Water-in-salt widens the electrochemical stability window: Thermodynamic and kinetic factors

Originating from the 1.23 V potential window of pure water, the narrow electrochemical stability window (ESW) has always been the most stubborn problem for aqueous battery systems. However, the water-in-salt system magically widens the ESW of aqueous electrolyte from 1.23 V to above 3 V by the super-concentrated LiTFSI solution. The mechanisms of widening aqueous battery ESW have been a crucial topic, in which the significant factors, including unique solid–electrolyte interface, solvation structure, and others, have been highlighted. Here, we specify the concept of ESW in detail and review the influence factors of ESW in the water-in-salt system from both thermodynamic and kinetic perspectives to explore the importance of each factor.     

Biocomputing Based on DNA Strand Displacement Reactions

The high sequence specificity and precise base complementary pairing principle of DNA provides a rich orthogonal molecular library for molecular programming, making it one of the most promising materials for developing bio-compatible intelligence. In recent years, DNA has been extensively studied and applied in the field of biological computing. Among them, the toehold-mediated strand displacement reaction (SDR) with properties including enzyme free, flexible design and precise control, have been extensively used to construct biological computing circuits. This review provides a systemic overview of SDR design principles and the applications. Strategies for designing DNA-only, enzymes-assisted, other molecules-involved and external stimuli-controlled SDRs are described. The recently realized computing functions and the application of DNA computing in other fields are introduced. Finally, the advantages and challenges of SDR-based computing are discussed.     

Reduction of Dimerization Tendency Due to the Decrease in Hybridization Index by Inclusion of 4s and 4p Semicore States as Valence States in Mon (n=2-18) Clusters: A First-Principles Study

Owing to the unique structural, electronic, and physico-chemical properties, molybdenum clusters are expected to play an important role in future nanotechnologies. However, their ground states are still under debate. In this study, the crystal structure analysis by particle swarm optimization (CALYPSO) approach is used for the global minimum search, which is followed by first-principles calculations, to detect an obvious dimerization tendency in Mo\begin{document}$ _n $\end{document} (\begin{document}$ n $\end{document} = 2\begin{document}$ - $\end{document}18) clusters when the 4s and 4p semicore states are not regarded as the valence states. Further, the clusters with even number of atoms are usually magic clusters with high stability. However, after including the 4s and 4p electrons as valence electrons, the dimerization tendency exhibits a drastic reduction because the average hybridization indices \begin{document}$ H_{ \rm{sp}} $\end{document}, \begin{document}$ H_{ \rm{sd}} $\end{document}, and \begin{document}$ H_{ \rm{pd}} $\end{document} are reduced significantly. Overall, this work reports new ground states of Mo\begin{document}$ _n $\end{document} (\begin{document}$ n $\end{document} = 11, 14, 15) clusters and proves that semicore states are essential for Mo\begin{document}$ _n $\end{document}     

Form-stable and tough paraffin-Al2O3/high density polyethylene composites as environment-friendly thermal energy storage materials: preparation,characterization and analysis

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - In this study, we focus on important global issue containing both environmental pollution control and energy saving. High density polyethylene (HDPE)...     

Inorganic–Organic Hybrid Molecular Clusters with Cu2I2 Rhomboid Dimer Core as Light-Emitting Coating Materials

Journal of Cluster Science - In this paper, a series of light-emitting copper(I) iodide inorganic–organic hybrid clusters has been synthesized, and they are 0D-Cu2I2(fmp)4 (1,...     

Dithienylmaleimide-based D-A Conjugated Polymer Film: Photo-Responsive Behavior and Application in Electrical Memory and Logic Gates

Solid-stated smart polymers responsive to external stimuli have attracted much attention for potential application in the field of photoelectron devices, logic gates, sensor, data storage and security. However, it is a bigger challenge for polymers than that for small molecules in solid state to acquire stimuli-responsive properties, because polymers with high molecular weight are not as easy to change the packing structure as small molecules under external stimulation. Here, a D-A type alternating copolymer PTMF-o containing 3,4-bisthienylmaleimide(A unit) and fluorene(D unit) is designed and synthesized. Upon irradiation of sunlight, PTMF-o film exhibits a photo-response with the color altering from purple to colorless. It is attributed to the structure of copolymer transformed from ring-opening form(PTMF-o) to ring-closure form(PTMF-c), resulting from the oxidative photocyclization of 3,4-bisthienylmaleimide unit. Consequently, the ability of charge transfer(CT) from fluorene to 3,4-bisthienylmaleimide unit in PTMF-o can be easily weakened by light stimuli. PTMF-o film displays a WORM-type resistive storage performance for the strong CT. Interestingly, after exposure, the electrical memory behavior in situ transfers into FLASH type, due to weak CT in PTMF-c. PTMF-o film can also be employed as smart material to construct NAND and NOR logic gates by using light as input condition. The work provides a simple way to modify the electronic properties of polymers and realize stimuli-response in solid states.     

