Emerging Materials for Interfacial Solar-Driven Water Purification

Solar-driven water purification is considered as an effective and sustainable technology for water treatment using green solar energy. One major goal for practical applications is to improve the solar evaporation performance by the design of novel photothermal materials, with optimized heat localization and water transport pathways to achieve reduced energy consumption for water vaporization. Recently, some emerging materials like polymers, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), covalent organic frameworks (COFs) and also single molecules were employed to construct novel solar evaporation systems. In this minireview, we present an overview of the recent efforts on materials development for water purification systems. The state-of-the-art applications of these emerging materials for solar-driven water treatment, including desalination, wastewater purification, sterilization and energy production, are also summarized.     

太阳能海水脱盐中光热材料与蒸发装置的研究进展

用于海水脱盐的太阳能界面蒸发装置因其绿色环保、简单高效以及适用范围广等优点,受到了广泛关注。与传统的体积式蒸发装置不同,太阳能界面蒸发装置将太阳光的收集和蒸汽的产生锁定在空气-水的界面,无需从底部加热整体水来产生蒸汽,极大提高了能源利用效率。本文详细介绍了太阳能界面水蒸发装置的重要组成部分——光热材料的光热转换机理、材料种类以及材料的性能;探讨了高效海水净化太阳能蒸发装置的设计策略(增强光吸收、充足水供应、耐盐排盐等)。在此基础上,总结了基于界面蒸发中的太阳能蒸发装置的研究进展,展望了新型太阳能蒸发装置在海水净化领域的发展前景。     

Benzotriazole Based 2D-conjugated Polymer Donors for High Performance Polymer Solar Cells

To design high efficiency polymer solar cells(PSCs), it is of great importance to develop suitable polymer donors that work well with the low bandgap acceptors, providing complementary absorption, forming interpenetrating networks in the active layers and minimizing energy loss. Recently, we developed a series of two-dimension-conjugated polymers based on bithienylbenzodithiophene-alt-benzotriazole backbone bearing different conjugated side chains, generally called J-series polymers. They are medium energy bandgap(Eg) polymers(Eg of ca. 1.80 eV)with strong absorptions in the range of 400-650 nm, and exhibit ordered crystalline structures, high hole mobilities, and more interestingly,tunable energy levels depending on the structure variations. In this feature article, we highlight our recent efforts on the design and synthesis of those J-series polymer donors, including an introduction on the polymer design strategy and emphasis on the crucial function of differential conjugated side chain. Finally, the future opportunities and challenges of the J-series polymers in PSCs are discussed.     

Conjugated polymers containing B←N unit as electron acceptors for all-polymer solar cells

Polymer electron acceptors are the key materials in all-polymer solar cells(all-PSCs).In this review,we focused on introducing the principle of boron-nitrogen coordination bond(B←N),and summarizing our recent research on polymer electron acceptors containing B←N unit for efficient all-PSC devices.Two approaches have been reported to design polymer electron acceptors using B←N unit.One is to replace a C-C unit by a B←N unit in conjugated polymers to transform a polymer electron donor to a polymer electron acceptor.The other approach is to construct novel electron-deficient building block based on B←N unit for polymer electron acceptors.The polymer electron acceptors containing B←N unit showed tunable lowest unoccupied molecular orbital(LUMO) energy levels and exhibited excellent all-PSC device performance with power conversion efficiency of exceeding6%.These results indicate that organic boron chemistry is a new toolbox to develop functional polymer materials for optoelectronic device applications.     

钙钛矿光伏电池封装材料与工艺研究进展

钙钛矿太阳能电池作为第3代新概念太阳能电池,具有高光电转换效率、低成本和可柔性加工等优点,近年来发展迅速,其光电转换效率从一开始的3.8%增长到近期的25.5%,逐渐比肩硅电池,已接近商业化应用水平。目前,实现钙钛矿太阳能电池产业应用的关键环节在于电池封装,它不仅可以解决钙钛矿光伏器件稳定性问题,还可以实现电池安全、环保和延长使用寿命等要求。结合近十几年来钙钛矿光伏电池封装材料和封装工艺两方面的发展现状,文中介绍了钙钛矿电池封装领域取得的成果和存在的不足,讨论了目前现有封装技术的优缺点,以及它们适用的不同器件类型。着重在不同温度湿度条件下,比较了不同封装材料性能、封装工艺条件对钙钛矿电池效率及稳定性的影响,归纳出影响钙钛矿电池薄膜封装效果的3个关键因素： 聚合物的弹性模量、水蒸气透过率、加工温度。比较了不同聚合物薄膜封装材料适宜的加工温度、优缺点及加工成本。可以看出,随着钙钛矿光伏电池工业化需求的强烈增长和人们对其封装材料研究的不断深入,研究适合大面积生产和光伏建筑一体化的新型功能聚合物封装材料将是必然趋势。     

