Dicyano-Imidazole: A Facile Generation of Pure Blue TADF Materials for OLEDs

A series of dicyano-imidazole-based molecules with thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) properties were synthesized to obtain pure blue-emitting organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). The targeted molecules used dicyano-imidazole with a short-conjugated system as the electron acceptor to strong intermolecular π-π interactions, and provide a relatively shallow energy level of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO). The cyano group was selected to improve imidazole as an electron acceptor due to its prominent electron-transporting characteristics. Four different electron donors, that is, 9,9-dimethyl-9,10-dihydroacridine (DMAC), 10H-spiro(acridine-9,9’-fluoren) (SPAC), and 9,9-diphenyl-9,10-dihydroacridine (DPAC), were used to alternate the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy level to tune the emission color further. The crowded molecular structure in space makes the electron donor and acceptor almost orthogonal, reducing the energy gap (ΔE_ST) between the first excited singlet (S₁) and the triplet (T₁) states and introducing significant TADF property. The efficiencies of the blue-emissive devices with imM-SPAC and imM-DMAC obtained in this work are the highest among the reported imidazole-based TADF-OLEDs, which are 13.8 % and 13.4 %, respectively. Both of Commission Internationale de l′Eclairage (CIE) coordinates are close to the saturated blue region at (0.17, 0.18) and (0.16, 0.19), respectively. Combining these tailor-made TADF compounds with specific device architectures, electroluminescent (EL) emission from sky-blue to deep-blue could be achieved, proving their great potential in EL applications.     

Novel oxazole-based emitters for high efficiency fluorescent OLEDs: Synthesis,characterization, and optoelectronic properties

Two novel oxazole derivatives 4-(6-(4,5-diphenyloxazol-2-yl)pyridin-3-yl)-N,N-diphenylaniline (TPA-PPO) and 2-(5-(4-(9H-carbazol-9-yl)phenyl)pyridin-2-yl)-4,5-diphenyloxazole (CzPh-PPO) have been designed and synthesized. The photophysical, electrochemical and thermal characters of the compounds were systematically investigated, which consistent well with the theoretical DFT calculations. TPA-PPO and CzPh-PPO exhibit high photoluminescent quantum yield of 0.63 and 0.59, respectively. The device using TPA-PPO as the dopant showed deep blue emission with a high EQE of 1.77%. A white OLED was obtained using the single emitter of CzPh-PPO with an EQE of 1.24%.     

Tribocatalysis: challenges and perspectives

正With an increasing global energy demands and environmental pollution, the development of alternative clean energy technologies has aroused widespread research interest.Harvesting and converting natural energy from the environment, such as solar energy, mechanical energy, thermal energy, chemical and biological energy, is one of the main sources of clean energy. Among these energy sources,     

Separation of enantiomers: needs, challenges, perspectives

Chiral drugs, agrochemicals, food additives and fragrances represent classes of compounds with high economic and scientific potential. First the present implications of their chiral nature and necessity of separating enantiomers are summarised in this article. In the following a brief overview of the actual approaches to perform enantioseparations at analytical and preparative scale is given. Challenging aspects of these strategies, such as problems associated with data management, choice of suitable chiral selectors for given enantioseparations and enhanced understanding of the underlying chiral recognition principles, are discussed. Alternatives capable of meeting the requirements of industrial processes, in terms of productivity, cost-effectiveness and environmental issues (e.g., enantioselective membranes) are critically reviewed. The impact of combinatorial methodologies on faster and more effective development and optimisation of novel chiral selectors is outlined. Finally, the merits and limitations of most recent trends in discrimination of enantiomers, including advances in the fields of sensors, microanalysis systems, chiroptical methods and chemical force microscopy are evaluated.     

Polysaccharide-based hemostats: recent developments,challenges, and future perspectives

Cellulose - Excessive hemorrhage is a leading cause of death to trauma patients, especially in combat and civilian accidents. The main priority in the medical treatment of trauma patients is to...     

Simulating enzyme reactions: challenges and perspectives

Elucidating how enzymes enhance the rates of the reactions that they catalyze is a major goal of contemporary biochemistry, and it is an area in which computational and theoretical techniques can make a major contribution. This article outlines some of the processes that need to be investigated if enzyme catalysis is to be understood, reviews the current state-of-the-art in enzyme simulation work, and highlights challenges for the future.     

