H-and J-aggregation of conjugated small molecules in organic solar cells

As H-and J-aggregation receive more and more attention in the research of organic solar cells(OSCs),especially in small molecular systems,deep understanding of aggregation behavior is needed to guide the design of conjugated small molecular structure and the fabrication process of OSC device.For this end,this review is written.Here,the review firstly introduced the basic information about H-and J-aggregation of conjugated small molecules in OSCs.Then,the characteristics of H-and J-aggregation and the methods to identify them were summarized.Next,it reviewed the research progress of H-and J-aggregation of conjugated small molecules in OSCs,including the factors influencing H-and J-aggregation in thin film and the effects of H-and J-aggregation on OPV performance.

Implications of electrode modifications in aqueous organic redox flow batteries

Aqueous organic redox flow batteries(RFBs)exhibit favorable characteristics,such as tunability,multielectron transfer capability,and stability of the redox active molecules utilized as anolytes and catholytes,making them very viable contenders for large-scale grid storage applications.Considerable attention has been paid on the development of efficient redox-active molecules and their performance optimization through chemical substitutions at various places on the backbone as part of the pursuit for high-performance RFBs.Despite the fact that electrodes are vital to optimal performance,they have not garnered significant attention.Limited research has been conducted on the effects of electrode modifications to improve the performance of RFBs.The primary emphasis has been given on the impact of electrode engineering to augment the efficiency of aqueous organic RFBs.An overview of electron transfer at the electrode-electrolyte interface is provided.The implications of electrode modification on the performance of redox flow batteries,with a particular focus on the anodic and cathodic half-cells separately,are then discussed.In each section,significant discrepancies surrounding the effects of electrode engineering are thoroughly examined and discussed.Finally,we have presented a comprehensive assessment along with our perspectives on the future trajectory.

Kinetic and thermodynamic synergy of organic small molecular additives enables constructed stable zinc anode

An organic small molecule additive zinc formate is introduced to construct stable Zn metal interphase by electrochemical kinetic control and thermodynamic adjustment.It partially forms a water-formate concomitant dipole layer at the internal Helmholtz electrical double layers(HEDLs) under the preferential adsorption function of formate on Zn surface,reducing the occurrence of side reactions at phase interface.Meanwhile,free formate in HEDLs regulates the Zn^(2+) solvation sheath structure to accelerate the desolvation,transference,and deposition kinetics of Zn^(2+).Besides,the hydrolysis reaction of zinc formate increases the hydrogen evolution overpotential,inhibiting the thermodynamic tendency of hydrogen evolution.Consequently,it presents stable cycle for more than 2400 h at 5 mA cm^(-2),as well as an average Coulombic efficiency of 99.8% at 1 A g^(-1) after 800 cycles in the Zn‖VO_(2) full cell.The interphase engineering strategy zinc anode by organic small molecular brings new possibility towards high-performance aqueous zinc-ion batteries.

Photodetectors based on small-molecule organic semiconductor crystals

Small-molecule organic semiconductor crystals(SMOSCs) combine broadband light absorption(ultraviolet–visible–near infrared) with long exciton diffusion length and high charge carrier mobility. Therefore, they are promising candidates for realizing high-performance photodetectors. Here, after a brief resume of photodetector performance parameters and operation mechanisms, we review the recent advancements in application of SMOSCs as photodetectors, including photoconductors, phototransistors, and photodiodes. More importantly, the SMOSC-based photodetectors are further categorized according to their detection regions that cover a wide range from ultraviolet to near infrared. Finally, challenges and outlooks of SMOSC-based photodetectors are provided.