单分子层受限冰-水共存界线毛细波与固-液相变动力学

冰-水界面动力学性质在冰形核、生长、表界面熔化中扮演核心角色, 长期以来一直被广泛关注. 然而, 受限水体系中冰-水界面的动力学性质却鲜有报道. 本工作利用平衡态分子动力学模拟方法和受限固-液两相平衡模拟技术, 对两种水模型(恒定偶极矩、可极化)描述的单分子层受限冰-水两相平衡体系中的一维固-液界线开展研究. 通过对一维受限冰-水界线的追踪, 计算了其热涨落波动的振幅与时间自关联函数色散谱, 进而计算一系列固-液界线动力学性质. 冰-水界线波动在短波长区域复合了快、慢两种不同时间尺度的弛豫过程, 在长波长区域则由慢弛豫过程主导. 相比块体冰-水界面体系, 以Rayleigh波为主的高频微观物理过程更多地参与了一维冰-水界线的动力学弛豫. 我们发现冰-水界线波动弛豫特征衰减时间的波矢依赖关系符合现有固-液界面动力学理论, 但一维界线弛豫的特征衰减时间比二维界面体系低了一个数量级左右. 计算了两种水模型体系冰-水界线的动力学系数, 并与块体冰-水界面比较, 发现受限冰-水(固-液)界线动力学系数远高于块体冰-水界面体系. 我们推测水分子转动自由度在受限腔中被强烈压制可能是导致受限体系超快冰-水(固-液)相变速率的主要原因. 本工作将在受限水体系超快相变(储能、传感)器件的设计工作中提供一定的理论指导意义.     

A Conjugated Copolymer Bearing Imidazolium-based Ionic Liquid:Electrochemical Synthesis and Electrochromic Properties

An imidazolium-based ionic liquid(IL) modified triphenylamine derivative,namely 1-(4-((4-(diphenylamino)benzoyl) oxy)butyl)-3-methyl imidazole tetrafluoroborate(TPAC_6 IL-BF_4),was designed and synthesized,and further applied with 3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene(EDOT)to prepare conjugated copolymer P(EDOT:TPAC_6 IL-BF_4) via electrochemical polymerization.The cyclic voltammetry curves show that the copolymer P(EDOT:TPAC_6 IL-BF_4) possesses two pairs of redox peaks,which should be ascribed to the redox behaviors of EDOT and triphenylamine.The ultraviolet-visible(UV-Vis) absorption spectrum of P(EDOT:TPAC_6 IL-BF_4) exhibits one maximum absorption peak at 580 nm and a small shoulder characteristic peak at 385 nm under neutral state which are assigned to π-π~* conjugated structure of EDOT and triphenylamine.After being applied at the positive voltage,the copolymer color changes from dark blue to light blue,which is close to the color of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)(PEDOT).Surprisingly,the copolymer P(EDOT:TPAC_6 IL-BF_4) shows shorter switching time of 0.37 s,0.30 s at 580 nm and 0.38 s,0.45 s at 1100 nm compared with PEDOT.It is more intriguing that the copolymer P(EDOT:TPAC_6 IL-BF_4) exhibits electrochromism even in free supporting electrolyte.The results confirm that the existence of imidazolium-based ionic liquid has an improvement on the ion diffusion properties and the switching time of conjugated polymer,which may provide a potential direction for the preparation of high-performance electrochromic materials.     

Isoselective Ring-opening Polymerization of Racemic Lactide Catalyzed by N-heterocyclic Olefin/(Thio)urea Organocatalysts

The isoselective ring-opening polymerization of racemic lactide was achieved by combining N-heterocyclic olefin(NHO) with mono(thio)ureas or bis(thio)ureas as catalytic systems. The polymerization process shows high stereoselectivity, controllability and reactivity,delivering multi-block isotactic polylactides with high chain-end fidelity and narrow molecular weight distributions. The enhancement of catalytic performance was observed in the following order: bisthiourea(DTU) monothiourea(TU) bisurea(DU) urea(U). The highest Pm(probability of forming a meso dyad) = 0.91 was observed at-70 °C when using NHO/U1 catalytic system and the high stereoselectivity was attributed to chain-end control mechanism.     

A cosolvent pretreatment: effect of solvent–water on enzymatic hydrolysis of glucan,lignin structure,and dynamics

Cellulose - In this study, a biomass pretreatment strategy with a recyclable cosolvent (toluene sulfonic acid/ethanol) was developed. The low boiling point solvent (78.15 °C),...