Propeller vs Quasi-Planar 6-Cantilever Small Molecular Platforms with Extremely Two-Dimensional Conjugated Extension

Two exotic 6-cantilever small molecular platforms, characteristic of quite different molecular configurations of propeller and quasi-plane, are established by extremely two-dimensional conjugated extension. When applied in small molecular acceptors, the only two cases of CH25 and CH26 that could contain six terminals and such broad conjugated backbones have been afforded thus far, rendering featured absorptions, small reorganization and exciton binding energies. Moreover, their distinctive but completely different molecular geometries result in sharply contrasting nanoscale film morphologies. Finally, CH26 contributes to the best device efficiency of 15.41 % among acceptors with six terminals, demonstrating two pioneered yet highly promising 6-cantilever molecular innovation platforms.     

Cooperative Catalysis of Polysulfides in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries through Adsorption Competition by Tuning Cationic Geometric Configuration of Dual-active Sites in Spinel Oxides

Fundamentally understanding the structure–property relationship is critical to design advanced electrocatalysts for lithium-sulfur (Li−S) batteries, which remains a formidable challenge. Herein, by manipulating the regulable cations in spinel oxides, their geometrical-site-dependent catalytic activity for sulfur redox is investigated. Experimental and theoretical analyses validate that the modulation essence of cooperative catalysis of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) is dominated by LiPSs adsorption competition between Co³⁺ tetrahedral (Td) and Mn³⁺ octahedral (Oh) sites on Mn³⁺_Oh−O−Co³⁺_Td backbones. Specifically, high-spin Co³⁺_Td with stronger Co−S covalency anchors LiPSs persistently, while electron delocalized Mn³⁺_Oh with adsorptive orbital (d_z²) functions better in catalyzing specialized LiPSs conversion. This work inaugurates a universal strategy for sculpting geometrical configuration to achieve charge, spin, and orbital topological regulation in electrocatalysts for Li−S batteries.     

A Configurationally Confined Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescent Two-Coordinate CuI Complex for Efficient Blue Electroluminescence

Thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) from linear two-coordinate coinage metal complexes is sensitive to the geometric arrangement of the ligands. Herein we realize the tuning of configuration from coplanar to orthogonal gradually by variation of substituents. In a complex with confined twist configuration, its blue emission peaking at 458 nm presents a high Φ_PL of 0.74 and a short τ_TADF of 1.9 μs, which indicates a fast enough k_r,TADF of 3.9×10⁵ s⁻¹ and a depressed k_nr of 1.4×10⁵ s⁻¹. Such outstanding luminescent properties are attributed to the proper overlap of HOMO and LUMO on Cu^I d orbitals that guarantees not only small ΔE_ST but also sufficient transition oscillator strength for fast . Vacuum-deposited blue OLEDs with either doped or host-free emissive layer present external quantum efficiencies over 20 % and 10 %, respectively, demonstrating the practicality of the configurationally confined strategy for efficient linear Cu^I TADF emitters.