Electromagnetic pollution that threatens human health, ecological environment and electronic equipment has been recognized as a serious environmental issues. In view of this, microwave absorbing materials (MAMs) are urgently demanded...

Capturing and detecting Fe3+ ions in aqueous solution is of great significance in biological systems as well as the water treatment industry. Herein, pyrene-modified cellulose nanocrystal (CNC-1-Pyr) acting as a fluorescent probe was prepared by a one-step esterification reaction, which shows geometry relaxation under UV-light excitation. Experiments and density functional theory-based simulations revealed that the structural geometry relaxation is controlled by the electron excitation and fluorescence emission. The S1 state of CNC-1-Pyr provides a conformation match for coordination with Fe3+ under the excitation of UV light, facilitating the detecting and capturing of Fe3+ efficiently.