Enhancement of vertical phase separation in sequentially deposited organic photovoltaics through the independent processing of additives

Herein,the impact of the independent control of processing additives on vertical phase separation in sequentially deposited (SD) organic photovoltaics (OPVs) and its subsequent effects on charge carrier kinetics at the electron donor-acceptor interface are investigated.The film morphology exhibits notable variations,significantly depending on the layer to which 1,8-diiodooctane (DIO) was applied.Grazing incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering analysis reveals distinctly separated donor/acceptor phases and vertical crystallinity details in SD films.Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry analysis is employed to obtain component distributions in diverse vertical phase structures of SD films depending on additive control.In addition,nanosecond transient absorption spectroscopy shows that DIO control significantly affects the dynamics of separated charges in SD films.In SD OPVs,DIO appears to act through distinct mechanisms with minimal restriction,depending on the applied layer.This study emphasizes the significance of morphological optimization in improving device performance and underscores the importance of independent additive control in the advancement of OPV technology.

A Cu-Pd alloy catalyst with partial phase separation for the electrochemical CO_(2) reduction reaction

Cu catalysts can convert CO_(2) through an electrochemical reduction reaction into a variety of useful carbon-based products.However,this capability provides an obstacle to increasing the selectivity for a single product.Herein,we report a simple fabrication method for a Cu-Pd alloy catalyst for use in a membrane electrode assembly(MEA)-based CO_(2) electrolyzer for the electrochemical CO_(2) reduction reaction(ECRR)with high selectivity for CO production.When the composition of the Cu-Pd alloy catalyst was fabricated at 6:4,the selectivity for CO increased and the production of multi-carbon compounds and hydrogen is suppressed.Introducing a Cu-Pd alloy catalyst with 6:4 ratio as the cathode of the MEAbased CO_(2) electrolyzer showed a CO faradaic efficiency of 92.8%at 2.4 V_(cell).We assumed that these results contributed from the crystal planes on the surface of the Cu-Pd alloy.The phases of the Cu-Pd alloy catalyst were partially separated through annealing to fabricate a catalyst with high selectivity for CO at low voltage and C_(2)H_4 at high voltage.The results of CO-stripping testing confirmed that when Cu partially separates from the lattice of the Cu-Pd alloy,the desorption of~*CO is suppressed,suggesting that C-C coupling reaction is favored.

Magnetically induced phase separation in the fcc phase and thermodynamic calculations of phase equilibria of the Co-Cr system

Two-phase equilibria between the ferromagnetic fcc and the paramagnetic fcc phase from 800 ℃ to 900 ℃ in the Co-rich region have been detected by the diffusion couple technique. Two phase separation region of the fcc has been confirmed along the Curie temperature.The phase equilibria including the present results and the thermodynamic data of the Co-Cr system reported in the literature were analyzed on the basis of the thermodynamic evaluation. A set of thermodynamic values for the liquid, fcc, hcp, bcc, sigma phases was obtained. The calculated phase equilibria were in good agreement with most of the experimental data.

EFFECT OF DILUENTS ON CRYSTALLIZATION OF POLY(VINYLIDENE FLUORIDE) AND PHASE SEPARATED STRUCTURE IN A TERNARY SYSTEM via THERMALLY INDUCED PHASE SEPARATION

The phase diagram of a ternary system of PVDF,dibutyl phthalate (DBP) and di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) was determined in terms of a pseudo binary system with the same polymer concentration and different DBP content in diluent mixture.The experimental results showed that as the DBP content increased in diluent mixture,the phase separation changed from liquid-liquid phase separation to solid-liquid phase separation,and both the cloudy point for L-L phase separation and crystallization temperature shifted...

Formation of macroporous gel morphology by phase separation in the silica sol-gel system containing nonionic surfactant

The phase separation and gel formation behavior in an alkoxy-derived silica sol-gel system containing C16EO15 has been investigated. Various gel morphologies similar to other sol-gel systems containing organic additives were obtained by changing the preparation conditions. Micrometer-range interconnected porous gels were obtained by freezing transitional structures of phase separation in the sol-gel process. The dependence of the resulting gel morphology on several important reaction parameters such as the starting composition, reaction temperature and acid catalyst concentration was studied in detail. The experimental results indicate that the gel morphology is mainly determined by the time relation between the onset of phase separation and gel formation.

