Enhanced lithium electrochromism of atmospheric pressure plasma jet-synthesized tungsten/molybdenum oxide films for flexible electrochromic devices

Enhanced lithium electrochromic performances of mixed organo-tungsten oxide (W _x O _y C _z )/organo-molybdenum oxide (Mo _x O _y C _z ) films by a rapid codeposition onto 40 Ω/□ flexible polyethylene terephthalate/indium tin oxide substrates at a short exposed duration of 23 s using an atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) at various mixed concentrations of hexacarbonyl precursors [W(CO)₆ and Mo(CO)₆] are investigated. The flexible organo-tungsten–molybdenum oxide (WMo _x O _y C _z ) films demonstrated noteworthy electrochromic performance for 200 cycles of reversible Li⁺ ion intercalation and deintercalation in a 1 M LiClO₄–propylene carbonate electrolyte by the switching measurements of potential sweep from ?1 to 1 V at a scan rate of 50 mV/s and the potential step at ?1 and 1 V, even after being bent 360^o around a 2.5-cm diameter rod for 1,000 cycles. The optical modulation (ΔT) of 61.3 % for MoO _y C _z films at a wavelength of 795.6 nm was significantly improved up to 72.5 % for WMo _x O _y C _z films cosynthesized with an APPJ.     

Robust energy planning in buildings with energy and comfort costs

Energy management in buildings is addressed in this paper. The energetic impact of buildings in the current energetic context is first depicted. Then the studied optimization problem is defined as the optimal management of production and consumption activities in houses. A scheduling problem is identified to adjust the energy consumption to both the energy cost and the inhabitant’s comfort. The available flexibilities of the services provided by domestic appliances are used to compute optimal energy plans. These flexibilities are associated to time windows or heating storage abilities. A constraints formulation of the energy allocation problem is given. A derived mixed linear program is used to solve this problem. The energy consumption in houses is very dependent to uncertain data such as weather forecasts and inhabitants’ activities. Parametric uncertainties are introduced in the home energy management problem in order to provide robust energy allocation. Robust linear programming is implemented. Event related uncertainties are also addressed through stochastic programming in order to take into account the inhabitant’s activities. A scenario based approach is implemented to face this robust optimization problem.     

A Boat-Shaped Tetracationic Macrocycle with a Semiconducting Organic Framework

We report the synthesis of a tetracationic macrocycle which contains two N,N′-bis(methylene)naphthalenediimide units inserted in between the pyridinium rings of the bipyridinium units in cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) (CBPQT⁴⁺ or “blue box”) and describe the investigation of its potential use in materials for organic electronics. The incorporation of the two naphthalenediimide (NDI) units into the constitution of CBPQT⁴⁺, not only changes the supramolecular properties of the tetracation in the solid state, but also has a profound influence on the electrochemical and electronic behavior of the resulting tetracationic macrocycle. In particular, the solid-state (super)structure, investigated by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, reveals the formation of a three-dimensional (3D) supramolecular framework with ca. 2.8 nm diameter one-dimensional (1D) hexagonal channels. Electrochemical studies on solid-state thin films of the macrocycle show that they exhibit semiconducting properties with a redox-conductivity of up to 7.6×10⁻⁴ S m⁻¹. Moreover, EPR and ENDOR spectroscopies show that charge is equally shared between the NDIs within the one-electron reduced state of the NDI-based macrocycle on the time scale of these techniques.     

Deprotection‐free preparation of propargyl ether‐containing phosphinated benzoxazine and the structure–property relationship of the resulting thermosets

Generally, protection and deprotection procedures of amino groups are required in preparing propargyl ether‐containing benzoxazines. In this study, we report a facile, deprotection‐free preparation of a propargyl ether‐containing phosphinated benzoxazine (2) from the nucleophilic substitution of a phenolic OH‐containing phosphinated benzoxazine (1) and propargyl bromide in the catalysis of potassium carbonate. The structure of (2) was characterized and confirmed by a high‐resolution mass spectrum, ¹H, ¹³C, ¹H‐¹H, ¹H‐¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra, and X‐ray single crystal diffractogram. infrared (IR) and differential scanning calorimetry were used to monitor the ring‐opening of benzoxazine and crosslinking of propargyl ether. The microstructure and the structure–property relationship of the resulting homopolymers and copolymers are discussed. The T_g of homopolymer of (2) is 208 °C by dynamic mechanical analysis, the coefficient of thermal expansion is 43 ppm/°C, and T_d 5% (N₂) is 393 °C, respectively, which are higher than those of the homopolymer of (1) . Similar trends were observed in the copolymerization system. The results demonstrate the beneficial effect of crosslinking afforded by the propargyl ether group is higher than that by the phenolic OH group. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012     

Oliveridepsidones A–D,antioxidant depsidones from Garcinia oliveri

Four new prenylated depsidones, oliveridepsidones A–D, were isolated from the bark of Garcinia oliveri collected in Vietnam. Their structures were elucidated using mainly NMR techniques (¹H and ¹³C NMR, HMQC, HMBC and NOE experiments). Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.