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Submicrometre-sized EuPO 4 hollow spheres were synthesised by utilising the colloidal spheres of Eu(OH)CO 3 as the sacrificial template, for the first time. The EuPO 4 hollow spheres were investigated by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and photoluminescence, respectively. The EuPO 4 hollow spheres exhibit red colour emission from 5 D 0-7 F J (J = 1, 2, 3, 4) transitions of the Eu 3+ ions. The obtained EuPO 4 hollow spheres may have potential applications in cell biology, drug release, diagnosis, due to the high chemistry stability and luminescence function.

Two oxidovanadium(V) complexes, [VOLL a ] (1) and [VOLL b ] (2), where L is the dianionic form of the Schiff base ligand 2-(((2-hydroxyethyl)imino)methyl)-6-methylphenol (H 2 L), L a and L b are the deprotonated forms of 3-hydroxy-2-methyl-4H-pyran-4-one (HL a) and 2-ethyl-3-hydroxy-4H-pyran-4-one (HL b), respectively, have been prepared and characterized by elemental analyses, IR, UV−Vis, 1 H NMR and single−crystal X−ray crystallographic determination. The V atoms in the complexes are in octahedral coordination, with the Schiff base ligand mer-coordinated to the metal atoms through the phenolate O, imino N and hydroxyl O atoms, and with the pyrone ligands coordinated to the metal atoms through the two O atoms. The effect of the compounds on the antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Candida albicans was studied.

Exploring sustainable, low-cost and high-performance nonnoble metal (NNM) electrocatalysts as alternatives to Pt-based catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is crucial for the large-scale application of metal-air batteries and fuel cell technology. A new method for preparing ORR catalysts is to use biomass activated carbon supported transition metal. Biomass activated carbon has a highly porous structure which is beneficial to charge and energy transport. In this article, peanut shell activated carbon (PSAC) was prepared as a carrier and iron phthalocyanine (FePc) was the active component of the catalyst. Different mass ratios of the FePc and PSAC were selected for physical doping and then treated at a high temperature. The obtained catalyst FePc/PSAC-3/1 showed excellent ORR catalytic performance, the onset potential and the half-wave potential are 0.94 V and 0.85 V respectively, highly comparable to that of commercial Pt/C (20 wt% Pt) catalyst. FePc/PSAC-3/1 has good stability and better tolerance to the methanol crossover effect than the Pt/C catalyst in alkaline electrolytes. The product was further used as an air cathode to construct the Zn-air battery at the same time. The excellent recharge-ability was further evaluated by a 43 h longterm cycling test without noticeable deterioration for the voltage gap. This work demonstrates the great promise of developing new families of NNM ORR catalysts by the economical and sustainable process.