Ultrahigh Loading Copper Single Atom Catalyst for Palladium-free Wacker Oxidation

Wacker oxidation is an industry-adopted process to transform olefins into value-added epoxides and carbonyls. However, traditional Wacker oxidation involves the use of homogeneous palladium and copper catalysts for the olefin addition and reductive elimination. Here, we demonstrated an ultrahigh loading Cu single atom catalyst(14% Cu, mass fraction) for the palladium-free Wacker oxidation of 4-vinylanisole into the corresponding ketone with N-methylhydroxylamine hydrochloride as an additive under mild conditions. Mechanistic studies by ¹⁸O and deuterium isotope labelling revealed a hydrogen shift mechanism in this palladium-free process using N-methylhydroxylamine hydrochloride as the oxygen source. The reaction scope can be further extended to Kucherov oxidation. Our study paves the way to replace noble metal catalysts in the traditional homogeneous processes with single atom catalysts.     

Functional Organic Semiconductors Based on Bay‐Annulated Indigo (BAI)

The advancement of organic electronics has been continually pushed by the need for stable and high performance acceptor materials. By utilizing inexpensive and stable indigo dye as a starting material, Bay‐Annulated Indigo (BAI) provides a new motif for the development of semiconducting materials. Modular and straightforward synthesis makes BAI an outstanding platform for molecular design, while excellent stability, strong absorption, and high ambipolar mobility render BAI‐based materials excellent candidates for organic electronics. BAI‐based polymers and small molecules have taken advantage of these properties to show promising results in a variety of applications.     

Mildred Dresselhaus and Solid State Pedagogy at MIT

Mildred Dresselhaus is known for her influential research on the physics of carbon. Her wide‐ranging influence as a physics teacher, although well‐known to her students, has been less thoroughly examined. Exploring how Dresselhaus grew into her role teaching solid state physics at MIT reveals much about how that subfield evolved.     

Red shifting of absorption maxima of phenothiazine based dyes by incorporating electron-deficient thiadiazole derivatives as π-spacer

This study was carried out to design phenothiazine based dyes by incorporating electron-deficient thiadiazole derivatives as π-spacer. Density functional theory and time-dependent density functional theory calculations of the geometries, electronic structures and absorption spectra of the dyes before and after binding to titanium oxide were carried out. Effects of the electron-deficient units on the spectra and electrochemical properties have been investigated. Compared with the reference compound CS1A, Dyes 1–4 display remarkably enhanced spectral responses in the red portion of the solar spectrum. The newly designed dyes demonstrate desirable energetic and spectroscopic parameters, and may lead to efficient metal-free organic dye sensitizers for DSSCs.     

TADF激基复合物主体材料提升溶液法制备蓝色荧光有机发光二极管的效率

为了提升溶液法制备的蓝色荧光有机发光二极管(OLEDs)的效率,采用了基于热激活延迟发光(TADF)的激基复合物作为主体材料。TADF激基复合物主体可以利用反向系间窜跃上转换形成单线态激子并将能量传递到客体,从而可以同时利用发光层中的三线态激子和单线态激子,以提升蓝色荧光器件的效率。选择蓝色荧光材料1-4-Di-[4-(N,N-diphenyl)amino]styryl-benzene(DSA-ph)作为客体发光材料,4,4′,4″-T-ris(carbazol-9-yl)triphenylamine(TCTA)掺杂1,3,5-Tri(1-phenyl-1H-benzo[d]imidazol-2-yl)phenyl)(TPBi)作为热激活延迟荧光激基复合物主体,通过溶液法制备了蓝色荧光OLEDs。通过测试TCTA,TPBi以及TCTA掺杂TPBi的光致发光光谱发现,与TCTA和TPBi相比,TCTA掺杂TPBi的光致发光谱(PL)发生了明显的红移(峰值波长变为437 nm),而且光谱变宽,证明了TCTA∶TPBi激基复合物的形成。通过对于DSA-ph掺杂激基复合物主体的薄膜与DSA-ph掺杂poly(methyl methacrylate)(PMMA)的薄膜进行PL测试发现,两者发光峰相同,都是来自DSA-ph的发光,说明激基复合物主体将能量传递到了DSA-ph;DSA-ph的吸收光谱与激基复合物主体的PL光谱存在很大重叠,说明激基复合物主体与DSA-ph的能量传递非常有效;通过对激基复合物主体掺杂不同浓度客体的薄膜进行瞬态PL衰减测试发现,与纯DSA-ph的寿命相比,DSA-ph掺杂激基复合物主体之后其寿命会延长,纯DSA-ph的寿命只有1.19 ns,DSA-ph掺杂激基复合物主体的荧光衰减曲线与激基复合物主体的荧光衰减曲线相似,这进一步证明了激基复合物主体将能量传递到了DSA-ph。研究了主体引入以及DSA-ph掺杂浓度对器件性能的影响。对于器件的亮度、电流密度、电压、电流效率、电致发光光谱等参数进行了测试,与不采用激基复合物主体的器件相比,采用激基复合物主体的器件性能明显改善,在DSA-ph掺杂浓度为10%时,器件亮度从2133.6 cd·m^-2提升到了3597.6 cd·m^-2,器件效率从1.44 cd·A-1提升到了3.15 cd·A-1,发光峰只有来自DSA-ph的发光。采用TADF激基复合物主体的方法有潜力实现溶液法制备的高效蓝色荧光OLEDs。     

