The increasing demand for clean energy sources that do not add more carbon dioxide and other pollutants to the environment has resulted in increased attention worldwide to the possibilities of a "hydrogen economy" as a long-term solution for a secure energy future based on potentially renewable resources. [1][2][3] Some of the greatest challenges are the discovery and development of new on-board hydrogen-storage materials and catalysts for fuel-cell-powered vehicles. New materials that store both high gravimetric (! 90 gm H 2 kg À1 ) and high volumetric (! 82 gm H 2 L À1 ) densities of hydrogen that can be delivered at temperatures between À20 and 85 8C are needed by the year 2015. [4] The volumetric constraints eliminate from consideration pressurized hydrogen systems and guide towards the development of solid storage materials. [5] There are several broad classes of solid hydrogenstorage materials that are currently being investigated as potential on-board storage materials: 1) metal materials, hydrides (e.g., MgH 2 ), [6] imides (e.g., LiNH 2 ), [7] and organic frameworks (e.g., Zn 4 O(1,4-benezenedicarboxylate)), [8] 2) complex hydrides (e.g., NaAlH 4 ), [9] and 3) carbon materials (e.g., carbon nanofibers, [10] single-wall carbon nanotubes). [11] The most thoroughly studied complex hydride, NaAlH 4 , has been shown to release hydrogen at 110 8C when doped with Ti; [12] however, the kinetics are very slow and hydrogen-storage densities are too low (56 gm H 2 kg À1 ) to meet long-term targets. The temperatures for H 2 release from carbon materials are too low, and the reported storage densities are controversial. [13] The hydrolysis of metal hydrides is being explored, but the unfavorable thermodynamics for regeneration of the spent material prevents their widespread application. For example, the reaction NaBH 4 +4 H 2 O!NaB(OH) 4 +4 H 2 is exothermic by À250 kJ mol À1 . Reaction enthalpy for hydrogen loss is an important property since near-thermoneutral thermodynamics will be critical for materials for reversible H 2 storage. To date, few of these materials meet the long-term gravimetric requirements and provide rapid hydrogen release at temperatures between À20 and 85 8C; thus, new materials and novel approaches are needed. Herein we show that the kinetics of hydrogen release are significantly enhanced at low temperatures for a new hybrid material, ammonia borane infused in nanoporous silica, and that the hydrogen purity is increased. These findings suggest that hydrogen-rich materials infused in nanoscaffolds offer a most promising approach to on-board hydrogen storage.Chemical hydrogen-storage materials that release H 2 by thermolysis without generating CO 2 may offer an attractive alternative to other systems studied. For example, the NH x BH x family of compounds [14] should provide favorable gravimetric densities of 245, 196, 140, and 75 gm H 2 kg À1 for x = 4, 3, 2, and 1, respectively. As the NB unit is isoelectronic with CC, these materials are viewed as inorganic analogues of hydrocarbons. Howeve...

The enzyme organophosphorus hydrolase (OPH) was spontaneously entrapped in carboxylethyl- or aminopropyl-functionalized mesoporous silica with rigid, uniform open-pore geometry (30 nm). This approach yielded larger amounts of protein loading and much higher specific activity of the enzyme when compared to the unfunctionalized mesoporous silica and normal porous silica with the same pore size. When OPH was incubated with the functionalized mesoporous silica, protein molecules were sequestered in or excluded from the porous material, depending on electrostatic interaction with the charged functional groups. OPH entrapped in the organically functionalized nanopores showed an exceptional high immobilization efficiency of more than 200% and enhanced stability far exceeding that of the free enzyme in solution. The combination of high protein loading, high immobilization efficiency and stability is attributed to the large and uniform pore structure, and to the optimum environment introduced by the functional groups.

A novel electrochemical immunosensor for sensitive detection of cancer biomarker α-fetoprotein (AFP) is described that uses a graphene sheet sensor platform and functionalized carbon nanospheres (CNSs) labeling with horseradish peroxidase-secondary antibodies (HRP-Ab2). Greatly enhanced sensitivity for the cancer biomarker is based on a dual signal amplification strategy: first, the synthesized CNSs yielded a homogeneous and narrow size distribution, which allowed several binding events of HRP-Ab2 on each nanosphere. Enhanced sensitivity was achieved by introducing the multi-bioconjugates of HRP-Ab2-CNSs onto the electrode surface through “sandwich” immunoreactions. Secondly, functionalized graphene sheets used for the biosensor platform increased the surface area to capture a large amount of primary antibodies (Ab1), thus amplifying the detection response. On the basis of the dual signal amplification strategy of graphene sheets and the multi-enzyme labeling, the developed immunosensor showed a 7-fold increase in detection signal compared to the immunosensor without graphene modification and CNSs labeling. The proposed method could respond to 0.02 ng mL-1 AFP with a linear calibration range from 0.05 to 6 ng mL-1. This amplification strategy is a promising platform for clinical screening of cancer biomarkers and point-of-care diagnostics.

Molecular imprinting of surfaces of mesoporous sorbents is a novel method for introducing template-selective recognition sites. This method makes use of the unique surface environment of hexagonally packed mesopore surfaces of selected pore sizes (see the schematic representation) and coats such surfaces with functional ligands by binding to a metal ion template.

A simple synthesis route to mesoporous carbons that contain heteroaromatic functionality is described. The sulfur‐functionalized mesoporous carbon (S‐FMC) materials that have been prepared show excellent thermal stability, as well as excellent hydrothermal stability, and stability over a wide range of pH values. These materials also show excellent mercury sorption performance over a broad range of pH, much broader than is possible with thiol‐based functionality or most silica‐based sorbents. The superior performance of these mesoporous heterocarbons as heavy‐metal sorbent material is demonstrated. These materials are shown to be stable at elevated temperatures and extreme pHs, making them ideally suited as a new class of absorbent material.