Recently, a novel progress in electron transport has been made by Prof. Bu Yuxiang’s research group, at the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, and relevant results entitled “Solvation and Evolution Dynamics of an Excess Electron in Supercritical CO2” were published online in a recent issue of the journal of Phys. Rev. Lett. (Wang, Zhiping, Bu, Yuxiang*, et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 2012, 108(20), 207601), a highly- respected journal in the field of physics.

The description of the basic motion behaviors of electrons continues to be a fundamental problem in chemistry, physics and other multidisciplinary area. Exploration into the motion behaviors of various kinds of electrons has not only been one of the theoretical hot topics in the fields as a whole, but also presented a challenge for experimental evidence.

In the work, on the basis of a large scale of ab initio calculations and first-principles molecular dynamics simulations, the authors investigated the solvation phenomenon of a “free electron” in supercritical CO2, a medium that has extensive background application, with some of the findings which were regarding novel structures and states of the solvated electron, and unveiled its time evolution dynamics. The work provides some important information for a deeper understanding of the states and superfast dynamics of such kinds of “electrons” in various soft matters or fluids.

Free electrons possess quite unique properties and superfast dynamics which are distinctly different from those the valent electrons have, and are closely associated with the storage, conversion, and transfer of energy. They also play very important roles in life process, atmospheric and environmental science, functional materials, and many other fields. In particular, in materials science and molecular electronics, these kinds of free electrons could significantly affect and even determine the properties of molecules, molecular clusters, aggregates, and bulky materials, and even make them more unique properties.

In recent years, Prof. Bu’s research group has made a series of progresses in the storage and transport of charge, energy, and matter, ionic and molecular transport, and molecular design of conductive materials, etc. under support by funds such as the NSFC key project. More than several tens research articles of their investigations have been published in journals such as J. Am. Chem. Soc., Phys. Rev. Lett., J. Phys. Chem. B/C/Letters, PhysChemChemPhys, J. Chem. Phys. etc.

Written by: Liu Jinxiang

Edited by: Lawrence Phillips, Jing Zizhao

Source: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering,www.view.sdu.edu.cn