A review on electronically conducting polymers for lithium-sulfur battery and lithium-selenium battery:Progress and prospects

Lithium-sulfur(Li-S) batteries and lithium-selenium(Li-Se) batteries,as environmental protection energy storage systems with outstanding theoretical specific capacities and high energy densities,have become the hotspots of current researches.Besides,elemental S(Se) raw materials are widely sourced and their production costs are both low,which make them considered one of the new generations of high energy density electrochemical energy storage systems with the most potential for development.However,poor conductivity of elemental S/Se and the notorious "shuttle effect" of lithium polysulfides(polyselenides) severely hinder the commercialization of Li-S/Se batteries.Thanks to the excellent electrical conductivity and strong absorption of lithium polysulfide(polyselenide) about electronically conducting polymer,some of the above thorny problems have been effectively alleviated.The review presents the fundamental studies and current development trends of common electronically conducting polymers in various components of Li-S/Se batteries,which involves polyaniline(PANI) polypyrrole(PPy),and polythiophene(PTh) with its derivatives,e.g.polyethoxythiophene(PEDOT) and poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate)(PEDOT:PSS).Finally,the review not only summarizes the research directions and challenges facing the application of electronically conducting polymers,but also looks forward to the development prospects of them,which will provide a way for the practical use of electronically conducting polymers in Li-S/Se batteries with outstanding electrochemical properties in the short run.

Effect of Poly（Ether Urethane） Introduction on the Performance of Polymer Electrolyte for All-Solid-State Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

The introduction of poly（ether urethane） （PEUR） into polymer electrolyte based on poly（ethylene oxide）, LiI and I2, has significantly increased the ionic conductivity by nearly two orders of magnitudes. An increment of I3- diffusion coefficient is also observed. All-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells are constructed using the polymer electrolytes. It was found that PEUR incorporation has a beneficial effect on the enhancement of open circuit voltage VOC by shifting the band edge of TiO2 to a negative value. Scanningelectron microscope images indicate the perfect interfacial contact between the TiO2 electrode and the blend electrolyte.

Electron Correlation Effects in Polaron-Pair Recombination in Conjugated Polymers

Within a Su-Schriffer-Heeger model modified to include electron-electron interaction and an external electric field, we investigate the dynamics of oppositely charged polarons in a polymer chain in the presence of both electron-phonon and electron-electron interactions under the influence of an external electric field. We adopt a multi-configurational time-dependent Hartree-Fock method for the time-dependent Schrodinger equation and the Newtonian equation of motion for a lattice. Our results show that the on-site Coulomb interaction is of fundamental importance and favors the recombination between the pairs of polarons, and the yield of excitons depends crucially on the strength of the on-site Coulomb interaction U. Furthermore, the influence of the nearest neighbor interaction V is also discussed.

Inverted organic solar cells with solvothermal synthesized vanadium-doped TiO2 thin films as efficient electron transport layer

We investigated the effects of using different thicknesses of pure and vanadium-doped thin films of TiO2 as the electron transport layer in the inverted configuration of organic photovoltaic cells based on poly（3-hexylthiophene） P3HT：[6-6] phenyl-（6） butyric acid methyl ester（PCBM）. 1% vanadium-doped TiO2nanoparticles were synthesized via the solvothermal method. Crystalline structure, morphology, and optical properties of pure and vanadium-doped TiO2 thin films were studied by different techniques such as x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmittance electron microscopy, and UV–visible transmission spectrum. The doctor blade method which is compatible with roll-2-roll printing was used for deposition of pure and vanadium-doped TiO2 thin films with thicknesses of 30 nm and 60 nm. The final results revealed that the best thickness of TiO2 thin films for our fabricated cells was 30 nm. The cell with vanadium-doped TiO2 thin film showed slightly higher power conversion efficiency and great Jsc of 10.7 mA/cm^2 compared with its pure counterpart. In the cells using 60 nm pure and vanadium-doped TiO2 layers, the cell using the doped layer showed much higher efficiency. It is remarkable that the external quantum efficiency of vanadium-doped TiO2 thin film was better in all wavelengths.

XPS and Raman studies of electron irradiated sodium silicate glass

The microstructure modifications of sodium silicate glass induced by 1.2-MeV electron irradiation are studied by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Depth profile analyses are also performed on the irradiated glass at 109 Gy. A sodium-depleted layer with a thickness of a few tens of nanometers and the corresponding increase of network polymerization on the top surface are observed after electron bombardment, while the polymerization in the subsurface region has a negligible variation with the irradiation dose. Moreover, the formation of molecular oxygen after electron irradiation is evidenced, which is mainly aggregated in the first two-micron-thick irradiated glass surface. These modifications are correlated to the network relaxation process as a consequence of the diffusion and desorption of sodium species during electron irradiation.

Inverted Bottom-Emission Organic Light Emitting Diode Using Two n-Doped Layers for the Enhanced Performance

We fabricate an inverted bottom-emission organic light emitting diode （IBOLED） employing two n-doped layers, i.e., 5 nm lithium carbonate doped PTCDA （1：2 Li2CO3：PTCDA） with 5 nm Li2CO3 doped BCP （1：4 Li2CO3：BCP） on top, where PTCDA and BCP stand for 3, 4, 9, 10 perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride and bathcuporine, respectively. Compared to the IBOED using a layer of 10 nm 1：4 Li2CO3：BCP, the one utilizing the two-layer combination of 5 nm 1：2 Li2CO3：PTCDA and 5 nm 1：4 Li2CO3：BCP shows decreasing operation voltage and thereby increasing power efficiency, mainly attributed to the higher electron conductivity of 1：2 Li2CO3：PTCDA than that of 1：4 Li2CO3：BCP. The mechanism of the electron transport through the interface of 1：2 Li2CO3：PTCDA and 1：4 Li2CO3：BCP is also discussed. We provide a simply and effective structure to enhance the current conduction for IBOLEDs.

