Semiconducting polymer materials have attracted particular attention in organic electronics because of their ideal solution-processed ability for low cost, large area, flexible organic devices. But polymer semiconductors in devices are always fabricated by spin-coating in film state. In the films polymer molecules are highly disorder and there are full of grain boundaries and defects etc., so that the valuation of polymer semiconductor intrinsic properties and the fabrication of high performance devices are full of challenges. In this mini-account, we briefly summarize our recent studies on the alignment of polymer semiconductors by substrate inducing epitaxy and self-assembly etc., the valuation of polymer intrinsic properties by their nanocrystals as well as the applications of the aligned polymer films and nanocrystals for high performance optoelectronic devices.

Vanadium-oxide clusters are one class of the most important polyoxometalates. The design and assembly of polyoxovanadates (POVs) are currently of great interest in the field of crystal engineering, not only because of their structural diversity, but also their potential applications in the fields of catalytic, magnetic and optical materials. To date, a brand-new class of POVs with the incorporation of main group elements into vanadium-oxide clusters has been widely investigated. In recent years, transition-metal complexes (TMCs) are utilized to combine with different substituted vanadium-oxide clusters for the construction of various novel structural types with desired properties, which not only greatly enriched the structure of vanadium-oxide clusters, but also promoted its continuous development in the synthesis. A review has been mainly given to the new development of the substituted vanadium-oxide clusters in the aspects of structural characteristics and magnetic properties over the past several years. The prospects of them are also discussed in this paper.

Manipulation of photons has become the core studies in area of photonics in the 21^th century. Colloidal photonic crystals (CPC), with the characteristic of photonic stopband due to their periodic structures, can control the propagation of light in a certain direction, which show applications in optics, electronics, catalysis, display, detection and so on. Furthermore, CPC can offer the guidance for designing structures and optimizing propertied of optical functional materials. In this paper, the recent achievements on applications in this field are presented from two aspects. On the one hand, the optical manipulation of photonic crystals is based on changing the stopband characteristics through variation of the refractive index or the lattice constant by applying external stimuli, which provides a promising strategy to develop the technology in chemical sensors and biosensors. On the other hand, the optical behavior can be effectively controlled based on emitters embedded in PCs, which promotes the development of optical devices. Finally, this paper brings forward perspectives toward in-depth investigation of colloidal photonic crystals.

The development of hydrazone based anion receptors is a very important field for the supramolecular chemistry, especially in anion recognition chemistry. These kinds of anion receptors possess a great deal of merits such as various host structures, wide adaptability, high selectivity and sensitivity. This review summarizes the main design principles, anion recognition abilities and recognition mechanism of the hydrazone based receptors. The developing orientation for futher research is presented.

The core-shell structured nano-composite materials showing novel physical and chemical properties have received much attention because of their potentials in applications. The progress in the preparation and applications of the core-shell structure nano-composites is reviewed with respect to their applications in optics, catalysis, pharmacy and biology, photonic crystal, and superhydrophobic coating. In the end, the problems and solutions are given for future development of core-shell nanocomposites materials.

Hydrothermal synthesis of LiFePO₄ cathode is reviewed on the basis of problems hampering the application of LiFePO₄, which involves purity, morphology and conductivity. The cost of raw materials and synthetic route are considerd, and a possible way in mass production of LiFePO₄ is proposed. Although the article focuses on hydrothermal synthesis of LiFePO₄, but other low-temperature synthesis processes, including solvothermal, supercritical, polyol and ionothermal, are also discussed in the related sections. Finally, advantages and disadvantages of hydrothermal synthesis of LiFePO₄ cathode are compared with other synthesis processes, with the focuses on the difficulty in mass production of LiFePO₄, and the means to solve the problem is presented.

Fluorescent-magnetic nanocomposites have attracted intensive research interest owing to their great potentials in biomedical applications. In this review, we summarized the recent advancements in the synthesis of fluorescent-magnetic nanocomposites and generalized them into encapsulating, coupling and seed-growth approaches. Additionally, the challenges of the synthesis and applications of fluorescent-magnetic nanocomposites are discussed, as well as the developing trends.

The research progress of the light converting inorganic phosphors for white light-emitting diodes (WLEDs) in recent years is reviewed. The yellow, green and red phosphors excited by blue LED chip and the yellow, green, red, and single matrix white phosphors excited by near ultraviolet LED chip are overviewed respectively. The phosphors with preferable properties are recommended mainly. The photoluminescence spectra and their tunable mechanism of relevant aluminate, silicate nitride( oxynitride) and molybdate are described briefly. The urgent problems to resolve in this field are pointed out and their development tendency is prospected.

