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The STH conversion efficiency of Z-scheme system for OWS as illustrated here is the highest among photocatalyst ones and is still short for practical use. We studied the electronic structure of the system on solid state physics and proposed several new subjects to be solved.

Water dispersible K4Nb6O17·3H2O-based Janus nanosheets were successfully prepared and exhibited unique behaviour at the water–air interface and at the water–toluene interface.

Bicontinuous microemulsion (BME)-based hydrogel films were integrated with screen-printed electrodes (SPEs) comprising working, counter, and reference electrodes to form stand-alone, semi-solid-state electrochemical systems that do not require an outer electrolyte solution. The gel network of the BME hydrogel only exists in the microaqueous phase and retains the structure of the entire BME gel. Following gelation, a microaqueous phase with sufficient ionic strength ensured effective ionic conductivity, even in thin gel films. This enabled the electrochemical reaction to proceed using a thin gel film as an electrolyte solution. However, an intact micro-oil phase with no gel network enabled efficient extraction from an external oil solution and exhibited rapid electrochemistry that was comparable to that of a BME solution. Cyclic voltammograms of lipophilic redox species in oil using the gel-integrated SPE system demonstrated successfully in the oil itself and in the air with dropped oil onto the system.

Bicontinuous microemulsions (BMEs, Winsor III), also called middle-phase microemulsions, are low-viscosity, isotropic, thermodynamically stable, and spontaneously formed mixtures of water, oil, and surfactants. They are unique solution media for electrochemistry. Here, we introduce the recent progress in the electrochemistry of BMEs from their fundamental aspects to their practical applications. Electrochemistry using BMEs has two irreplaceable properties: the coexistence of hydrophilic and lipophilic species with high self-diffusion coefficients; and the dynamic deformation of structures at an oil/water/electrode ternary interface, which is easily changed according to the property of the electrode surface. Electrochemical contact with the micro-saline and oil phases in a BME is alternately or simultaneously achieved by controlling the hydrophilicity and lipophilicity of the electrode surfaces. The selective electrochemical analysis of hydrophilic and lipophilic antioxidants in liquid foods without extraction demonstrated as the use of the unique ternary solution structures of BME on solid surfaces.

Janus nanosheets were prepared from K4Nb6O17·3H2O by modifying surfaces of their two distinct interlayers in a regioselective and sequential manner and subsequent exfoliation. The surface properties of nanosheets were investigated by phase atomic force microscopy imaging and two types of surfaces were discriminated, indicating that Janus nanosheets were successfully prepared.

Continuous porous poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAM) gels were prepared by radical polymerization in a bicontinuous microemulsion (BME) consisting of saline and toluene microphases. The BME gels ...

Middle-phase microemulsions exhibit the unique properties of an ultra-low interfacial tension and a bicontinuous structure formed from the water and oil components. New developments exploiting these properties are described. In designing such systems, it is important that the spontaneous transition of the oil droplets from Winsor II through Winsor III to the Winsor I state is brought about by diffusion or chemical reaction. The selection of the hydrophobic and lipophilic surfactants is critical when low-energy emulsification systems for highly polar oils are being developed.

The electrochemical contact with the micro aqueous phase and the micro organic solvent phase in the “middle phase” microemulsion, in which the water phase and the oil phase bicontinuously coexist o...

Mesoporous silica was successfully synthesized via a sol–gel process in a bicontinuous microemulsion of tetradecane/didodecyldimethylammonium bromide/aq HCl ternary system. The surface area, pore s...