The pathogenic mechanism of TAR DNA-binding protein 43(TDP-43)in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

The onset of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is usually characterized by focal death of both upper and/or lower motor neurons occurring in the motor cortex,basal ganglia,brainstem,and spinal cord,and commonly involves the muscles of the upper and/or lower extremities,and the muscles of the bulbar and/or respiratory regions.However,as the disease progresses,it affects the adjacent body regions,leading to generalized muscle weakness,occasionally along with memory,cognitive,behavioral,and language impairments;respiratory dysfunction occurs at the final stage of the disease.The disease has a complicated pathophysiology and currently,only riluzole,edaravone,and phenylbutyrate/taurursodiol are licensed to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in many industrialized countries.The TAR DNA-binding protein 43 inclusions are observed in 97%of those diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.This review provides a preliminary overview of the potential effects of TAR DNAbinding protein 43 in the pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,including the abnormalities in nucleoplasmic transport,RNA function,post-translational modification,liquid-liquid phase separation,stress granules,mitochondrial dysfunction,oxidative stress,axonal transport,protein quality control system,and non-cellular autonomous functions(e.g.,glial cell functions and prion-like propagation).

Physical information-enhanced graph neural network for predicting phase separation

Although phase separation is a ubiquitous phenomenon, the interactions between multiple components make it difficult to accurately model and predict. In recent years, machine learning has been widely used in physics simulations. Here,we present a physical information-enhanced graph neural network(PIENet) to simulate and predict the evolution of phase separation. The accuracy of our model in predicting particle positions is improved by 40.3% and 51.77% compared with CNN and SVM respectively. Moreover, we design an order parameter based on local density to measure the evolution of phase separation and analyze the systematic changes with different repulsion coefficients and different Schmidt numbers.The results demonstrate that our model can achieve long-term accurate predictions of order parameters without requiring complex handcrafted features. These results prove that graph neural networks can become new tools and methods for predicting the structure and properties of complex physical systems.

Numerical Simulation Study of Oil-Water Emulsion Separation in an Ultrasonic Field:Effect of Coupling between Acoustic and Flow Field Parameters

In this study,the separation and coalescence of oil-in-water emulsions are explored in an ultrasonic field using the lattice Boltzmann method.By simulating the propagation of ultrasonic waves,this study focuses on examining the effects of acoustic wave frequency,the ratio of oil to water components,and the aspect ratio of the boundary on the emulsification and separation processes of oil-water mixtures.The following conclusions are drawn.①Frequency affects the speed of oil droplet separation,leading to an increase in droplet size over time.Larger droplets are found near the source,while smaller droplets are distributed throughout the wave web.②As the boundary aspect ratio increases,the emulsification efficiency of the droplets weakens,and the system takes longer to stabilize.③Emulsions with a higher component of oil can better resist acoustic waves.④At the same acoustic frequency,longer wavelength ultrasonic fields promote the formation of uniformly distributed,smaller oil droplets,which is beneficial to the storage of emulsions.These numerical simulation results offer insights for optimizing conditions for oil-in-water separation and serve as a numerical reference for the study of oil-in-water emulsion separation in ultrasonic environments.

PREPARATION OF MICROPOROUS ULTRA HIGH MOLECULAR WEIGHT POLYETHYLENE (UHMWPE) BY THERMALLY INDUCED PHASE SEPARATION OF A UHMWPE/LIQUID PARAFFIN MIXTURE

Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) with a microporous structure was prepared via thermally induced phase separation (TIPS).Liquid paraffin (LP) was used as a diluent in the preparation of microporous UHMWPE. Small angle laser light scattering (SALLS) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were used to determine the phase separation temperatures,i.e.the cloud points and the dynamic crystallization temperatures,respectively.It was found that the cloudI points were coincident with the cryst...

