High-Performance Organic Field-effect Transistors from Functionalized Zinc Meso-Porphyrins

A series of new zinc porphyrins were synthesized, and their charge transport property was tuned by introducing various groups. Triarylamine was introduced to the porphyrin moiety at the meso-position as an electron donor, enhancing the charge carrier mobility. All the synthesized zinc porphyrins are thermally stable with a decomposition temperature over 178 °C. High frontier molecular orbitals levels of these compounds make them stable donor materials. SEM analysis of zinc porphyrins fabricated by spin-coating resulted in diversely self-assembled films. Field-effect transistors were fabricated using bottom-gate/top-contact architecture (BGTC) by solution-processable technique. The higher charge carrier mobility of 5.17 cm²/Vs with on/off of 10⁶ was obtained for trifluoromethyl substituted compound due to better molecular packing. In addition, GIXRD analysis revealed zinc porphyrins films crystalline nature, which supports its better charge carrier mobility. The present investigation has validated that zinc porphyrin building blocks are an attractive candidate for p-channel OFET devices.     

Probing Absolute Electronic Energy Levels in Hg‐Doped CdTe Semiconductor Nanocrystals by Electrochemistry and Density Functional Theory

The absolute electronic energy levels in Hg‐doped CdTe semiconductor nanocrystals (CdHgTe NCs) with varying sizes/volumes and Hg contents are determined by using cyclic voltammetry (CV) measurements and density functional theory (DFT) ‐based calculations. The electrochemical measurements demonstrate several distinct characteristic features in the form of oxidation and reduction peaks in the voltammograms, where the peak positions are dependent on the volume of CdHgTe NCs as well as on their composition. The estimated absolute electronic energy levels for three different volumes, namely 22, 119 and 187 nm³ with 2.7±0.3 % of Hg content, show strong volume dependence. The volume‐dependent shift in the characteristic reduction and oxidation peak potential scan can be attributed to the alteration in the energetic band positions owing to the quantum confinement effect. Moreover, the composition (Cd/Hg=98.3/1.7 and 97.0/3.0) ‐dependent alteration in the electronic energy levels of CdHgTe NCs for two different samples with similar volumes (ca. 124±5 nm³) are shown. Thus obtained electronic energy level values of CdHgTe NCs as a function of volume and composition demonstrate good congruence with the corresponding absorption and emission spectral data, as well as with DFT‐based calculations. DFT calculations reveal that incorporation of Hg into CdTe NCs mostly affects the energy levels of conduction band edge, whereas the valence band edge remains almost unaltered.     

Basic Ionic Liquid Promoted Domino Knoevenagel–Thia‐Michael Reaction: An Efficient and Multicomponent Strategy for Synthesis of 1,3‐Thiazines

An efficient, three‐component strategy for synthesis of 1,3‐thiazines with high atom economy in one‐pot mediated by room temperature basic ionic liquid is described here. The strategy involves basic ionic liquid, [bmim]OH‐catalyzed Knoevenagel condensation between ethyl cyanoacetate and aromatic aldehyde and subsequent thia‐Michael addition with substituted thioureas. The reaction sequence is smooth and quantitative under ambient temperature. [bmim]OH was recovered and reused four times without any appreciable decrease in its reactivity and product yield.     

Growth of highly oriented crystalline polyaniline films by self-organization

Silicon substrates with (100) orientation were modified with amino-silane self-assembled monolayer (SAM) to provide amino (NH(2)) moieties at the substrate surface. Self-organization of polyaniline during chemical polymerization, on this modified surface, leads to the growth of highly oriented films at the substrate-polymer interface. The morphology studied using scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy revealed the formation of polymer film with well faceted pyramidal crystallites. XPS and FTIR spectroscopy were used to analyze the chemical structure of the film. X-ray diffraction measurements show the crystalline nature of the polyaniline, whose lattice parameters are in agreement with the reported values. This study underlines the importance of a SAM in deciding the structure and morphology of the deposited polymer.     

A fragment-based approach towards <Emphasis Type="Italic">ab-initio</Emphasis> treatment of polymeric materials

The present study deals with hypersurface-homogeneous cosmological models with anisotropic dark energy in Saez–Ballester theory of gravitation. Exact solutions of field equations are obtained by applying a special law of variation of Hubble’s parameter that yields a constant negative value of the deceleration parameter. Three physically viable cosmological models of the Universe are presented for the values of parameter K occurring in the metric of the space–time. The model for K = 0 corresponds to an accelerating Universe with isotropic dark energy. The other two models for K = 1 and ?1 represent accelerating Universe with anisotropic dark energy, which isotropize for large time. The physical and geometric behaviours of the models are also discussed.     