Effect of Dopant Properties on the Microstructures and Electrical Characteristics of Poly（3-Hexylthiophene） Thin Films

Effects of dopant properties on microstructures and the electrical characteristics of poly （3-hexylthiophene） （P3HT） films are studied by doping 0.1 wt% 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane （F4？TCNQ）, 6,6-phenyl-C61butyric acid methyl ester （PCBM） and N,N＇？Diphenyl-N,N＇-（m-tolyl）-benzidine （TPD） into P3HT, respectively. The introductions of various dopants in small quantities increase the field-effect mobility and the I on/Ioff ratio of P3HT thin-film transistors. However, each of dopants shows various effects on the crystalline order and the molecular orientation of P3HT films and the performance of P3HT thin-film transistors. These can be attributed to the various size, shape and energy-level properties of the dopants.

Virtual special issue:Organic and polymer materials for electronics

Welcome to this virtual special issue focusing on organic and polymer materials for electronics published in Chinese Chemical Letters since 2017. For more than a century, people have always believed that organic compounds cannot be well employed for electronic conducting. Till 2000,Heeger,MacDiarmid and Shirakawa were acknowledged by the Nobel Prize of chemistry for

Advancement in Materials for Supercapacitors

As future improvement to the energy density and power density of supercapacitors relies on the availability of new materials, worldwide research has been undertaken to address this need. The recent advancement in new materials used for fabricating supercapacitors is reviewed in this paper. Among the newly emerged materials covered in this review are the activated graphene, conductive polymers, CNT （carbon nantotubes）, AC （activated carbons）, carbon additives and metal oxides for EDLC （electric double layer capacitors） and pseudocapacitors applications.

Persistent radical anion of perylene dianhydride:an emerging metal-free photocatalyst for near-infrared photocontrolled RAFT polymerization

Developing a new type of photocatalyst(PC) and catalytic mechanism for near-infrared(NIR) photocontrolled reversibledeactivation radical polymerization(RDRP) system is charming but challenging.Herein,a novel PC of the persistent radical anion(PRA)(possessing the properties of both radical and anion) was developed for NIR photocontrolled reversible additionfragmentation chain transfer(RAFT) polymerization,enabling successful polymerization while gaining a deep insight into the mechanism of photo-induced electron transfer RAFT(PET-RAFT) polymerization.Different from the conventional and wellaccepted reductive quenching(RQ) pathway,in which the radical anion intermediates of PCs(PCs^(·-)) must be generated in an excited state(ES),here,the PRA(3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride radical anion(PTCDA^(·-))) could generate conveniently in situ in the ground state(GS) and subsequently serve as highly efficient PC in the NIR region(740–850 nm).The successful implementation of this strategy elucidates the peculiar role played by light and the real way of electron transfer behaviors.In fact,the transfer of a single electron from PRA to chain transfer agent(CTA) and cleavage of the C–S bonds is a process from ES to GS,rather than always from GS(PCs^(·-)) to GS(CTA) in the RQ pathway as is well known to all.In addition,the excellent spatial-temporal control and powerful penetration ability of the NIR light were also confirmed by this PRAcatalyzed polymerization system.

Insight into the efficiency-stability-cost balanced organic solar cell based on a polymerized nonfused-ring electron acceptor

Organic solar cells(OSCs)have attracted extensive attention from both academia and industry in recent years due to their remarkable improvement in power conversion efficiency(PCE).However,the Golden Triangle(the balance of efficiency-stability-cost)required for large-scale industrialization of OSCs still remains a great challenge.Here,a new nonfused-ring electron acceptor(NFREA)BF and its polymerized counterpart PBF were designed and synthesized,and their photovoltaic performance,storage stability and material cost were systematically investigated.When blended with a widely-used polymer donor PBDB-T,the PBFbased all-polymer solar cell(all-PSC)displayed a record high PCE of 12.61%for polymerized NFREAs(PNFREAs)with an excellent stability(95.2%of initial PCE after 800 h storage),superior to the BF counterpart.Impressively,PBF-based allPSC possesses the highest industrial figure-of-merit(i-FOM)value of 0.309 based on an efficiency-stability-cost evaluation,in comparison to several representative OSC systems(such as PM6:Y6 and PBDB-T:PZ1).This work provides an insight into the balance of efficiency,stability,and cost,and also indicates that the PNFREAs are promising materials toward the commercial application of OSCs.

Polymer Electron Acceptors Based on Fluorinated Isoindigo Unit for Polymer Solar Cells

Most of efficient polymer electron acceptors for polymer solar cells （PSCs） are based on naphthalene diimide or perylene diimide as the electron deficient building block. In this paper, for the first time, we report polymer electron acceptors based on fluorinated isoindigo IF-lID） as the electron deficient building block. We synthesized two polymer electron acceptors consisting of alternating F-lID unit and thiophene/selenophen unit, They show low-lying LUMo/HOMO energy levels of-3.69/-5.69 eV, high electron mobilities of 1.31 ×10-5 cm2.V-1s-1 and broad absorption spectra with the optical bandgap of 1.61 eV. PSC devices using the two F-liD-based polymers as polymer electron acceptors show encouraging power conversion efficiencies （PCEs） of up to 1.50% with an open-circuit voltage （Voc） of 0.97V, a short-circuit current density （Jsc） of 2.91 mA.cm2, and a fill factor （FF） of 53.2%. This work suggests a new kind of polymer electron acceptors based on F-IID unit.