FORMATION AND MICROSTRUCTURE OF POLYETHYLENE MICROPOROUS MEMBRANES THROUGH THERMALLY INDUCED PHASE SEPARATION

Microporous membranes of low-high density polyethylene and their blends were prepared bythermally-induced phase separation of polymer/long-aliphatic chain alcohol (diluent) mixtures.The microstructures of this particular membrane, which depends on the diluent properties,polymer concentration and cooling rate, were observed by scanning electron microscopy.'Beehive-type,'leafy-like, and lacy porous structure morphologies can be formed,depending onthe blend composition and phase separation conditions, which were discussed by the polymer anddiluent crystallization processes.

PREPARATION OF HIGH DENSITY POLYETHYLENE/POLYETHYLENE-BLOCK-POLY(ETHYLENE GLYCOL)COPOLYMER BLEND POROUS MEMBRANES VIA THERMALLY INDUCED PHASE SEPARATION PROCESS AND THEIR PROPERTIES

High density polyethylene （HDPE）/polyethylene-block-poly（ethylene glycol） （PE-b-PEG） blend porous membranes were prepared via thermally induced phase separation （TIPS） process using diphenyl ether （DPE） as diluent. The phase diagrams of HDPE/PE-b-PEG/DPE systems were determined by optical microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry （DSC）. By varying the content of PE-b-PEG, the effects of PE-b-PEG copolymer on morphology and crystalline structure of membranes were studied by scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and wide angle X-ray diffraction （WAXD）. The chemical compositions of whole membranes and surface layers were characterized by elementary analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy-attenuated total reflection （FTIR-ATR） and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS）. Water contact angle, static protein adsorption and water flux experiments were used to evaluate the hydrophilicity, antifouling and water permeation properties of the membranes. It was found that the addition of PE-b-PEG increased the pore size of the obtained blend membranes. In the investigated range of PE-b-PEG content, the PEG blocks could not aggregate into obviously separated domains in membrane matrix. More importantly, PE-b-PEG could not only be retained stably in the membrane matrix during membrane formation, but also enrich at the membrane surface layer. Such stability and surface enrichment of PE-b-PEG endowed the blend membranes with improved hydrophilicity, protein absorption resistance and water permeation properties, which would be substantially beneficial to HDPE membranes for water treatment application.

Starch-g-poly (vinyl alcohol) as Compatibilizer for Reducing the Phase Separation Rates of Polyvinyl Alcohol/Cornstarch Pastes

Starch- g-poly(vinyl alcohol) as a compatibilizing agent for reducing the phase separation rates of polyvinyl alcohol/starch pastes has been investigated by blending and dissolving the two polymers in distilled water. The separation rates were quantitatively evaluated by the term of initiul demixing time. The grafted starches, with a series of grafting ratios, were prepared by grafting a number of vinyl acetate onto granular cornstarch in aqueous dispersion and then alcoholating in methanol. It was found that the addition of small amounts of starch- g poly (vinyl alcohol ) in the size compositions can effectively decrease the separation rates of the blended pastes in comparison to pure starch/PVA ones.Moreover, the influence of the grafting ratio, starch content, and PVA variety on the separation rates was also studied.

Fabrication of poly(vinylidene fluoride) membrane via thermally induced phase separation using ionic liquid as green diluent

Ionic liquid(IL),1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate([BMIM]PF6)as a new and environmentally friendly diluent was introduced to prepare poly(vinylidene fluoride)(PVDF)membranes via thermally induced phase separation(TIPS).Phase diagram of PVDF/[BMIM]PF6 was measured.The effects of polymer concentration and quenching temperature on the morphologies,properties,and performances of the PVDF membranes were investigated.When the polymer concentration was 15 wt%,the pure water flux of the fabricated membrane was up to nearly 2000 L·m-2·h-1,along with adequate mechanical strength.With the increasing of PVDF concentration and quenching temperature,mean pore size and water permeability of the membrane decreased.SEM results showed that PVDF membranes manufactured by ionic liquid(BMIm PF6)presented spherulite structure.And the PVDF membranes were represented asβphase by XRD and FTIR characterization.It provides a new way to prepare PVDF membranes with piezoelectric properties.