14.46% Efficiency small molecule organic photovoltaics enabled by the well trade-off between phase separation and photon harvesting

Small molecule organic photovoltaics(SMPVs) were prepared by utilizing liquid crystalline donor material BTR-Cl and two similar optical bandgap non-fullerene acceptor materials BTP-BO-4 F and Y6.The BTPBO-4 F and Y6 have the similar optical bandgap and different absorption coefficients.The corresponding binary SMPVs exhibit different short circuit current density(/sc)(20.38 vs.23.24 mA cm^(-2)),and fill factor(FF)(70.77% vs.67.21%).A 14.46% power conversion efficiency(PCE) is acquired in ternary SMPVs with 30 wt% Y6,companied with a JSC of 24.17 mA cm^(-2) a FF of 68.78% and an open circuit voltage(Voc) of 0.87 V.The improvement on PCE of ternary SMPVs should originate from the well trade-off between phase separation and photon harvesting of ternary active layers by incorporating 30 wt% Y6 in acceptors.This work may deliver insight onto the improved performance of SMPVs by superposing the superiorities of binary SMPVs with similar optical bandgap acceptors into one ternary cell.

Extended π-conjugated N-containing heteroaromatic hexacarboxylate organic anode for high performance rechargeable batteries

Organic electrode materials are desirable for green and sustainable Li-ion batteries(LIBs) due to their light-weight, low cost, abundance and multi-electron transfer reactions during battery operation. However, the successful utilization of organic electrodes is hindered by their poor electrical conductivity and low cyclic stability. Herein, a facile synthesis of π-conjugated N-containing heteroaromatic hexacarboxylate(Li6-HAT) compound and its electrochemical performance as an anode material in LIBs is reported.The as-synthesized Li6-HAT electrode renders an ultrahigh initial capacity of 1126.3 m Ah g^(-1) at the current density of 100 m A g^(-1). Moreover, π-conjugated N-containing heteroaromatic center provide excellent reversibility of(de)lithiation process, resulting in excellent capacity retention. Furthermore, a combination of density functional theory(DFT) calculations, in-situ Fourier transform infrared(FTIR) and ex-situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS) characterization reveal that the π-conjugated nitrogen and carboxyl oxygen act as electrochemically active sites during the charge/discharge process. The current work provides novel insights into the charge storage mechanism of organic electrodes and opens up avenues for further development and utilization of organic electrodes in Li-ion batteries.

Syntheses and Characterizations of Two New Organic-inorganic Hybrids Based on Heteropolymolybdates and Piperidine Molecules

Two new organic-inorganic compounds [（CH2）5NH2]3[PMo12O40]·3[（CH2）NH] 1 and [（CH2）5NH2]6[P2Mo18O62]·5H2O 2 have been synthesized using conventional and hydrothermal methods, respectively, and characterized by elemental analyses, IR, TG and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. X-ray analyses show that in these compounds heteropolymolybdates [PMo12O40]^3- and [P2Mo18O62]^6- are reserved their Keggin or Dawson structures and linked to piperidine through electrostatic and hydrogen-bonding interactions.

Preparation of Fluoroalkyl End-Capped Oligomer/Cyclodextrin Polymer Composites: Development of Fluorinated Composite Material Having a Higher Adsorption Ability toward Organic Molecules

Fluoroalkyl end-capped vinyltrimethoxysilane oligomer [RF-(CH2CHSi(OMe)3)n-RF;RF = CF(CF3)OCF7, n = 2, 3;RF-(VM)n-RF] was applied to the preparation of fluoroalkyl end-capped vinyltrimethoxysilane oligomer/α-, β-, γ-cyclodextrin polymers (α-, β-, γ-CDPs) composites [RF-(VM-SiO2)n-RF/α-, β-, γ-CDPs] by the sol-gel reaction of the corresponding oligomer in the presence of the α-, β-, γ-CDPs under alkaline conditions. The RF-(VM-SiO2)n-RF/α-, β-, γ-CDPs composites thus obtained were found to give a good dispersibility toward the traditional organic media except for water, and were applied to the surface modification of glass to provide a sueperoleophilic/superhydrophobic characteristic on the modified surface, although the corresponding RF-(VM-SiO2)n-RF nanocomposites can give a usual oleophobic/superhydrophobic property on the surface. These composites powders were also found to be applicable to the packing material for the column chromatography to separate the mixture of oil/water and the water in oil (W/O) emulsions. More interestingly, these composite powders were found to have a higher adsorption ability toward not only low-molecular weight aromatic compounds such as bisphenol A and bisphenol AF but also volatile organic compounds, compared to that of the pristine α-, β-, γ-CDPs.