Uncertainty evaluation in proficiency testing: state-of-the-art, challenges, and perspectives

The evaluation of measurement uncertainty, and that of uncertainty statements of participating laboratories will be a challenge to be met in the coming years. The publication of ISO 17025 has led to the situation that testing laboratories should, to a certain extent, meet the same requirements regarding measurement uncertainty and traceability. As a consequence, proficiency test organizers should deal with the issues measurement uncertainty and traceability as well. Two common statistical models used in proficiency testing are revisited to explore the options to include the evaluation of the measurement uncertainty of the PTRV (proficiency test reference value). Furthermore, the use of this PTRV and its uncertainty estimate for assessing the uncertainty statements of the participants for the two models will be discussed. It is concluded that in analogy to Key Comparisons it is feasible to implement proficiency tests in such a way, that the new requirements can be met. Received: 29 September 2000 Accepted: 3 December 2000     

Advances in pesticide biosensors: current status, challenges, and future perspectives

Public concern over pesticide residues has been increasing dramatically owing to the high toxicity and bioaccumulation effects of pesticides and the serious risks that they pose to the environment and human health. It is therefore crucial to monitor pesticide residues by using various analytical methods and techniques, especially highly sensitive, highly selective, simple, rapid, cost-effective, and portable ones. Biosensor strategies have become research hotspots and ideal candidates for pesticide detection, having such features as high sensitivity, fast response, robustness, low cost and miniaturization, as well as in situ and real-time monitoring. This review covers advances in the design and fabrication of biosensors for pesticide detection since 2005. Special emphasis is placed on the state-of-art selection of receptors, the use of different transduction techniques and fast screening strategies, and the application of various biosensors developed in food and environmental safety. Both advantages and drawbacks of these techniques are then summarized. Finally, challenges, strategies, and perspectives in further developing pesticide biosensors are also discussed.

Industrial exploitation of photocatalysis: progress,perspectives and prospects

The removal of numerous organic pollutants from aqueous media using titania photocatalysis has motivated the need for commercial application of this technology for tertiary wastewater treatment and water purification. A discussion of the development of visible light-activating catalysts, pilot-scale multiphase reactor analysis and case studies with industrial significance is presented. An overview of different solar photocatalytic reactors is also given.     

Highly Twisted Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence (TADF) Molecules and Their Applications in Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (OLEDs)

Thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials have attracted great potential in the field of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Among thousands of TADF materials, highly twisted TADF emitters have become a hotspot in recent years. Compared with traditional TADF materials, highly twisted TADF emitters tend to show multi-channel charge-transfer characters and form rigid molecular structures. This is advantageous for TADF materials, as non-radiative decay processes can be suppressed to facilitate efficient exciton utilization. Accordingly, OLEDs with excellent device performances have also been reported. In this Review, we have summarized recent progress in highly twisted TADF materials and related devices, and give an overview of the molecular design strategies, photophysical studies, and the performances of OLED devices. In addition, the challenges and perspectives of highly twisted TADF molecules and the related OLEDs are also discussed.     

Aerosol particle analysis: challenges and progress

Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry -     

Acid- and anion-targeted fluorescent molecularly imprinted polymers: Recent advances,challenges and perspectives

Acids and anions are important natural components that distribute in plants, animals and products from biotechnological processes. They are usually non-toxic, however, with an increase or decrease in their concentration due to pollution, overuse, chemical reaction etc., acids and anions show harmful effects. Therefore, the detection of acids and anions with high sensitivity and selectivity is necessary. Molecularly imprinting, a technique creating template-tailored cavities in polymer matrices through covalent or non-covalent bonds, has been adapted for the detection of acids, anions and their derivatives. Particularly, fluorescent molecularly imprinted polymers (fMIPs) appear as one of the most promising candidates for chemical sensing due to the high sensitivity and ease of operation of fluorescence. This review summarizes the types of fMIPs, gives an overview of acid and anion templates and features of fMIPs, highlights studies of interest with an emphasis on fluorescent monomers (FMs) used in the synthesis, and finally discusses the challenges and future perspectives.     

Alkaline polymer electrolyte fuel cells: Principle, challenges, and recent progress

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) have been recognized as a significant power source in future energy systems based on hydrogen. The current PEMFC technology features the employment of acidic polymer electrolytes which, albeit superior to electrolyte solutions, have intrinsically limited the catalysts to noble metals, fundamentally preventing PEMFC from widespread deployment. An effective solution to this problem is to develop fuel cells based on alkaline polymer electrolytes (APEFC), which no...     

Steric inhibition of pi-stacking: 1,3,6,8-tetraarylpyrenes as efficient blue emitters in organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs)

The sterically congested tetraarylpyrenes 1-3, which can be readily accessed by Suzuki coupling, exhibit no-aggregation (pi-stacking) behavior in both solution and solid states. The indisposed tendency of 1-3 toward crystallization and their moderate molecular dimensions permit exploitation as blue light emitting materials in OLEDs with respectable device performances.     