Comparison of Spectroscopic and Lasing Properties of Different Types of Sol-Gel Glass Matrices Containing Rh-6G

Rhodamine-6G (Rh-6G) is embedded in sol-gel glass samples which have been prepared by three different methods namely: 1) using HCl as catalyst and glycerol as Drying Control Chemical Additive (DCCA), 2) using HCl as catalyst at 60 °C and drying at room temperature and 3) using HCl as catalyst at 60 °C and heated at 600 °C for 3 h. Comparative studies of spectroscopic and lasing properties of the three types of Rh-6G containing samples were carried out with the lapse of time upto 8 months. Photostability of Rh-6G containing sol-gel samples is measured in terms of half life under Nitrogen laser pumping as number of pulses of N₂ laser necessary to reduce the dye laser intensity to 50% of the original value and value is 7500 pulses at 1.67 Hz rate. The best performance of Rh-6G, as far as its spectroscopic and lasing properties are concerned was found in third type of host matrices using HCl as catalyst at 60 °C and heated at 600 °C for 3 h.     

Effect of Indium and Antimony Doping on SnS Photoelectrochemical Solar Cells

Single crystals of pure SnS, indium （In） and antimony （Sb） doped SnS are grown by the direct vapor transport technique. Two doping concentrations of 5 at. % and 15 at. % are employed for both In and Sb dopants. In total, five samples are studied, i.e., pure SnS, 5at.% In-doped SnS, 15at.% In-doped SnS, 5at.% Sb-doped SnS and 15at.% Sb-doped SnS single crystals. The energy dispersive analysis of x-ray （EDAX） and x-ray diffraction （XRD） analysis show that all the five as-grown single crystal samples possess near perfect stoichiometry and orthorhombic structure, respectively. The doping of In and Sb in SnS is established from the EDAX data and from the shift in the peak positions in XRD. Photoeleetroehemical （PEC） solar cells are fabricated by using the as- grown single crystal samples along with iodine/iodide electrolytes. Mott-Schottky plots for different compositions of iodine/iodide electrolytes show that O. 025 M 12 ＋ 1 M Nal＋2 M Na2 S04 ＋0.5 M 1-12 S04 will be the most suitable electrolyte. Study of efficiency （η） and fill factor for different intensities of illuminations at room temperature is carried out for the five samples. The In-doped SnS single crystals show better PEC efficiency than the undoped and Sl〉doped SnS single crystals.     

Atomic/molecular layer deposited thin-film alloys of Ti-4,4'-oxydianiline hybrid-TiO(2) with tunable properties

By combining atomic layer deposition (ALD) and molecular layer deposition (MLD) thin-film techniques, the latter being a variant of the former in which organic precursors are used, it is possible to deposit thin films containing precisely controlled portions of inorganic and organic constituents. This in turn enables the adjustment of material properties by changing the number of ALD and MLD cycles applied during the deposition. In this work, the properties of such thin-film "alloys" prepared by varying the portions of Ti-4,4'-oxydianiline (Ti-ODA) inorganic-organic hybrid and TiO(2) in the structure were investigated. The films were deposited at 280 °C using TiCl(4) and water as precursors for TiO(2), and TiCl(4) and ODA for the Ti-ODA hybrid. The results demonstrate excellent tunability of the film properties such as degree of crystallinity, roughness, refractive index, and hardness depending on the relative number of TiO(2) and Ti-ODA cycles employed.     

Investigating the effect of antibiotics on quorum sensing with whole-cell biosensing systems

Quorum sensing (QS) allows bacteria to communicate with one another by means of QS signaling molecules and control certain behaviors in a group-based manner, including pathogenicity and biofilm formation. Bacterial gut microflora may play a role in inflammatory bowel disease pathogenesis, and antibiotics are one of the available therapeutic options for Crohn’s disease. In the present study, we employed genetically engineered bioluminescent bacterial whole-cell sensing systems as a tool to evaluate the ability of antibiotics commonly employed in the treatment of chronic inflammatory conditions to interfere with QS. We investigated the effect of ciprofloxacin, metronidazole, and tinidazole on quorum sensing. Several concentrations of individual antibiotics were allowed to interact with two different types of bacterial sensing cells, in both the presence and absence of a fixed concentration of N-acylhomoserine lactone (AHL) QS molecules. The antibiotic effect was then determined by monitoring the biosensor’s bioluminescence response. Ciprofloxacin, metronidazole, and tinidazole exhibited a dose-dependent augmentation in the response of both bacterial sensing systems, thus showing an AHL-like effect. Additionally, such an augmentation was observed, in both the presence and absence of AHL. The data obtained indicate that ciprofloxacin, metronidazole, and tinidazole may interfere with bacterial communication systems. The results suggest that these antibiotics, at the concentrations tested, may themselves act as bacterial signaling molecules. The beneficial effect of these antibiotics in the treatment of intestinal inflammation may be due, at least in part, to their effect on QS-related bacterial behavior in the gut.