Effect of an Al-doped ZnO electron transport layer on the efficiency of inverted bulk heterojunction solar cells

Doping is a widely-implemented strategy for enhancing the inherent electrical properties of metal oxide charge transport layers in photovoltaic devices because higher conductivity of electron transport layer (ETL) can increment the photocurrent by reducing the series resistance. To improve the conductivity of ETL, in this study we doped the ZnO layer with aluminum (Al), then investigated the influence of AZO on the performance of inverted bulk heterojunction (BHJ) polymer solar cells based on poly [[4,8-bis [(2-ethylhexyl)oxy]benzo [1,2-b:4,5-b’]dithiophene-2,6-diyl]-[3-fluoro-2[(2-ethylhexyl)-carbonyl]-thieno-[3,4-b]thiophenediyl ]] (PTB7):[6,6]-phenyl C71 butyric acid methyl ester (PC₇₁BM). The measured conductivity of AZO was ~10⁻³ S/cm, which was two orders of magnitude higher than that of intrinsic ZnO (~10⁻⁵ S/cm). By decreasing the series resistance (R_s) in a device with an AZO layer, the short circuit current (J_sc) increased significantly from 15.663 mA/cm² to 17.040 mA/cm². As a result, the device with AZO exhibited an enhanced power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.984%.     

Identifying the viscoelastic properties of soft matter from the indentation response of a hard film-soft substrate system

The indentation technique is widely used in measuring the mechanical properties of soft matter at the microscale or nanoscale,but still faces challenges by these unique properties as well as the consequent strong surface adhesion, including the strong nonlinear effect, unclear judgment of the contact point, difficulties in estimating the contact area, and the risk of the indenter piercing the sample. Here we propose a two-step method to solve these problems: lay a hard film on a soft matter, and obtain the viscoelastic properties of this soft matter through the indentation response of this composite structure. We first establish a theoretical indentation model of the hard film-soft substrate system based on the theory of plates, elastic-viscoelastic correspondence principle and Boltzmann superposition principle. To verify the correctness of this method, we measure the mechanical properties of the methyl vinyl silicone rubber(MVSR) covered by a Cu nanofilm. Finally, we test the effectiveness and error sensitivity of this method with the finite element method(FEM). The results show that our method can accurately measure the mechanical properties of soft matter, while effectively circumventing the problems of the traditional indentation technique.     

Extending the response spectrum of organic photodetectors by quaternary active layer method with complementary absorption spectra

In this work, we report a new method for extending the response spectra of organic photodetectors (OPDs) by incorporating PBDT-TT-C and PBDT-TT-F in the P3HT:PC₆₁BM. The effects of PBDT-TT-C and PBDT-TT-F incorporation on the optical and electrical properties of OPDs were investigated, It was found that when the mass ratio of P3HT:PBDT-TT-F:PBDT-TT-C:PC₆₁BM was 12:2:2:8, the response spectrum of the active layer was extended to 780 nm. The responsivity (R) and external quantum efficiency (EQE) of the OPDs reached 340, 376, 315 mA/W and 67%, 88%, 85% under 630, 530, and 460 nm illumination and −1 V bias, respectively, and the detectivity (D*) reached 10¹² Jones. The results show that the inclusion of an appropriate amount of donor material with similar chemical structure and complementary absorption spectrum can reduce the influence of the doping material on the micro-morphology of the original film while improving the absorption of the spectrum. The interaction between the donor materials promotes the generation of photogenerated carriers and increases the photocurrent of the OPDs. In addition, the incorporation of the different component promotes crystallization of the film, resulting in a reduction in dark current of the OPDs.     

Recent developments of di-amide/imide-containing small molecular non-fullerene acceptors for organic solar cells

Non-fullerene organic solar cells have received increasing attentions in these years, and great progresses have been made since 2013. Among them, aromatic di-amide/imide-containing frameworks have shown promising applications. The outstanding properties of them are highly associated with their unique electronic and structural features, such as strong electron-withdrawing nature, broad absorption in UV-visible region, tunable HOMO/LUMO energy levels, easy modifications, and excellent chemical, thermal and photochemical stabilities. In this review, we give an overview of recent developments of aromatic diamide/imide-containing small molecules used as electron acceptors for organic solar cells.     

Corannulene derivatives for organic electronics: From molecular engineering to applications

This paper intends to provide an overview for using corannulene derivatives in organic electronics such as organic field-effect transistors (OFETs), organic solar cells (OSCs), and organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). We highlight the rational design strategies, tuning molecular orbital energy levels and arrangement in single crystals of corannulenes. The topological structure and properties of corannulene make it a unique candidate for organic electronics.