Fullerenes have been found to make good acceptors, due to their unique three-dimensional structure and remarkably withdrawing electron. Porphyrins are frequently used as ideal donors for their π conjugate structure and plentiful π electron . Also, they are good photosensitizers, and having widely absorbability in UV-Vis region. Porphyrin-fullerene complexes become currently active fields as the property of mimics of the natural photosynthetic recation centers and photoinduced electron transfer. This material is hopeful to be applied in photovoltaic cells and solar cells. In accordance with the different ways to connect porphyrin and fullerene, porphyrin-fullerene complexes can be divided into two types: covalently linked and non-covalently linked. Covalently linked porphyrin-fullerene complexes are synthesized mainly through cycloaddition reactions, such as the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction, Diels-Alder cycloaddition reaction and Bingel-Hirsch cycloaddition reaction. Non-covalently linked porphyrin-fullerene complexes are obtained maily through the axial coordination of metal and the hydrogen bonding. This review covers the recent progress in synthesis of different types of porphyrin-fullerene complexes, including the synthesis and application prospects of covalently linked porphyrin-fullerene compounds, existing problems in synthetic methods and further prospects in this field.

The silver-catalyzed reaction is one of the frontier areas in organic chemistry, and the progress of research on it was rapid. In comparison with other transition metal salts, Ag(Ⅰ) have long been believed to have low catalytic efficiency, and most commonly served as either co-catalysts or Lewis acids. Only recently, Ag(I) have been demonstrated to be important and versatile catalysts for a variety of organic transformations. Ag(Ⅰ) is known to activate π-systems, such as alkenes, alkynes, and allenes, towards intermolecular and intramolecular nucleophilic attack. Moreover, efforts in studying silver-catalyzed organic transformations have focused on coupling reactions and asymmetric reactions. In addition, the use of silver(I) is economic relative to other expensive transition metals. Recent development of silver(I)-catalyzed reactions is reviewed, whose substrates, reaction conditions, selectivity, yields and mechanisms have been discussed and summarized.

Perfluoroalkyl fullerenes have been became a kind of important derivatives in the field of fullerenes due to their high stabilities, high solubilities, increased electron-withdrawing property and decreased susceptibility to nucleophilic substitution. They can be used to synthesize more promising functional materials with unique optic, electronic and magnetic properties, and to explore some unknown fullerenes structures, especially for high fullerenes with poor solubility. Moreover, the research on perfluoroalkyl fullerenes also open a new direction for the derivatizations and functionalizitions of fullerenes. In this paper the progress on the synthesis, structures and properties of perfluoroalkyl fullerenes in recent years, including perfluoroalkylation of C₆₀, C₇₀, and high fullerenes is reviewed. Trifluoromethylation of all kinds of fullerenes is discussed in detailed. Firstly, some synthetic methods, separation strategies and research results are summed up. Secondly, the characteristic information such as infrared spectra data, ultraviolet spectra data, nuclear magnetic resonance spectra (¹⁹F NMR) data, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) parameters and electrochemistry data etc. for perfluoroalkyl fullerenes are presented. Thirdly, some possible structures of perfluoroalkyl fullerenes computed by density functional theory (DFT) are enumerated, and single crystal structures of all the known perfluoroalkyl fullerenes determined by X-ray crystallography are also given via Schlegel diagrams. In the end, some research and development trends in the field are proposed.

Photoresponsive polymeric materials are a kind of functional polymers that can absorb photo energy and undergo intra- or inter-molecular physical or chemical transformations. Accompanying the changes on molecular structures and configurations, the materials exhibit the variations on certain macroscopic properties such as shape, color, or refractive index in response to light. Since light is an environment-friendly, remotely controllable and instantly operatable stimulus, photoresponsive polymers attract more and more attention. By rational design, photoresponsive polymers can generate light-driven deformations or have shape-memory properties, thus they have been led to undergo sophisticated movements such as contraction/expansion, bending, creeping, and rotation and further assembled to various smart soft actuators, which have wide applications in artificial muscles, microrobots, micropumps, microvalves and so on. This article summarizes the recent progress of light-driven soft actuators made of photoresponsive liquid crystal polymers, gels, and shape-memory polymers. Their driven mechanism and development prospect are also described.

Firstly, two synthetic methods of polyolefin/polyester (polyether)copolymers, transformation of polymerization mechanism and polymer coupling, are reviewed. The first one can be divided into five methodologies: (1) the chain transfer reaction in the polyolefin polymerization/anionic ring-opening polymerization; (2) the chain transfer reaction in the polyolefin polymerization/coordination-insertion ring-opening polymerization; (3) the living anionic polymerization/ anionic ring-opening polymerization; (4) the anion living polymerization/anionic ring-opening polymerization; (5) the living polymerization of ylides/coordination-insertion ring-opening polymerization. Then, the application of such polyolefin/polyester (polyether) copolymers is described. Finally, the prospect of the synthesis and application of the functional polyolefin is also foreseen.

Polyurethane (PU) is one of the most important polymer materials due to its excellent properties, such as durability, impact resistance, stress relaxation, tear resistance and adhesion. However, isocyanate, which is a key monomer for conventional PU, has some drawbacks such as high toxicity and sensitivity to moisture. Also, urethane group is poorly resistant to hydrolysis.The reaction between cyclic carbonates and primary amines is a promising nonisocyanate route to produce PU. Nonisocyanate polyurethanes (NIPUs) produced by this method are more resistant to hydrolysis and have better mechanical properties due to the formation of intramolecular hydrogen bonds within the hydrourethane groups. In this paper, the formation mechanism of NIPUs is introduced. The synthesis methods of cyclic carbonate group and its catalyst systems are summarized. The progress of synthesis of cyclic carbonate oligomers and NIPUs as well as their applications are reviewed. Also, the reasons why NIPUs have not yet been widely commercially available and the research prospects are discussed.

