Effect of Arylmethylene Substitutions on Molecular Structure,Optoelectronic Properties and Photovoltaic Performance of Dithienocyclopentafluorene-Based Small-Molecule Acceptors

Two dithienocyclopentafluorene-based small-molecule acceptors (SMAs) were developed that feature methylene-functionalized conjugated side chains, to study the effect of arylmethylene substitution and its number on structure, optoelectronic properties and device performance. Results showed that two SMAs have better absorption properties and planarity, lower bandgaps and higher LUMOs compared with the control SMA without conjugated side chains. The synthesized SMAs were tested in polymer solar cells for examples of their applicability. This work argues that the introduction of methylene-functionalized conjugated side chains has great potential in tuning molecular structure, optoelectronic properties, device physics and photovoltaic performance of SMAs.     

Notable shift of ultraviolet intensity on Sn-doped ZnO nanostructure fabricated by sol–gel method

Sn-doped ZnO (SZO) thin films are deposited by sol–gel dip-coating method with Sn content at 0 at.% and 1–15 at.% with an increment of 2 at.%. The structure and luminescence of the films are investigated. X-ray diffraction results indicate that all the SZO samples show preferential orientation along the (002) direction, and the scanning electron microscope exhibits that the surface morphology of the films change from nanoparticles to nanorods with increasing Sn concentration. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveals that Sn exists as valence of +4 in the matrix. The photoluminescence peaks at 381 and 398 nm are observed in all the samples. The ratio of intensity of peak at 381 nm to that of peak at 398 nm differed markedly. The intensity of peak at 398 nm might be due to the response for the Sn atoms, while the intensity of peak at 381 nm is probably related to the quantum size effect.     

Multiresponsive supramolecular gels constructed by orthogonal metal–ligand coordination and hydrogen bonding

Macromonomers bearing tridentate 2,6-bis(1,2,3-trizol-4-yl)pyridine (BTP) ligand unit synthesized via CuAAC “click” chemistry in the middle of the chain and two ureidopyrimidinone (UPy) motifs on the ends linked to the central BTP unit via PEGs of various lengths were synthesized and used for the study of gelation both with and without the presence of Eu(III) ions. Various interesting gelation behaviors were found. Gels exhibited various multi-responsive properties, including photoluminescence, mechanoresponsive properties, self-healing abilities, thermorepsonsive properties and chemoresponsive properties. The different gelation abilities and multi-responsive properties for different systems were shown to be resulted from difference in PEG linker lengths and the introduction of orthogonal metal–ligand coordination and hydrogen bonding interactions. The selective responsiveness to different chemicals would allow the development of modular sensory systems that utilize a combination of orthogonal supramolecular interactions.     

Aptamer-based fluorometric determination of norovirus using a paper-based microfluidic device

Microchimica Acta - The authors describe a rapid and highly sensitive point-of-care device for rapid determination of noroviruses, a leading cause of acute gastroenteritis. The assay is based on...     

Palladium‐catalyzed Suzuki–Miyaura coupling with aryl and heteroaryl bromides using N,N,N′,N′‐tetra(diphenylphosphinomethyl)‐1,2‐ethylenediamine

An easily prepared tetraphosphine N,N,N′,N′‐tetra(diphenylphosphinomethyl)‐1,2‐ethylenediamine (1) combined with PdCl₂ affords an efficient catalytic system for Suzuki cross‐coupling of aryl and heteroaryl bromides. A high turnover number of 750 000 is obtained with the catalyst loading as low as 1 ppm. This catalyst system exhibits good stability and longevity. In this study, a broad scope of substrates is investigated and satisfactory yields are obtained. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

CR Embeddings and Kähler Manifolds with Pseudo-Conformally Flat Curvature Tensors

Under certain conditions on co-dimension and curvature tensors, the image of some CR or holomorphic maps are proved to be totally geodesic.     

Emerging Design Principle of Near-Infrared Upconversion Sensitizer Based on Mitochondria-Targeted Organic Dye for Enhanced Photodynamic Therapy

Upconversion luminescent (UCL) triggered photodynamic therapy (PDT) affords superior outcome for cancer treatment. However, conventional UCL materials which all work by a multiphoton absorption (MPA) process inevitably need extremely high power density far over the maximum permissible exposure (MPE) to laser. Here, a one-photon absorption molecular upconversion sensitizer Cy5.5-Br based on frequency upconversion luminescent (FUCL) is designed for PDT. The unusual super heavy atom effect (SHAE) in Cy5.5-Br strongly enhances its spin-orbit coupling (0.23 cm⁻¹), triplet quantum yield (11.1 %) and triplet state lifetime (18.8 μs) while the potential hot-band absorption of Cy5.5-Br is well maintained. Importantly, Cy5.5-Br can efficiently target the tumour site and kill cancer cells by destroying mitochondria under a biosafety MPE to 808 nm laser. The photostability and antitumor results are obviously superior to that of a Stokes process. This work provides a design criterion for FUCL dyes to realize effective PDT upon a biosafety optical density, possibly bringing more clinical benefits than conventional MPA materials.     

Microstructural and mechanical analysis of Cu and Au interconnect on various bond pads

Effects of High Temperature Storage (HTS) and bonding toward microstructure change of intermetallic compound (IMC) at the wire bonding interface of 3 types of bond pad (Al, AlSiCu and NiPdAu) were presented in this paper. Optical and electron microscope analyses revealed that the IMC growth rate of samples under 175 and 200 °C HTS increased in the order of Al > AlSiCu > NiPdAu. Besides, higher HTS and bonding temperatures also promoted higher IMC thickness. The compositional study showed that higher HTS and bonding temperature developed rapid interdiffusion in bonding interface. In the mechanical ball shear test, a decrease of the shear force of Al and AlSiCu bond pads after 500 h HTS was believed due to poorly developed IMC at bonding interface. On the other hand, shear force degradation at 1000 h was due to excessive growth of IMC that in turn causes the formation of defects. For NiPdAu bond pad, increasing trend of shear force with HTS duration at 175 °C implied a good reliability of the Cu wire bonding. The rapid microscopic inspection on Cu wired Al bond pad under HTS 175 °C showed the IMC development from the periphery to the center of the ball bond. However, after 500 h voids started to develop until the crack was observed at 1000 h.