Side chain engineering of naphthalene diimide–bithiophene‐based polymer acceptors in all‐polymer solar cells

Two novel polymeric acceptors based on naphthalene diimide (NDI) and 2.2′‐bithiophene, named as P(NDI2THD‐T2) and P(NDI2TOD‐T2), were designed and synthesized for all polymer solar cells application. The structural and electronic properties of the two acceptors were modulated through side‐chain engineering of the NDI units. The optoelectronic properties of the polymers and the morphologies of the blend films composed of the polymer acceptors and a donor polymer PTB7‐Th were systemically investigated. With thiophene groups introduced into the side chains of the NDI units, both polymers showed wider absorption from 350 nm to 900 nm, compared with the reference polymer acceptor of N2200. No redshift of absorption spectra from solutions to films indicated reduced aggregation of the polymers due to the steric hindrance effect of thiophene rings in the side chains. The photovoltaic performance were characterized for devices in a configuration of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/PTB7‐Th:acceptors/2,9‐bis(3‐(dimethylamino)propyl)anthra[2,1,9‐def:6,5,10‐def]diisoquinoline‐1,3,8,10(2H,9H)‐tetraone (PDIN)/Al. With the addition of diphenyl ether as an additive, the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of 2.73% and 4.75% for P(NDI2THD‐T2) and P(NDI2TOD‐T2) based devices were achieved, respectively. The latter showed improved J_sc, Fill Factor (FF), and PCE compared with N2200 based devices. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2017 , 55, 3679–3689     

Synthesis of multi‐functionalized carbonyl compounds by palladium–catalysed γ‐substitution of MBH adducts with activated amides

Catalytic allylic γ‐substitution with Morita‐Baylis‐Hillman (MBH) adducts for creating a new family of unsymmetrical dicarbonyl compounds was presented in this work, in which a variety of allylated amide products were achieved in good yields and high regioselectivity with excellent linear‐to‐branched ratios. Especially, it was found that the Pd/HZNU‐Phos complex exhibited remarkably high activity (with a TON up to 16800) in this transformation between dicarbonyl amides and MBH adducts. In addition, the possibly multisite interaction between multifunctional Pd/HZNU‐Phos catalyst system and substrates might responsible for its exceptionally high efficiency in this reaction.     

Mannose‐based graft polyesters with tunable binding affinity to concanavalin A

Glycopolymers have been widely used to understand the interactions between carbohydrates and lectins, which facilitate the diagnosis and detection of disease and pathogens as well as the development of vaccines. While studies have been focused on the correlation of glycopolymer structure and their binding to lectins, graft‐type glycopolyesters are uncommon. Herein, we report the design and synthesis of mannose‐based graft polyesters by “grafting‐from” method and investigate their interactions with Concanavalin A (Con A). As confirmed by ¹H NMR spectroscopy and sulfuric acid‐UV method, graft polyesters with different lengths of mannose graft were successfully synthesized. Our results from turbidimetry binding assay showed that graft polyesters with longer mannose graft exhibit higher initial binding rate (k_i). Isothermal titration calorimetry measurements of these graft polyesters with Con A showed that polymers exhibit higher binding affinity (k_a) with the number of side chain mannose. This study provides understanding of the interaction between Con A and mannose‐based graft polyesters, which can be employed for the development of glycopolymeric therapeutics. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2017 , 55, 3908–3917     

Pinacol Coupling of Aromatic Aldehydes and Ketones in Ethyl Acetate Mediated by TiCl4‐Mg

Titanium tetrachloride in ethyl acetate can be reduced by Mg powder to the corresponding low‐valent titanium complexes, which can reduce some aromatic aldehydes and ketones to the corresponding pinacols in 38–85% yields within 15–60 min at rt with stirring.     

High performance of N,P co-doped metal-free carbon catalyst derived from ionic liquid for oxygen reduction reaction

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - One-pot strategy to fabricate N, P co-doping carbon was developed based on the functional ionic liquid (IL) as the N, P, and C precursors. The IL featuring...     

High resolution scanning optical imaging of a frozen planar polymer light-emitting electrochemical cell: an experimental and modelling study

Light-emitting electrochemical cells(LECs) are organic photonic devices based on a mixed electronic and ionic conductor.The active layer of a polymer-based LEC consists of a luminescent polymer,an ion-solvating/transport polymer,and a compatible salt.The LEC p-n or p-i-n junction is ultimately responsible for the LEC performance.The LEC junction,however,is still poorly understood due to the difficulties of characterizing a dynamic-junction LEC.In this paper,we present an experimental and modeling study of the LEC junction using scanning optical imaging techniques.Planar LECs with an interelectrode spacing of 560μm have been fabricated,activated,frozen and scanned using a focused laser beam.The optical-beam-induced-current(OBIC)and photoluminescence(PL) data have been recorded as a function of beam location.The OBIC profile has been simulated in COMSOL that allowed for the determination of the doping concentration and the depletion width of the LEC junction.     

Application of Graphene as a Sorbent for Simultaneous Preconcentration and Determination of Trace Amounts of Cobalt and Nickel in Environmental Water and Vegetable Samples

A new method using a column packed with graphene as adsorbent was developed for the preconcentration of trace amounts of cobalt (Co) and nickel (Ni) prior to their determinations by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. Several factors influencing the extraction efficiency of Co and Ni and their subsequent determinations, such as pH, amounts of the chelating agent, flow rates of sample and eluent solution, eluent type and its volume, breakthrough volume, and adsorption capacity were established. Under the optimum conditions, the calibration graphs were linear in the range of 4.0‐200.0 μg L^?1 and 5.0‐200.0 μg L^?1 with detection limits of 0.36 μg L^?1 and 0.51 μg L^?1 for Co and Ni, respectively. Good relative standard deviations for ten determinations of 100.0 μg L^?1 of Co and Ni were 3.2 and 3.6%, respectively. The results for determination of Co and Ni in tap water, river water, sea water, vegetable and spiked samples have demonstrated the accuracy and applicability of the proposed method. To validate the proposed method, three certified reference materials of environment water (GSBZ 50030‐94 and GSB 07‐1186‐2000) and tomato leaf (GSBZ 51001‐94) were analyzed, and the determined values were in good agreement with the certified values.     

Controllable immobilization of polyacrylamide onto glass slide: synthesis and characterization

A novel route was introduced to synthesize dense polyacrylamide (PAM) onto the glass slide surface. To investigate the surface chemistry of the PAM on the glass slides, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was utilized to obtain detailed chemical state information on the PAM layer constituents. The XPS peak data were consistent with the presented model of the PAM on the glass slide surface. Scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscope data indicated the presence of PAM on the glass slides, which consist of nodules. The results showed that PAM was successfully immobilized onto glass slides with a two-tier structure under aqueous condition and a monolayer structure under anhydrous condition. Compared with those under aqueous condition, the controllability of the molecular layer on glass slides and the reproducibility under anhydrous condition were much better, which makes anhydrous condition an advisable condition for the study of the reaction mechanisms of glass slides modified by PAM.