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We report the transport properties of a topological insulator candidate, LiMgBi. The electric resistivity of the title compound exhibits a metal-to-semiconductor-like transition at around 160 K and tends to saturation below 50 K. At low temperatures, the magnetoresistance is up to ∼260 % at 9 T and a clear weak antilocalization effect is observed in the low magnetic-field region. The Hall measurement reveals that LiMgBi is a multiband system, where hole-type carriers (n h ∼ 1018 cm−3) play a major role in the transport process. Remarkably, LiMgBi possess a large Seebeck coefficient ∼440 μV/K) and a moderate thermal conductivity at room temperature, which indicate that LiMgBi is a promising candidate in thermoelectric applications.

The surface of TiO2 inverse opal material was modified by Liquid Phase Deposition(LPD) method, and a layer of TiO2 nanoparticles was deposited on the inverse opal framework in order to increase the specific surface area. The photo-catalytical degradation of Rhodamine B was used as the probe-reaction to investigate the photocatalysis ac- tivity of the TiO2 inverse opal membranes, and the influences of boric acid concentration of the LPD solution on surface morphology and photocatalysis activity of TiO2 inverse opal membranes were investigated. The results showed that the photocatalysis activity of TiO2 inverse opal membrane modified by LPD method was improved which was about 6 times higher than that of the unmodified TiO2 inverse opal when the boric acid concentration of PLD solution was 0.0183 g/mL.

The electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM) was applied to study the electrochemical behaviors of polycrystalline Au in sulfuric acid solution. The large mass change observed in the doublelayer region was attributed to the partly discharged adsorption of sulfate anions with the co-adsorption of H2O. According to the observed EQCM frequency response, the formation mechanism of surface oxide was reasonably postulated, in which the roles of the adsorbed anions and the co-adsorbed H2O were particularly emphasized.

The nanosized Ca3Co2O6 powder was synthesized via sol-gel process. The phase composition was characterized by means of X-ray diffraction. Polycrystalline samples of Ca3Co2O6 were prepared by a sintering procedure of nanosized power. The seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity of the samples were measured from 450K up to 750K. The results show that the Seebeck coefficient increases with the increasing temperature. The electronic structures were calculated using the self-consistent full-potential linearized augmented plane-wave (LAPW) method within the density functional theory. The relationship between thermoelectric property and electronic structures was discussed.

The damage in fused silica and CaF2 crystals induced by wavelength tunable femtosecond lasers is studied. The threshold fluence is observed to increase rapidly with laser wavelength lambda in the region of 250-800 nm, while it is nearly a constant for 800

Self-assembling of colloidal particles dispersed in a mixture of ethanol and water at the air-liquid interface of the colloidal suspension at room temperature is investigated, and a method of rapidly assembling colloidal particles is proposed. By this method, a uniform colloidal crystal thin film over ten square centimeters in area can be fabricated in 10 min without special facilities and heating the suspension. SEM images and a normal incidence transmission spectrum of the sample show that the colloidal crystal film fabricated by this method is of high quality. In addition, this method is very suitable for fabricating colloidal crystal heterostructures.

Colloidal photonic crystal heterostructures, composed of two opaline photonic crystal films of silica spheres with different diameters, are fabricated by a two-step spin-coating method. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and UV-vis spectrophotometer are used to characterize the heterostructures. The SEM images show good ordering of the two-layer colloidal crystals constituting the heterostructures. The transmission spectra measured from the (111) plane in the heterostructure show that the composite colloidal photonic crystals have double photonic stop bands. Furthermore, when the sizes of the silica spheres used for fabricating the composite photonic crystal are slightly different, the transmission spectrum shows that the composite photonic crystals have more extended bandgap than that of the individual photonic crystals due to partial overlapping of its two photonic stop bands.

Ordered colloidal particle films with double layers and dual members could be prepared by stepbystep spincoating method. Monolayer film of larger sized PS or SiO2 colloids was utilized as template to selfassemble second layer of SiO2 colloidal particles with smaller diameter. The size ratio γ of smaller and larger colloidal particles was 0.20—0.56 in the composite films. Larger （L） and smaller （S） dual member colloidal particles formed composite crystalline doublelayer films with multifarious arraymodes, whose structures could be expressed as LSx （here, L represents larger sized particles, S represents smaller colloidal particles, and x represents the stoichiometry of larger and smaller colloidal particles）, and x=1, 2, …, 13. The performance of composite colloidal films were influenced mainly by several factors, including spincoating velocity, spincoating time, viscosity of suspension medium, number density of colloidal suspension, and the wetting properties of substrates, etc.. On the prerequisite of complete wetting between colloidal suspension and substrate, appropriate number density of colloidal suspension, velocity and time of spincoating were the necessary conditions for ordered selfassembling to crystalline film of colloidal particles by spincoating method.

The mechanism of polystyrene submicrospheres assembling in aqueous suspension was studied systemically. During the evaporation of solvent, the PS spheres were transported to the water-air inter-surface, where these spheres self-assemble into colloidal crystal through the capillary force between the particles at water-air interface. The wettability of the PS spheres at the water-air interface changes from complete wetting to partial wetting and finally to non-wetting with the evaporation of water, so that the contact angle between the PS spheres and water increases gradually. The experiment showed that only after the contact angle reached a critical value θ′critical, could the PS sphere-assembly occur. The critical value θ′critical obtained from the Wenzel equation was greater than the measured value θcritical＝22° because the surface of the PS colloidal crystal was “regularly” coarse. The change of the PS spheres at water-air interface from the hydrophilic to hydrophobic is essential for the PS spheres to assemble into colloidal crystals.

Three-dimensionally ordered macroporous polystyrene was successfully synthesized through using silica sphere colloid crystals as template and in-situ polymeriza tion of styrene inside the template. The silica spheres with a diameter of 330 n m and 2.75% relative standard deviation were prepared by seeding method. For th e purpose of improving the wetting ability between the silica particles and styr ene, the hydrophilic surface of silica particles was switched to hydrophobic by 3-Aminopropyl-triethoxysilan (APS). Three-dimensionally ordered colloidal crystal was prepared by assembling the modified particles through a vertical depositio n technique at 30℃ for 48h. Styrene monomer was filled into the void of the tem plate and the polymerization of the styrene was carried out at 60℃ for 6h, being used (put the initiator in here) as initiator. The three-dimensionally ordered macroporous polystyrene was thus obtained by removing the silica template from polystyrene materials with 04% HF. The macroporous polystyrene shows a beautif ul iridescence in reflected light, which resulted from Bragg diffraction. SEM im ages indicated that the pores with a diameter of about 210nm were arrayed period ically and connected with each other.