An Observation on the Microphase Separation of Poly(methyl methacrylate)-block-Polystyrene Copolymer

The phase behavior of a well-defined poly(methyl methacrylate)- b- polystyrene block copolymer was studied by transmission electron microscope. The results show that a microphase transition may have occurred in the copolymer film. A kind of lamellae and an ordered bicontinuous double-diamond morphology are observed clearly. The lamellar morphology reveals a larger period of about 400 nm.

Separation process study of liquid phase catalytic exchange reaction based on the Pt/C/PTFE catalysts

The liquid phase catalytic exchange(LPCE) reaction is an effective process for heavy water detritiation and production of deuterium-depleted potable water. In the current study, hydrophobic carbon-supported platinum catalysts(Pt/C/PTFE) with high efficiency as reported previously for LPCE were prepared and comprehensive performance evaluation method is applied to evaluate the separation behaviors of LPCE systematically. Experimental results indicate that the optimum reaction temperature of 60–80℃ and the molar feed ratio G/L of 1.5–2.5 would lead to higher separation efficiencies. As to the packing method, a random packing mode with a packing ratio of hydrophobic catalysts 0.25 is recommended. In addition, thermodynamic analysis corresponds well with experimental results under lower temperature and G/L, while the suppression of kinetic factors should not be neglected when T > 80℃ and G/L > 1.5.

Improving the performance of polymer solar cells by adjusting the crystallinity and nanoscale phase separation

In this paper, we report a high-perfornmnce P3HT/PCBM bulk-heterojunction solar cell with a power conversion efficiency of 4.85% fabricated by adjusting the polymer crystallinity and nanoscale phase separation using an ultrasonic irradiation mixing approach for the polymer. The grazing incidence X-ray diffraction, UV/Vis spectroscopic, and atomic force microscopic measurement results for the P3HT/PCBM blend films reveal that the P3HT/PCBM film fabricated by ultrasonic irradiation mixing of the P3HT and PCBM solutions for 10 min has a higher degree of crystallinity, a higher absorption efficiency, and better phase separation, which together account for the higher charge transport properties and photovoltaic cell performance.

USING TWO-DIMENSIONAL TIME RESOLVED LIGHT SCATTERING TO STUDY THE CURE REACTION INDUCED PHASE SEPARATION PROCESS OF EPOXY-AMINE-POLYETHERSULFONE BLEND WITH SECONDARY PHASE SEPARATION

The generalized two-dimensional correlation analysis based on time-resolved light scattering patterns （2D TRLS） has been employed to study the phase separation process of an epoxy-amine-polyethersulfone blend in which the secondary phase separation takes place. The results of the 2D TRLS provided more detailed information that was not readily observed in the 1D TRLS patterns. （i） During the first process of phase separation, the sequential order of coarsening in size of the domains among the larger and smaller ones has been reversed between the diffusion regime and the hydrodynamic regime. （ii） The change of the larger domains in size, due to the hydrodynamic flow in the late stage of the first phase separation process, keeps on taking place earlier than that of the new domains appeared in the secondary phase separation process. （iii） During the secondary phase separation process the size growth of the smaller domains takes place earlier than that of the larger ones, probably due to the assumption that the coarsening mode could decrease the interface tension more quickly.

Fabrication of Poly(vinylidene fluoride) /Polysulfone Flat Blend Membranes via Thermally Induced Phase Separation Process for Water Treatment

Poly(vinylidene fluoride) /polysulfone(PVDF/PSF) flat blend membrane was prepared via thermally induced phase separation(TIPS) technique.The membrane formation mechanism and membrane structure were investigated and the effects of PSF/PVDF weight ratio on morphology,crystallinity,porosity,and mechanical properties of the membrane were discussed.The relationship between membrane structure and performances,such as pure water flux and the rejection of carbonic black,was also discussed.It was found that solid-liquid(S-L) phase separation occurred for the PVDF/PSF/diluent system.The addition of PSF influences structure and crystallinity of the membrane,which in turn influences mechanical properties and performances of the membrane.The results reveal that it is possible to obtain network structure via S-L phase separation by blending the polymer,which has a partial compatibility with PVDF.