Tunable light‐harvesting polymers containing embedded dipolar chromophores for polymer solar cell applications

A series of light‐harvesting conjugated polymers were designed and synthesized for polymer solar cells. These newly designed polymers comprise an unusual two‐dimensional conjugated structure with an electron‐rich thiophene–triphenylamine backbone and stable planar indacenodithiophene π‐bridges terminated with tunable electron acceptors. It was found that the electron‐withdrawing strength of the acceptor could be used to manipulate the energy level of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital and bandgap (as much as 0.3 eV), generating derivatives with complementary absorbance in the visible spectrum. This approach provides great flexibility in fine tuning the electronic and optical properties of the resultant polymers and facilitates the investigation of how these chemical modifications alter the subsequent photovoltaic properties of these materials. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012     

Heavy metal complex containing organic/polymer materials for bulk-heterojunction photovoltaic devices

The application of heavy-metal complexes in bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells is a promising new research field which has attracted increasing attention, due to their strong spin-orbit coupling for efficient singlet to triplet intersystem crossing. This review article focuses on recent advances of heavy metal complex containing organic and polymer materials as photovoltaic donors in BHJ solar cells. Platinum-acetylide containing oligomersor and polymers have been firstly illustrated due to the good solubility, square planar structure, as well as the fairly strong Pt-Pt interaction. Then the cyclometalated Pt or Ir complex containing conjugated oligomers and polymers are presented in which the triplet organometallic compounds are embedded into the organic/polymer backbone either through cyclometalated main ligand or the auxiliary ligand. Pure triplet small molecular cyclometalated Ir complex are also briefly introduced. Besides the chemical modification, physical doping of cyclometalated heavy metal complexes as additives into the photovoltaic active layers is finally demonstrated.     

共轭高分子光电功能材料的多尺度性能研究——聚合物电子学领域中的新机遇

共轭高分子材料特异的金属或半导体的电子特性兼有质轻、价廉、易于加工的优点使其在有机场效应晶体管、有机太阳能电池和有机发光二极管等领域显示了重要的应用前景.然而,尽管经过几十年的不断研究,共轭高分子材料种类及其相关器件性能均已得到显著发展,但是共轭高分子材料的本征电荷传输特性仍不清楚,其研究面临巨大挑战,这主要是由共轭高分子材料本身分子量分布弥散、分子间相互缠结以及在常规旋涂薄膜器件中分子高度无序等特性所决定的.从调控共轭高分子聚集态结构的角度出发,不断提高共轭高分子的结构有序性及减小电荷传输过程中的晶界及缺陷密度,是实现共轭高分子材料本征性能认识的有效途径之一.本文首先简单归纳总结了研究者在共轭高分子多尺度聚集态结构调控及性能研究方面的初步结果,进一步结合国内外相关研究进展,重点对共轭高分子晶体方面的工作展开详细介绍,最后对该领域未来发展的挑战及机遇进行了简单评述.     

聚合物光伏材料与器件研究进展

高效率的聚合物太阳电池依赖于光吸收活性层材料对太阳光能量的充分利用．电极界面材料将光吸收活性层产生的空穴和电子分别快速高效地抽取到阳极和阴极,并通过进一步改进光伏器件的结构提升能量转换效率和稳定性．本课题组在光吸收活性层中新型聚合物给体材料、新型电极界面材料、利用水／醇性电极界面材料制作新型倒装器件结构的太阳电池方面取得重要进展,推动了太阳电池在能量转换效率和稳定性方面的突破．     

Laser-assisted synthesis of cobalt@N-doped carbon nanotubes decorated channels and pillars of wafer-sized silicon as highly efficient three-dimensional solar evaporator

