1. Corrosion self-diagnosing and self-repairing polymeric coatings based on zeolitic imidazolate framework decorated hydroxyapatite nanocontainer on steel. Chengbao liu, Li Cheng, Lanyue Cui, Bei Qian, Rongchang Zeng.  Chemical Engineering Journal (IF16.744), 431, Part 4,  2022, 133476.

Fig. 1 Schematic demonstration of protection mechanism of containers embedded smart coating.

       This work presents a facial strategy to construct a smart nanocomposite coating with excellent shielding, corrosion self-diagnosing and self-repairing functions by integrating nanocontainers into epoxy resin. The nanocontainers were synthesized through decorating the hydroxyapatite sheets with zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (HA-ZIF), which were employed to encapsulate corrosion probe (Phenanthroline, Phen). With the occurrence of localized corrosion, Phen molecules could be timely released and reacted with the metal ions to form conspicuous red color at damaged sites, achieving real time corrosion diagnosing function. Given the stimulus responsive property of ZIF, the corrosion propagating process can be significantly inhibited by the released benzimidazole. As contrast of the traditional nanocontainers applied in anticorrosion coating, the inhibitors were used directly to synthesis the HA-ZIF nanocontainer rather than subsequent loading, which greatly improved inhibitors content in nanocontainers. Moreover, the impermeability of composite coating has been remarkably enhanced by the presence of HA sheets, ensuring the long-term protective performance. Importantly, the integrating multi functions in one coating is realized in the ingeniously designed nanocontainers. It is envisioned that the facial and feasible strategy provides insights in improving the longevity, functionality and reliability of protective coatings.

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2. Effectively enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen production performance of one-pot synthesized MoS₂ clusters/CdS nanorod heterojunction material under visible light. Chemical Engineering Journal, Volume 345, 2018, Pages 404-413.

       The MoS2 clusters/CdS (CMo/CdS) nanorod (NR) heterojunction photocatalysts were prepared through a simple one-pot solvothermal method under lower temperature. The cluster-structured MoS2 is uniformly dispersed on the surface of CdS NRs, and the MoS2 modification does not change the crystal structure and morphology of CdS NRs. The modification of MoS2 can significantly enhance the photocatalytic hydrogen production performance of CdS NRs. When the molar ratio of MoS2 to CdS NRs is 3%, the CMo/CdS NRs has the highest photocatalytic hydrogen evolution rate, 12.38 mmol·g−1·h−1, which is 17.4 times that of CdS NRs. The enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen production performance can be attributed to the co-catalytic action of MoS2, which can accelerate the photocatalytic hydrogen production process of CdS NRs. Meanwhile, MoS2 can reduce the surface resistance of CdS NRs and improve the transmission of the photogenerated electrons to the surface of CdS NRs, resulting in the significant decrease of the recombination rate of the photogenerated electrons and holes, and thus promoting the photocatalytic hydrogen production performance of CdS NRs.