DISCOVERY OF ORGANIC MOLECULES IN DEEP-SEA IRON COSMIC DUST

A great quartity of cosmic dust（spherules） was found in deep-sea sediments during May to July,1983manganese nodule investigations by the R/V“XIANGYANGHONG 16”in the area 7°-11°N,167°-178°Win the Pacific.Comprehensive study of the cosmic dust and determination with Laser Raman MolecularMicroprobe（LRMM） of the molecules in it showed that besides Fe-Fe,Fe3+-O,Fe-Ni,Al-O,Fe-Obr-Si and Si-Onb,it also contained the organic molecules C-H-O and C-H-S-O,various no fixed form molecules of C,CH2,CH3 and volatile molecules CO2,H2O,OH- and H2S,etc…The study result has very important applications for exploring the origin of interplanetary dust parti-cles and life material.

Photovoltaic molecules based on vinylene-bridged oligothiophene applied for bulk-heterojunction organic solar cells

We have synthesized two photovoltaic molecules（HEX-3TVT-ID and EH-3TVT-ID） based on vinylenebridged oligothiophene applied as donor for the solution-processable bulk-heterojunction organic solar cells（OSCs）. Vinylene unit was introduced as π-bridge in the oligothiophenes with 1,3-indenedione as end group and 4,4’-dihexyl-2,2’：5’,2’-terthiophene or 3’,4’-di（octan-3-yl）-2,2’：5’,2’-terthiophene as core,respectively. Due to the different substituent positions of the alkyl group relative to the vinylene unit in the terthiophene, HEX-3TVT-ID and EH-3TVT-ID show different optical and electrochemical properties, corresponding to the photovoltaic performance of the OSCs devices. The power conversion efficiency（PCE） of the OSCs based on a blend of HEX-3TVT-ID and PC71BM（1：0.8, weight ratio, 0.5% CN） reached 2.3%. In comparison, the OSCs based on the blend of EH-3TVT-ID and PC71BM in the weight ratio of 1：1 without the additive show a higher PCE of 2.7%, with a typically high VOC of 0.93 V, under the illumination of AM 1.5, 100 mW cm-2.

Nonadiabatic dynamics of electron injection into organic molecules

We numerically investigate the injection process of electrons from metal electrodes to one-dimensional organic molecules by combining the extended Su Schrieffer Heeger （SSH） model with a nonadiabatic dynamics method. It is found that a match between the Fermi level of electrodes and the highest occupied molecular orbital （HOMO） or the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital （LUMO） of organic molecules can be greatly affected by the length of the organic chains, which has a great impact on electron injection. The correlation between oligomers and electrodes is found to open more efficient channels for electron injection as compared with that in polymer/electrode structures. For oligomer/electrode structures, we show that the Schottky barrier essentially does not affect the electron injection as the electrode work function is smaller than a critical value work-function electrode. For polymer/electrode structures This means that the Schottky barrier is pinned for a small we find that it is possible for the Fermi level of electrodes to be pinned to the polaronic level. The condition under which the Fermi level of electrodes exceeds the polaronic level of polymers is shown to not always lead to spontneous electron transfer from electrodes to polymers.

Preparation,Properties,and Applications of Low-Dimensional Molecular Organic Nanomaterials

In recent years, great progress has been made in research and development of small-molecule organic materials with various low-dimensional nanostructures. This paper presents a comprehensive review of recent research progress in this field, including preparation, electronic and optoelectronic properties and applications. First, an introduction gives to the reprecipitation, soft templates methods, and progress in synthesis and morphological control of low-dimensional small-molecule organic nanomaterials. Their unique optical and electronic properties and research progress in these aspects are reviewed and discussed in detail. Applications based on low-dimensional small-molecule organic nanomaterials are briefly described. Finally, some perspectives to the future development of this field are addressed.

