductor with potential applications on photoelectric transformation and photocatalysis. Herein, Au nanoparticles were grown on the surface of two kinds of potassium tantalates, KTaO3 nanocubes and K2Ta2O6 nanooctahedron, by flexible reducing HAuCl4, and KTaO3/Au and K2Ta2O6/Au hetero-nanostructures were formed. Although the Au nanoparticles loading enhances the light absorption, KTaO3/Au and K2Ta2O6/Au hetero-nanostructures exhibit different photoelectric properties. The difference of photoelectric properties of two kinds of potassium tantalates/Au hetero-structures hint the photoelectric-property enhancement depends on multiple factors.

A hydrothermal method using tetrabutyl titanate and KOH as reactants for synthesis of K2Ti6O13 nanowires was developed, obtaining nanowires with a uniform diameter around 10nm. It is shown that the hydrothermal temperature and the KOH concentration have little influence in tuning the growth of K2Ti6O13 nanowires. By changing the time for hydrothermal reaction, the length of K2Ti6O13 nanowires can be controlled from several dozen of nanometers to several hundreds of nanometers. The as-prepared K2Ti6O13 nanowires exhibit a wide and strong absorption band in the ultraviolet range (around 200~300 nm), and stable photocurrent of 0.5μA/cm2, which might suggest potential applications in solar cell and water splitting.