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The synthesis of open-chain, tetrapyrrolic 2,2'-bisdipyrrin ligands was investigated, starting from a variety of different pyrrolic and 2,2'-bipyrrolic precursors. Four important observations were made: (1) The solubility of 2,2'-bisdipyrrins can easily be tuned through the peripheral substituent pattern, allowing the aimed preparation of both well-soluble and hardly soluble tetrapyrroles. (2) meso-Arylsubstituted 2,2'-bisdipyrrins are easily available from respective p- and m-, but not o-functionalized dibenzoyl bipyrroles due to sterical effects. (3) Unsymmetric derivatives can be obtained by the stepwise acylation of 2,2'-bipyrroles and concomitant condensation reactions, using the new 5-benzoyl-3,3',4,4'-tetraethyl-2,2'-bipyrrole as the key intermediate. (4) meta-Nitrophenyl groups in the periphery of 2,2'-bisdipyrrins can be reduced to aminophenyl groups and further derivatized in analogy to a reaction cascade used in porphyrin chemistry, yielding superstructured 2,2'-bisdipyrrins. The synthetic schemes developed open the way for a large variety of tailor-made 2,2'-bisdipyrrin ligands.

We study the two-dimensional Ising model with competing nearest-neighbour and diagonal interactions and investigate the phase diagram of this model. We show that the ground state at low temperatures is ordered either as stripes or as the Néel antiferromagnet. However, we also demonstrate that the energy of defects and dislocations in the lattice is close to the ground state of the system. Therefore, many locally stable (or metastable) states associated with local energy minima separated by energy barriers may appear forming a glass-like state.

We discuss the results in connection with two physically different systems. First, we deal with planar clusters of loops including a Josephson π-junction (a π-rings). Each π-ring carries a persistent current and behaves as a classical orbital moment. The type of particular state associated with the orientation of orbital moments in the cluster depends on the interaction between these orbital moments and can be easily controlled, i.e. by a bias current or by other means. Second, we apply the model to the analysis of the structure of the newly discovered two-dimensional form of carbon, graphene. Carbon atoms in graphene form a planar honeycomb lattice. Actually, the graphene plane is not ideal but corrugated. The displacement of carbon atoms up and down from the plane can be also described in terms of Ising spins, the interaction of which determines the complicated shape of the corrugated graphene plane.

The obtained results may be verified in experiments and are also applicable to adiabatic quantum computing where the states are switched adiabatically with the slow change of coupling constant.

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The development of photocatalysts with wide UV-Vis-near-infrared (NIR) photoabsorption has received tremendous interest for utilizing sunlight efficiently. In this work, Cu₂(OH)PO₄ superstructures are prepared by a simple hydrothermal route, and they have strong bandgap absorption in UV-Visible region and a distinctive plasmon resonance absorption in NIR region. Under the synergetic illumination of visible light and 980nm laser (3.0Wcm${}^{-2}$), Cu₂(OH)PO₄ superstructures can degrade 89.2% MB with the elevated temperature ($\sim$51^∘C) of solution, which is higher than that from visible light group (50.0%), laser group (16.4%), and visible-light/exterior-heating group (62.5%, same temperature at $\sim$51.0^∘C). These facts reveal that Cu₂(OH)PO₄ superstructures exhibit NIR-laser enhanced photocatalytic activity, which not only comes from the photothermal effect-induced temperature elevation, but also mainly results from the increased production of photogenerated electron-hole pairs by NIR-laser. Therefore, Cu₂(OH)PO₄ superstructures can act as efficient photocatalyst with NIR-laser enhanced photocatalytic activity.

We study the two-dimensional Ising model with competing nearest-neighbour and diagonal interactions and investigate the phase diagram of this model. We show that the ground state at low temperatures is ordered either as stripes or as the Néel antiferromagnet. However, we also demonstrate that the energy of defects and dislocations in the lattice is close to the ground state of the system. Therefore, many locally stable (or metastable) states associated with local energy minima separated by energy barriers may appear forming a glass-like state.

We discuss the results in connection with two physically different systems. First, we deal with planar clusters of loops including a Josephson π-junction (a π-rings). Each π-ring carries a persistent current and behaves as a classical orbital moment. The type of particular state associated with the orientation of orbital moments in the cluster depends on the interaction between these orbital moments and can be easily controlled, i.e. by a bias current or by other means. Second, we apply the model to the analysis of the structure of the newly discovered two-dimensional form of carbon, graphene. Carbon atoms in graphene form a planar honeycomb lattice. Actually, the graphene plane is not ideal but corrugated. The displacement of carbon atoms up and down from the plane can be also described in terms of Ising spins, the interaction of which determines the complicated shape of the corrugated graphene plane.

The obtained results may be verified in experiments and are also applicable to adiabatic quantum computing where the states are switched adiabatically with the slow change of coupling constant.