The Co@NCNTs/Si pillars with channels is assemble to a suitable pure water gathering device, which is applied in seawater desalination and sewage purification to produce pure water by utilizing solar energy. High-efficiency utilization of solar energy to generate water vapor is popular, recyclable, and environmentally friendly for seawater desalination and sewage purification, helping to alleviate the global water shortage crisis. Here, we report an efficient and simple method to prepare a three-dimensional (3D) evaporator for steam generation by harnessing the power of the sun. This evaporation is composed of one-dimensional (1D) cobalt embedded and nitrogen doped carbon nanotubes (Co@NCNTs) and 3D silicon pillars array structure (Si pillars). The Co@NCNTs/Si pillars shows a wide light absorption range provided by carbon nanotubes and a long light absorption path because of the silicon pillars. The surface temperature of the sample rises rapidly in 1.5 min and exceed 80 °C under solar illumination of one sun. The water evaporation can be high as 1.21 kg m⁻² h⁻¹ under one sun irradiation (1 kW/m²) with the energy efficiency up to 82.4%. This scalable Co@NCNTs/Si pillars can prepare pure water from seawater and sewage, where the removal rate of ions in seawater and pollutants in sewage is similar to 100%. Based on our research, this multistage three-dimensional structure is a simple and efficient novel photothermal material for extensive seawater desalination and sewage purification.     

Recent Progress in the Application of Polyoxometalates for Dye‐sensitized/Organic Solar Cells

At present, high efficiency and low fabrication cost are still the main goal that people pursuit for next‐generation solar cells such as dye‐sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) and organic solar cells (OPVs). Polyoxometalates (POMs), as an environmentally friendly material, are a type of stable, low cost and soluble oxide clusters with desirable features, including highly tunable structural properties, peculiar optoelectronic properties and excellent redox properties. Thus, during the recent years, POMs have been increasingly recognized as important building blocks for DSSCs and OPVs. In this review, the development of various molecular and hybrid materials derived from POMs is discussed with regard to the function in solar cells.     

Recent development of perylene diimide-based small molecular non-fullerene acceptors in organic solar cells

This review summarizes the recent progress of perylene diimide (PDI) derivatives used as the acceptor materials in non-fullerene organic solar cells. The resulting structure-property correlations and design strategies of this type of acceptors are discussed and commented, which will help to constructing high-performance PDI-based acceptor materials in the future. The problems at present and the effort direction are also pointed out in this review.     

裁剪型有机光伏小分子及其衍生物的研究与应用#

有机太阳能电池光电转化效率已经突破13%,这主要归因于活性层材料的不断丰富与改进。其中,以聚合物为母体的裁剪型分子,其相比于聚合物具有明确的分子量,共轭长度可调,高消光系数,优良的结晶性等优势。本文简要介绍裁剪型分子在二元本体异质结体系,三元体系,非富勒烯体系中的应用及我们组的相关研究工作,总结了其特点并对其应用前景做了展望。     

Side-chain engineering of high-efficiency conjugated polymer photovoltaic materials

In recent years,conjugated polymers have attracted great attention in the application as photovoltaic donor materials in polymer solar cells(PSCs).Broad absorption,lower-energy bandgap,higher hole mobility,relatively lower HOMO energy levels,and higher solubility are important for the conjugated polymer donor materials to achieve high photovoltaic performance.Side-chain engineering plays a very important role in optimizing the physicochemical properties of the conjugated polymers.In this article,we review recent progress on the side-chain engineering of conjugated polymer donor materials,including the optimization of flexible side-chains for balancing solubility and intermolecular packing(aggregation),electron-withdrawing substituents for lowering HOMO energy levels,and two-dimension(2D)-conjugated polymers with conjugated side-chains for broadening absorption and enhancing hole mobility.After the molecular structural optimization by side-chain engineering,the2D-conjugated polymers based on benzodithiophene units demonstrated the best photovoltaic performance,with powerconversion efficiency higher than 9%.     

