In this study, aluminum pyrophosphate (Al4(P2O7)3) was synthesized successfully and applied to adsorb radioactive uranyl ions from aqueous solutions. The material displayed an excellent sorption capacity of removing U(VI) (12.83mg·g−1), achieved a relatively high adsorption percentage (71%) within an hour. In order to reveal its adsorption mechanism, the materials before and after adsorption of U(VI) were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The factors affecting the adsorption performance, such as shaking time, pH value, ionic strength, temperature and so on, were investigated. Based on the above research, the results demonstrated that the chemical adsorption plays a leading role in the process of adsorption, the adsorption process is more suitable to monolayer adsorption, and the adsorption thermodynamics results suggested the adsorption process was spontaneous (ΔG°<0) and exothermic (ΔH°>0). Moreover, the ionic strength and pH have important influence on the sorption of U(VI). Those researches may be valuable for the application of aluminum pyrophosphate in the area of radioactive water pollution governance.

TiCl-ing your fancy: A simple and highly efficient synthetic method for the preparation of indolizines from the reaction of 2-enoylpyridines with sulfonamides in the presence of TiCl4 under mild conditions has been developed. A subsequent phosphine-catalyzed aza-Michael reaction of the corresponding indolizines with vinyl ketones and activated allenes was also developed, which affords highly functionalized indolizines in excellent yields under mild conditions. As a service to our authors and readers, this journal provides supporting information supplied by the authors. Such materials are peer reviewed and may be re-organized for online delivery, but are not copy-edited or typeset. Technical support issues arising from supporting information (other than missing files) should be addressed to the authors. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.

In recent years, a new type ER fluids named as polar-molecule-dominated electrorheological (PM-ER) fluids have been developed, of which the yield stress can reach more than 100 kPa and behaves a linear dependence on the electric field. A brief description on the composition and synthesizing method for the materials is given. The main merits of PM-ER fluid are as follows: high yield stress, the shear stress increasing with shear rate up to more than 10 3 s -1 , low current density, rapid electric response and anti-sedimentation. Some perspectives on PM-ER fluid and its applications are presented.

Photo-induced degradation of a monolayer of Ru(Ⅱ) complex absorbed on anatase TiO2 thin film was studied by using resonant micro-Raman spectroscopy. Under intense light radiation of a laser and in the absence of a reducing agent, the dye decomposed quickly. When the dye-sensitized TiO2 thin film electrode was covered by a reducing agent, namely the I-/I3- redox couple, the photo-induced decomposing rate was slowed by a factor of ~106. In both cases, the dye decomposed with time under an exponential law.