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Solar‐driven interfacial evaporation is a promising technology for desalination. The photothermal conversion materials are at the core and play a key role in this field. Design of photothermal conversion materials based on organic dyes for desalination is still a challenge due to lack of efficient guiding strategy. Herein, a new D (donor)‐A (acceptor) type conjugated tetraphenylpyrazine (TPP) luminophore (namely TPP‐2IND) was prepared as a photothermal conversion molecule. It exhibited a broad absorption spectrum and strong π–π stacking in the solid state, resulting in efficient sunlight harvesting and boosting nonradiative decay. TPP‐2IND powder exhibited high photothermal efficiency upon 660 nm laser irradiation (0.9 W cm−2), and the surface temperature can reach to 200°C. Then, an interfacial heating system based on TPP‐2IND is established successfully. The water evaporation rate and the solar‐driven water evaporation efficiency were evaluated up to 1.04 kg m−2 h−1 and 65.8% under 1 sunlight, respectively. Thus, this novel solar‐driven heating system shows high potential for desalination and stimulates the development of advanced photothermal conversion materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The detection of nitrophenolic explosives is important in counterterrorism and environmental protection, but it is still a challenge to identify the nitroaromatic compounds among those with a similar structure. Herein, a simple tetraphenylethene (TPE) derivative with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics was synthesized and used as a fluorescent sensor for the detection of nitrophenolic explosives (2, 4, 6-trinitrophenol, TNP and 2, 4-dinitrophenol, DNP) in water solution and in a solid state with a high selectivity. Meanwhile, it was found that only hydroxyl containing nitrophenolic explosives caused obvious fluorescence quenching. The sensing mechanism was investigated by using fluorescence titration and 1H NMR spectra. This simple AIE-active probe can potentially be applied to the construction of portable detection devices for explosives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The molar heat capacities of three different concentrations of aqueous SrCl2 solutions, 0.1212, 0.4615 and 1.878 mol⋅kg−1, were measured, using a precision automated adiabatic calorimeter in the temperature range from 80 to 320 K. Solid–liquid phase transitions were observed at 272.83, 270.18 and 255.15 K, respectively, for these three solutions. The molar enthalpies and entropies of the phase transitions were evaluated. The experimental heat capacity data were fitted to polynomial equations, and based on the polynomial equations and thermodynamic relationship, the thermodynamic functions relative to 298.15 K, [ H T− H298.15 K] and [ S T− S298.15 K], of the three solutions were derived in the range of 80 to 320 K with an interval of 5 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chirality is important to chemistry, biology and optoelectronic materials. The study on chirality has lasted for more than 170 years since its discovery. Recently, chiral materials with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) have attracted increasing interest because of their fascinating photophysical properties. In this review, we discussed the recent development of chiral materials with AIE properties, including their molecular structures, self-assembly and functions. Generally, the most effective strategy to design a chiral AIE luminogen (AIEgen) is to attach a chiral scaffold to an AIE-active fluorophore through covalent bonds. Moreover, some propeller-like or shell-like AIEgens without chiral units exhibit latent chirality upon mirror image symmetry breaking. The chirality of achiral AIEgens can also be induced by some optically active molecules through non-covalent interactions. The introduction of an AIE unit into chiral materials can enhance the efficiency of their circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) in the solid state and the dissymmetric factors of their helical architectures formed through self-assembly. Thus, highly efficient circularly polarized organic light-emitting diodes (CPOLEDs) with AIE characteristics are developed and show great potential in 3D displays. Chiral AIEgens are also widely utilized as "turn on" sensors for rapid enantioselective determination of chiral reagents. It is anticipated that the present review can entice readers to realize the importance of chirality and attract much more chemists to contribute their efforts to chirality and AIE study., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interests., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)