Bisulfite-free mapping of DNA cytosine modifications: challenges and perspectives

The mapping of DNA cytosine modifications is crucial for understanding the dynamic landscape of epigenetic regulation. While bisulfite sequencing has been the gold standard for decades, it suffers from limitations such as DNA degradation and low library quality due to harsh chemical treatment. In recent years, bisulfite-free methods have emerged as promising alternatives for detecting and quantifying DNA cytosine modifications. These methods employ enzymatic and chemical strategies to investigat...     

Stability of Sn-Pb mixed organic–inorganic halide perovskite solar cells:Progress,challenges,and perspectives

The exploration of low bandgap perovskite material to approach Shockley-Queisser limit of photovoltaic device is of great significance,but it is still challenging.During the past few years,tin–lead(Sn-Pb)mixed perovskites with low bandgaps have been rapidly developed,and their single junction solar cells have reached power conversion efficiency(PCE)over 21%,which also makes them ideal candidate as low bandgap sub-cell for tandem device.Nevertheless,due to the incorporation of unstable Sn²⁺,the stability issue becomes the vital problem for the further development of Sn-Pb mixed perovskite solar cells(PSCs).In this review,we are dedicated to give a full view in current understanding on the stability issue of SnPb mixed perovskites and their PSCs.We begin with the demonstration on the origin of instability of Sn-Pb mixed perovskites,including oxidation of Sn²⁺,defects,and interfacial layer induced instability.Sequentially,the up-to-date developments on the stability improvement of Sn-Pb mixed perovskites and their PSCs is systematically reviewed,including composition engineering,additive engineering,and interfacial engineering.At last,the current challenges and future perspectives on the stability study of Sn-Pb mixed PSCs are discussed,which we hope could promote the further application of Sn-Pb mixed perovskites towards commercialization.     

Tetradentate Gold(III) Complexes as Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence (TADF) Emitters: Microwave-Assisted Synthesis and High-Performance OLEDs with Long Operational Lifetime

Structurally robust tetradentate gold(III)-emitters have potent material applications but are rare and unprecedented for those displaying thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF). Herein, a novel synthetic route leading to the preparation of highly emissive, charge-neutral tetradentate [C^C^N^C] gold(III) complexes with 5-5-6-membered chelate rings has been developed through microwave-assisted C−H bond activation. These complexes show high thermal stability and with emission origin (³IL, ³ILCT, and TADF) tuned by varying the substituents of the C^C^N^C ligand. With phenoxazine/diphenylamine substituent, we prepared the first tetradentate gold(III) complexes that are TADF emitters with emission quantum yields of up to 94 % and emission lifetimes of down to 0.62 μs in deoxygenated toluene. These tetradentate Au^III TADF emitters showed good performance in vacuum-deposited OLEDs with maximum EQEs of up to 25 % and LT₉₅ of up to 5280 h at 100 cd m⁻².     

Strongly Luminescent Tungsten Emitters with Emission Quantum Yields of up to 84 %: TADF and High‐Efficiency Molecular Tungsten OLEDs

Metal‐TADF (thermally activated delayed fluorescence) emitters hold promise in the development of next generation light‐emitting materials for display and lighting applications, examples of which are, however, largely confined to Cu^I and recently Au^I, Ag^I, and Au^III emitters. Herein is described the design strategy for an unprecedented type of metal‐TADF emitter based on inexpensive tungsten metal chelated with Schiff base ligand that exhibit high emission quantum yields of up to 56 % in solutions and 84 % in thin‐film (5 wt % in 1,3‐bis(N‐carbazolyl)benzene, mCP) at room temperature. Femtosecond time‐resolved emission (fs‐TRE) spectroscopy and DFT calculations were undertaken to decipher the TADF properties. Solution‐processed OLEDs fabricated with the W‐TADF emitter demonstrated external quantum efficiency (EQE) and luminance of up to 15.6 % and 16890 cd m^?2, respectively.     

Recent progress and challenges in interdigital microbatteries:Fabrication,functionalization and integration

Currently,the increasing demands for portable,implantable,and wearable electronics have triggered the interest in miniaturized energy storage devices.Different from conventional energy storage devices,interdigital microbatteries(IMBs) are free of separators and prepared on a single substrate,potentially achieving a short ionic diffusion path and better performance.Meanwhile,they can be easily fabricated and integrated into on-chip miniaturized electronics,holding the promise to provide long-last...     

Nanofluidics for sub-single cellular studies: Nascent progress,critical technologies,and future perspectives

In the field of cell studies, there is a burgeoning trend to further downscale the investigation from a single-cell level to a sub-single-cell level. Subcellular matter is the basic content in cells and correlates with cell heterogeneity. Sub-single cellular studies focus on the subcellular matter in single cells and aim to understand the details and heterogeneity of individual cells in terms of the subcellular matter or even at the single component/vesicle/molecule level. Hence, sub-single cell...