Recent advances in rylene diimide polymer acceptors for all-polymer solar cells

In recent years, a large library of n-type polymers have been developed and widely used as acceptor materi- als to replace fullerene derivatives in polymer solar cells （PSCs）, stimulating the rapid expansion of research on so-called all-polymer solar cells （aPSCs）. In particular, rylene diimide-based n-type polymer acceptors have attracted broad research interest due to their high electron mobility, suitable energy levels, and strong light-harvesting ability in the visible region. Among various polymer acceptors, rylene diimide-based poly- mers presented best performances when served as the acceptor materials in aPSCs. Typically, a record power conversion efficiency （PCE） of 7.7% was very recently achieved from an aPSC with a rylene diimide polymer derivative as the acceptor component. In this review, we highlight recent progress of n-type polymers orig- inated from two significant classes of rylene diimide units, namely naphthalene diimide （NDI） and perylene diimide （PDI）, as well as their derivatives for aPSC applications.

Hollow tubular conjugated organic polymer for lithium batteries

Polymerization is a valid strategy to solve the dissolution issue of organic electrode materials in aprotic electrolytes.However,conventional polymers usually with amorphous structures and morphology’s influence on electrochemistry have rarely been studied.Herein,a hollow tubular poly phenyl pyrene-4,5,9,10-tetraone(T-PPh-PTO)organic cathode material was designed and synthesized based on the concentration-gradient of the precursor(PTO-Br2)and asymmetrical internal diffusion during the reaction.The unique hollow structure endowed T-PPh-PTO with a short Li+diffusion path accompanied by a high diffusion Li+coefficient(D≈10−8 cm^(2)·s^(−1)).Thus,T-PPh-PTO presented a capacitance-dominated redox pseudocapacitance action with an outstanding rate performance(173 mAh·g^(−1)at 2 A·g^(−1))and high cycle stability(capacity retention ratio is 91.7%after 2,000 cycles).Our study leads to further developments in designing unique organic structures for energy storage.

Temporally Separated CO_(2) Photoreduction and H_(2)O Photooxidation over Redox-Active Conjugated Organic Polymer Films

Photocatalytic CO_(2) reduction with H_(2)O of chemicals without H2 generation is interesting but challenging.Herein,we report temporally separated CO_(2) photoreduction and H_(2)O photooxidation that are achieved over redox-active o-hydroxyazo-based conjugated organic polymer films(HAzo-COPFs),affording CO with high efficiency as the sole reduction product.HAzo-COPFs are prepared via interfacial diazo-coupling reactions of aromatic diamines and diphenols,and HAzo-COPF-1 from 4,4′-biphenol and benzidine shows the best performance with a CO generation rate of 53.6μmol g−1 h−1 under visible-light irradiation(>420 nm).Interestingly,we discovered that diphenol(DP-OH)moieties in HAzo-COPFs,serving as electron and proton donors to participate in CO_(2) photoreduction,are oxidized into quinone(DP=O)moieties,which are subsequently photoreduced to regenerate DP-OH in H_(2)O photooxidation.Consequently,CO_(2) photoreduction and H_(2)O photooxidation are temporally separated and perfectly coupled via redox transformation between DP-OH and DP=O that form in situ,affording enhanced charge carrier separation and inhibiting the hydrogen evolution reaction.This work provides new insights for the design of COP photocatalysts and artificial photosynthesis.

Thiophene-based conjugated microporous polymers:synthesis,characterization and efficient gas storage

A series of thiophene-based conjugated microporous polymers （ThPOPs） have been synthesized on the basis of ferric chloride-catalyzed oxidative coupling polymerization of muRi-thienyl monomers. The structures of ThPOPs were confirmed via solid-state t3C CP/MAS NMR spectroscopy and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The ThPOPs possess high porosities and their high Brunauer-Emmett-Teller specific surface area results vary between 350 and 1320mZg . The presence of abundant ultra-micronores at 0.50-0.63 nm allows ThPOPs efficient gas （carbon dioxide, methane, and hydrogen） adsorption.

Flexible Electrochromic Poly(thiophene-furan) Film via Electrodeposition with High Stability

Flexible electrochromic(EC) materials have an urgent demand in the current electronic equipment market due to their technological interest and applications. However, at present, few flexible EC devices developed by industry exist due to some problems and challenges still to be solved such as flexibility. In this work, we have successfully synthesized a novel thiophene-furan(TFu) monomer via Stille coupling reaction,and facilely electrochemically polymerized in a neutral Bu_4 NPF_6-CH_2Cl2 electrolyte system to afford the corresponding poly(thiophene-furan)(PTFu) polymer film with good flexibility. The electrochemical and photoelectrochemical analyses of the as-prepared PTFu demonstrate that it has achieved the improved EC performance compared with pure polyfuran and polythiophene polymers, and as a result it possesses favorable EC parameters manifested as a reasonable ΔT(32.1%), faster response(1.38 s), excellent coloration efficiency(CE, 300.9 cm^(2)·C^(-1)), and after a continuous redox process up to 2000 s, its optical stability can be maintained at 96%, and even after 3000 s, it can still be maintained at 80%. In addition, the successful assembly of the electrochromic device of PTFu film can easily realize the reversible conversion of the color from orange to gray. All these systematic studies suggest that the as-prepared flexible PTFu film is a promising candidate for EC materials and has great potential interest for versatile EC applications.