Hindered amines have been used as UV stabilizers for a long period. The recent attempt to improve the properties of hindered amines revealed that the N-alkoxyoxy hindered amines(NORs) poss excellent flame retardancy. In this article, the chemical structure, properties, synthesis methods, flame-retardant mechanism of NORs and their application in polyolefins are systematically reviewed. NORs are synthesized through the reaction of 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine derivatives with alkyl radicals in several steps with the presence of catalysts. The mechanism of NORs as flame retardant(FR) in polyolefins is generally based on the thermolysis of NORs that leads to the formation of efficient and regenerable free radical scavengers. NORs are involved in the free radical chemical reactions during the combustion process and reduce the free radicals concentration by converting them into alcohols and ketones that are relatively stable. Furthermore, NORs can interact with conventional brominated or phosphorus-based FR through radical reactions in the condensed phase, resulting in improved FR efficiency. Researches indicate that NORs provide excellent FR performance for thin polyolefin section such as fibers and films at unexpected low concentration. The loading as low as 0.5wt% can result in satisfied flame retardancy. Moreover, they have a good synergistic effect in combination with conventional FR to improve their efficiency, so the loading of conventional FR can be significantly decreased. Additionally, NORs also provide polyolefin with excellent UV stability and long-term thermal stability.

Precisely shaped polymer particles are widely used for various applications, especially in the design of new carriers for drug delivery, micro- or nano- nonspherical polymer particles exhibit more obvious advantages to their corresponding spherical particles, such as in the drug release, in vivo transportation, circulation, targeting ability, the swallow speed by the cells, and the adhesion behavior on in vascular wall. If we can prepare the nonspherical particles with specific shape for the drug carriers it will greatly enhance in vivo therapy efficiency. But in the particle research field, until now, spherical system research is in the dominate position, so it’s necessary to summarize the preparation methods of the micro- or nano- nonspherical polymer particles. In this review, 14 preparation methods (microfluidics, stretching of spherical particles, porous silica, template and particles self-assembly, particle replication in nonwetting templates, reactive ion etching, electrospray, ion beam irradiation, controlled phase separation in seeded polymerization, miniemulsion polymerization, local surface modification at the Interface, amphiphilic macromolecule self-assembly, oil-in-water emulsion solvent evaporation technique, Y-shape surfactant) as well as their advantages and disadvantages of micro- or nano- nonspherical polymer particles are introduced in detail. These methods could be joined up to prepare more complex shapes.

Liquid phase deposition (LPD) technique, developed from wet chemical processing, is a new thin film-forming method to create thin oxide films from aqueous solutions. Due to the distinguishing characteristic of LPD, it has received increasing interest in recent years and been widely used in many fields, especially in the preparation of functional oxide coatings for integrated circuit, metal oxide semiconducting nanomaterials, biosensor, photocatalysis and antibacterial materials. In current review, we first briefly introduced the basic principles and characteristics of LPD and then summarized previous empirical studies for the preparation of metal oxide thin films fabricated by using LPD technique. Furthermore, the applications of LPD method in analytical chemistry, such as the preparation of separation media for chromatography and solid-phase extraction, chemical sensors and composited electrodes, were discussed in detail. At last, the future development and application of LPD in analytical chemistry is prospected.

Laccases belonging to multicopper oxidases are widely existed in nature especially fungi. Laccases catalyze oxidation of a wide variety of substrates with the reduction of dioxygen to water through a four electron mechanism. Copper-active center participates the process as a prosthetic group. The perfect electrochemical characteristic of laccase makes it an ideal catalyst in biocathode. The paper reviews the latest developments of laccase as a redox-protein in the field of electrochemistry. The structure, source, bioelectrocatalysis mechanism (reduction of dioxygen and formation of reaction intermediate, potential of copper-active center, DET and MET, factors affected electrocatalytic activity of laccase), the materials and immobilization of electrode modified with laccases, applications in electrochemistry are summarized. The main problems and prospects of laccases in electrochemistry are presented.

Mesoporous organic-inorganic hybrid materials have been obtained through the coupling of inorganic and organic components by template synthesis. The incorporation of functionalities onto material pore surfaces or into the frameworks can be achieved by post-synthesis grafting or co-condensation method. The classification and synthesis methods of hybrid mesoporous silica materials are reviewed. Besides, the applications of hybrid materials in environmental protection are highlighted, including removal and recovery of metal cations, oxyanions, organic pollutants and gases. The outlook of the organic-inorganic hybrid mesoporous silicas is provided.

In this paper, the research progress on organic/inorganic bone regeneration materials in the last 5 years is reviewed. According to the different composition of materials, the advantages and disadvantages of each material on the biocompatability, biodegradability, bioactivity and mechanical property are discussed respectively. In addition, the problems in bone regeneration field are analyzed and the prospect of artificial bone substitute materials is made.