Because of the water swelling of graphene oxide (GO) membranes, the rejection of metal ions is generally low, especially for monovalent metal cations. We prepared a thermally reduced graphene (TrGO) membrane with excellent separation performance of water and NaCl by heat treating GO membranes. Its blocking ability for Na+ is 1529 times larger than that of the GO membrane with the same amount of GO, and it is also much better than the reduced GO membranes prepared by NH3 or HI reduction. Using 3 M sucrose as the draw solution, the 795 nm thick TrGO membrane has an ultrahigh rejection of more than 99.56% for Na+ and maintains a water flux of 0.42 L m–2 h–1. TrGO membranes maintain high stability during the penetration of a high-concentration salt solution, and they have good mechanical properties to maintain operational stability and can be used for a longer time. We characterized and analyzed the separation mechanism of the TrGO membranes and believe that the inner channels form three zones with different hydrophobicity and uniform distribution. The ratio of the three zones can be changed by adjusting the heat-treatment temperature, the duration to swelling force, and the π–π attraction force.

Controllable construction of diversiform topological morphologies through supramolecular self-assembly on the basis of single building block is of vital importance, but still remains a big challenge. Herein, a bola-type supra-amphiphile, namely DAdDMA@2-CD, is rationally designed and successfully prepared by typical host-guest binding-cyclodextrin units with an aggregation-induced emission (AIE)-active scaffold DAdDMA. Self-assembling investigation reveals that several morphologies of self-assembled DAdDMA@2-CD including leaf-like lamellar structure, nanoribbons, vesicles, nanofibers, helical nanofibers, and toroids, can be straightforwardly fabricated by simply manipulating the self-assembling solvent proportioning and/or temperature. To the best of knowledge, this presented protocol probably holds the most types of self-assembling morphology alterations using a single entity. Moreover, the developed leaf-like lamellar structure performs well in mimicking the light-harvesting antenna system by incorporating with a Förster resonance energy transfer acceptor, providing up to 94.2% of energy transfer efficiency.

Here in this article, [Ln­(μ2-OH)­(dtp)­(H2O)]­[Ln = Ho­(III) and Tb­(III)] is prepared using a solvothermal method to assemble the rare earth (RE) ion and the H2dtp ligand (H2dtp = 4′-(3, 5-dicarboxyphenyl)-4,2′:6′4″-terpyridine). The obtained metal–organic framework (MOF) materials were characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD), infred spectrum (IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The prepared two MOF exhibits 2D layer structures, respectively. To our knowledge, the Ln-MOF material with uncoordinated terpyridine site has never been developed for Thorium (Th) separation. Therefore, we attempted to use these MOF materials for the purpose of separating Th­(IV) from REs in the aqueous phase. The separation factors of Th/Y, Th/La, Th/Ce, Th/Eu, Th/Lu reach 21, 19.2, 18.9, 7.5, 6.2, respectively. Moreover, the MOF materials could remain stable until 500 °C, which exhibit good selectivities and stabilities for the Th­(IV)/REs­(III) separation.

Poly(phenyleneethynylene) (PPE) is a widely used functional conjugated polymer with applications ranging from organic optoelectronics and fluorescence sensors to optical imaging and theranostics. However, the fluorescence efficiency of PPE in aggregate states is generally not as good as their solution states, which greatly compromises their performance in fluorescence‐related applications. Herein, a series of PPE derivatives with typical aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) properties is designed and synthesized. In these PPEs, the diethylamino‐substituted tetraphenylethene units function as the long‐wavelength AIE source and the alkyl side chains serve as the functionalization site. The obtained AIE‐active PPEs with large π‐conjugation show strong aggregate‐state fluorescence, interesting self‐assembly behaviors, inherently enhanced alkyne vibrations in the Raman‐silent region of cells, and efficient antibacterial activities. The PPE nanoparticles with good cellular uptake capability can clearly and sensitively visualize the tumor region and residual tumors via their fluorescence and Raman signals, respectively, to benefit the precise tumor resection surgery. After post‐functionalization, the obtained PPE‐based polyelectrolyte can preferentially image bacteria over mammalian cells and possesses efficient photodynamic killing capability against Gram‐positive and drug‐resistant bacteria. This work provides a feasible design strategy for developing functional conjugated polymers with multimodal imaging capability as well as photodynamic antimicrobial ability.