Highly Luminescent Red Phosphorescent OLED with Interfacial Layers for Hole Transport and Electron Injection

Four kinds of red phosphorescent organic light-emitting devices were fabricated and compared to investigate the effect of interfacial layers for hole transport and electron injection. 1 nm-thick LiF in the device A and C and 1 nm-thick Cs₂CO₃ in the device B and D were deposited as an electron injection layer between the anode and the electron transport layer, and 5 nm-thick layer of dipyrazion[2,3-f:2′,2′-h]quinoxaline-2,3,6,7,10,11-hexacarbonitrile[HATCN] was inserted as a hole transport interfacial layer between the hole injection layer and the hole transport layer only in the device C and D. Under a luminance of 1000 cd/m², the power efficiencies were 7.6 lm/W and 8.5 lm/W in the device A and B, and 8.6 lm/W and 13.4 lm/W in the device C and D. The quantum efficiency of the device D was 15.8% under 1000 cd/m² which was somewhat lower than those of the device A and C, but a little higher than that of the device B. The luminance of the device D was much higher than those of the other devices at a given votage. The luminance of the device D at 7 V was 23,710 cd/m², which was 13.0, 3.4, and 4.0 times higher than those of the device A, B, and C at the same voltage, respectively.     

Oxidative Epigallocatechin Gallate Coating on Polymeric Substrates for Bone Tissue Regeneration

Plant derived flavonoids have not been well explored in tissue engineering applications due to difficulties in efficient formulations with biomaterials for controlled presentation. Here, the authors report that surface coating of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) on polymeric substrates including poly (L‐lactic acid) (PLLA) nanofibers can be performed via oxidative polymerization of EGCG in the presence of cations, enabling regulation of biological functions of multiple cell types implicated in bone regeneration. EGCG coating on the PLLA nanofiber promotes osteogenic differentiation of adipose‐derived stem cells (ADSCs) and is potent to suppress adipogenesis of ADSCs while significantly reduces osteoclastic maturation of murine macrophages. Moreover, EGCG coating serves as a protective layer for ADSCs against oxidative stress caused by hydrogen peroxide. Finally, the in vivo implantation of EGCG‐coated nanofibers into a mouse calvarial defect model significantly promotes the bone regeneration (61.52 ± 28.10%) as compared to defect (17.48 ± 11.07%). Collectively, the results suggest that EGCG coating is a simple bioinspired surface modification of polymeric biomaterials and importantly can thus serve as a promising interface for tuning activities of multiple cell types associated with bone fracture healing.     

Planar AIEgens with Enhanced Solid-State Luminescence and ROS Generation for Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria Treatment

Planar luminogens have encountered difficulties in overcoming intrinsic aggregation-caused emission quenching by intermolecular π-π stacking interactions. Although excited-state double-bond reorganization (ESDBR) can guide us on designing planar aggregation-induced emission (AIE) luminogens (AIEgens), its mechanism has yet been elucidated. Major challenges in the field include methods to efficiently restrict ESDBR and enhance AIE performance without using bulky substituents (e.g., tetraphenylethylene and triphenylamine). In this study, we rationally developed fluoro-substituent AIEgens with stronger intermolecular H-bonding interaction for restricted molecular motions and increased crystal density, leading to decreased nonradiative decay rate by one order of magnitude. The adjusted ESDBR properties also show a corresponding response to variation in viscosity. Furthermore, their aggregation-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) generations have been discovered. The application of such planar AIEgen in treating multidrug-resistant bacteria has been demonstrated in a mouse model. The relationship between ROS generation and distinct E/Z-configurational stacking behaviors have been further understood, providing a design principle for synthesizing planar AIEgen-based photosensitizers.     

Rational Molecular Design towards Vis/NIR Absorption and Fluorescence by using Pyrrolopyrrole aza‐BODIPY and its Highly Conjugated Structures for Organic Photovoltaics

Pyrrolopyrrole aza‐BODIPY (PPAB) developed in our recent study from diketopyrrolopyrrole by titanium tetrachloride‐mediated Schiff‐base formation reaction with heteroaromatic amines is a highly potential chromophore due to its intense absorption and fluorescence in the visible region and high fluorescence quantum yield, which is greater than 0.8. To control the absorption and fluorescence of PPAB, particularly in the near‐infrared (NIR) region, further molecular design was performed using DFT calculations. This results in the postulation that the HOMO–LUMO gap of PPAB is perturbed by the heteroaromatic moieties and the aryl‐substituents. Based on this molecular design, a series of new PPAB molecules was synthesized, in which the largest redshifts of the absorption and fluorescence maxima up to 803 and 850 nm, respectively, were achieved for a PPAB consisting of benzothiazole rings and terthienyl substituents. In contrast to the sharp absorption of PPAB, a PPAB dimer, which was prepared by a cross‐coupling reaction of PPAB monomers, exhibited panchromatic absorption across the UV/Vis/NIR regions. With this series of PPAB chromophores in hand, a potential application of PPAB as an optoelectronic material was investigated. After identifying a suitable PPAB molecule for application in organic photovoltaic cells based on evaluation using time‐resolved microwave conductivity measurements, a maximized power conversion efficiency of 1.27 % was achieved.     

Gravitational wave imprint of new symmetry breaking

It is believed that there are more fundamental gauge symmetries beyond those described by the Standard Model of particle physics. The scales of these new gauge symmetries are usually too high to be reachable by particle colliders. Considering that the phase transition (PT) relating to the spontaneous breaking of new gauge symmetries to the electroweak symmetry might be strongly first order, we propose considering the stochastic gravitational waves (GW) arising from this phase transition as an indirect way of detecting these new fundamental gauge symmetries. As an illustration, we explore the possibility of detecting the stochastic GW generated from the PT of \begin{document}$ {\bf{B}}-{\bf{L}}$\end{document} in the space-based interferometer detectors. Our study demonstrates that the GW energy spectrum is reachable by the LISA, Tianqin, Taiji, BBO, and DECIGO experiments only for the case where the spontaneous breaking of \begin{document}$ {\bf{B}}-{\bf{L}}$\end{document} is triggered by at least two electroweak singlet scalars.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">FCC/BCC</Emphasis> competition and enhancement of saturation magnetization in nanocrystalline Co-Ni-Fe films

The structure, chemical composition, and magnetic properties of electrochemically deposited nanocrystalline Co-Ni-Fe films were investigated using a number of techniques. A high saturation magnetic induction up to B _s = 21 kG was attained. An enhancement of the saturation magnetization compared to the ideal anticipated one was revealed, which correlated with the nonlinear behavior of the structural phase composition and lattice parameters with the change of the composition. The text was submitted by the authors in English.