Fourier transform infrared study on the sorption of water to various kinds of polymer thin films

The state of sorbed water and the sorbing processes of water to various polymer thin films were studied with Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. To prepare the polymer films, we used poly(ethylene glycol)s of different molecular weights and various kinds of vinyl polymers, such as poly(2‐methoxyethyl acrylate). The O? H stretching band of water sorbed in the films increased gradually on contact with water vapor at 50% relative humidity and leveled off. When O? H stretching bands of water sorbed to polymer films were compared, the peak positions and profiles of water sorbed to the polymeric materials with the same hydrogen‐bonding site were similar. A hybrid density‐functional method supported the assignment of the peaks. Furthermore, the diffusion coefficient (D) of water vapor in the polymer films was estimated by time‐resolved measurements of the sorbed water at the very initial stage (0–830 s). It was clearly shown that the D values of water vapor in the polymer materials with a strong hydrogen‐bonding site were smaller than those in hydrophobic polymers. The usefulness of the FTIR technique to investigate water sorption to polymer materials was definitely demonstrated. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 39: 2175–2182, 2001     

高效聚合物光伏材料研究进展

聚合物光伏电池因具有重量轻、成本低以及可制成柔性大面积器件等优点而具有广阔的应用前景.近年来,采用共轭聚合物作为光伏电池活性层材料的研究进展十分迅速.本文介绍了聚合物光伏电池的工作原理和器件结构,综述了聚合物材料作为给体,在体相异质结型光伏器件中的最新研究进展,并对今后进一步提高这类电池的能量转换效率问题进行了探讨.     

Optimizing Photovoltaic Performance by Kinetic Quenching of Layered Heterojunctions

The mixing morphology control plays a crucial role in photovoltaic power generation,yet this specific effect on device performances remains elusive.Here,we employed computational approaches to delineate the photovoltaic properties of layered heterojunction polymer solar cells with tunable mixing morphologies.One-step quench and two-step quench strategies were proposed to adjust the mixing morphology by thermodynamic and kinetic effects.The computation for the one-step quench revealed that modulating interfacial widths and interfacial roughness could significantly promote the photovoltaic performance of layered heterojunction polymer solar cells.The two-step quench can provide a buffer at a lower temperature before the kinetic quenching,leading to the formation of small-length-scale islands connected to the interface and a further increase in photovoltaic performance.Our discoveries are supported by recent experimental evidence and are anticipated to guide the design of photovoltaic materials with optimal performance.     

Imide-Functionalized Polymer Semiconductors

Imide-functionalized π-conjugated polymer semiconductors have received a great deal of interest owing to their unique physicochemical properties and optoelectronic characteristics, including excellent solubility, highly planar backbones, widely tunable band gaps and energy levels of frontier molecular orbitals, and good film morphology. The organic electronics community has witnessed rapid expansion of the materials library and remarkable improvement in device performance recently. This review summarizes the development of imide-functionalized polymer semiconductors as well as their device performance in organic thin-film transistors and polymer solar cells, mainly achieved in the past three years. The materials mainly cover naphthalene diimide, perylene diimide, and bithiophene imide, and other imide-based polymer semiconductors are also discussed. The perspective offers our insights for developing new imide-functionalized building blocks and polymer semiconductors with optimized optoelectronic properties. We hope that this review will generate more research interest in the community to realize further improved device performance by developing new imide-functionalized polymer semiconductors.     

高分子功能材料图案化制备及其在光电领域的应用

基于半导体高分子功能材料的新型光电器件因其兼容性好、成本低、加工处理方便等特点逐渐走入人们的视野.加工集成高性能高分子光电器件需要用到可控图案化技术,这也将成为未来物联网、光通信、智能社会的基础核心技术.近年来,许多致力于此方面的研究取得了重要的成果.本文总结了各类高分子材料图案化技术,包括光刻法、模具诱导法、印刷法、浸润性调控组装法的技术特点,然后归纳了高分子图案化技术在场效应晶体管、光电探测器、气体传感器、电致发光二极管、光伏器件等光电器件领域的研究进展,最后对未来这一领域发展的挑战与机遇进行了展望.     

Review on the Role of Polymers in Luminescent Solar Concentrators

The use of luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) offers an alternative approach to integrating photovoltaic technologies into the built environment. The research on LSCs has bloomed in the past decade in terms of searching for novel device architectures, developing new luminescent species, and employing unique host materials. This article will provide a concise review on LSCs and focus on the polymer host materials used in LSCs. Finally, we provide a brief outlook on the future development of this research area, particularly on the polymers used as host materials and luminescent species for LSCs. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2019 , 57, 201–215