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Three-dimensional (3D) covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are a new type of crystalline organic porous material, which have great application potential in various fields due to their complex pore s...

Concurrent advances in the programmable synthesis of nanostructured materials and additive three-dimensional (3D) manufacturing have created a rich and exciting opportunity space to fabricate novel...

We report the preparation of discrete nanometer-scale zinc-based clusters and use them to form sub-15 nm structures by means of extreme ultraviolet lithography. By taking advantage of a metal-containing building unit derived by a metal–organic framework—MOF-2, we found the 3-methyl-phenyl-modified Zn-mTA cluster that formed is well-defined with controlled size and structure and demonstrates extremely high solubility. Progress in recent years in metal–organic frameworks has created a rich variety of metal-containing structures that are useful for numerous applications. Substitution of the bridging ligands with monovalent ligands produces a discrete metal–organic cluster that strongly interacts with soft X-rays at a wavelength of 13 nm. Here we describe the design, preparation, computational modeling, and physical characterization of these new materials. Such metal-containing structures may form the basis of photoresists that enable the next generation of microelectronic devices.

Novel 3D barcodes with an extraordinarily high encoding capacity are developed through a flexible, accurate, and reproducible method. Here, the three dimensions refer to the size, fluorescence emission wavelength, and intensity of the barcodes. As a proof of concept, a 3D barcode library with an encoding capacity of 100 flow cytometry-distinguishable barcodes is achieved successfully by combining the multiscaled host particles with a set of guest nanoparticles owning to their individual different fluorescent intensity via an ingenious host–guest structure, where fluorescein isothiocyanate and a kind of quantum dots are separately loaded inside. Five-plexed tumor marker detection is further implemented, and the results demonstrate the strong feasibility of 3D barcodes in multiplex assays.

Heavily doped narrow gap semiconductors with complex crystal structures are prime candidates for thermoelectric materials. The arsenides Re3(Ge,As)7 are new examples with promising thermoelectric properties, comparable with the isostructural Mo3Sb5.4Te1.6, a competitive high-temperature material. Various doping levels may be achieved by using different Ge/As ratios. Re3(Ge,As)7 was prepared by heating the elements in the desired ratios in evacuated silica tubes between 600 and 800 °C. Re3GeAs6 crystallizes in the cubic Ir3Ge7 type, space group Im3m, with a = 8.73202(8) A. It exhibits high Seebeck coefficient, high electrical conductivity, and reasonably low thermal conductivity. Moreover, the thermoelectric figure-of-merit ZT = TS2σ/κ increases rapidly with increasing temperature, as desired for high-temperature thermoelectrics.