MOLECULAR DESIGN STUDY ON THE NEW ORGANIC NONLINEAR OPTICAL MATERIALS

In this paper,the second-order nolinear-optical coefficients of a series of conjugated substituted polyenes have been colculated by the semi-empirical CNDO/S-CI method.we have studied in deiail the influence on the number of substituents,the location of the substituents and the conjugation length in motecules to the NLO coefficient Bvace The results showed that the introduetion of the electroinc donor and acceptor groups and the increase in the distance between the substituents and the conjugated length may lead to enhanced NLO responses.It is also shown that the caiculoted In Bvec is linear with the number of double bonds in planar and linear tians substituted polyenes.A saturation effect in substitution is also presented.Based on these discussion one can provide the theorilical guidelines for designing and synthesizing of molecules with larger NLO coefficients.

Opportunities and challenges of organic flow battery for electrochemical energy storage technology

For flow batteries(FBs), the current technologies are still expensive and have relatively low energy density, which limits their large-scale applications. Organic FBs(OFBs) which employ organic molecules as redox-active materials have been considered as one of the promising technologies for achieving lowcost and high-performance. Herein, we present a critical overview of the progress on the OFBs, including the design principles of key components(redox-active molecules, membranes, and electrodes) and the latest achievement in both aqueous and nonaqueous systems. Finally, future directions in explorations of the high-performance OFB for electrochemical energy storage are also highlighted.

Preparation of ferromagnetic binary alloy fine fibers by organic gel-thermal reduction process

Ferromagnetic metal fibers with a high aspect ratio (length/diameter) are attractive for use as high performance electromagnetic interference shielding materials. Ferromagnetic binary alloy fine fibers of iron-nickel, iron-cobalt and cobalt-nickel were prepared by the organic gel-thermal reduction process from the raw materials of critic acid and metal salts. These alloy fibers synthesized were featured with a diameter of about 1 μm and a length as long as 1 m. The structure, thermal decomposition process and morphologies of the gel precursors and fibers derived from thermal reduction of the gel precursors were characterized by FTIR, XRD, TG/DSC and SEM. The gel spinnability largely depends on the molecular structure of metal- carboxylates formed during the gel formation. The gel consisting of linear-type structural molecules shows good spinnability.

Two-photon absorption properties of aggregation systems on the basis of (E)-4-(2-nitrovinyl) benzenamine molecules

Aggregation effect caused by the intermolecular hydrogen-bonding interactions on two-photon absorption prop- erties of （E）-4-（2-nitrovinyl） benzenamine molecules is studied at a hybrid density functional level. The geometry optimization studies indicate that there exist two probable conformations for the dimers and three for the trimers. A strong red-shift of the charge-transfer states is shown. The two-photon absorption cross sections of the molecule for certain conformations are greatly enhanced by the aggregation effect, from which a ratio of 1.0：2.6：3.6 is found for the molecule and its dimer and trimer with nearly planar structures. Namely, a 30 or 20 percent increase of the two-photon absorption cross section is observed.

Atomic force microscopy investigation of growth process of organic TCNQ aggregates on SiO_2 and mica substrates

Deposition patterns of tetracyanoquinodimethane （TCNQ） molecules on different surfaces are investigated by atomic force microscopy. A homemade physical vapour deposition system allows the better control of molecule deposition. Taking advantage of this system, we investigate TCNQ thin film growth on both SiO2 and mica surfaces. It is found that dense island patterns form at a high deposition rate, and a unique seahorse-like pattern forms at a low deposition rate. Growth patterns on different substrates suggest that the fractal pattern formation is dominated by molecule-molecule interaction. Finally, a phenomenal ＂two-branch＂ model is proposed to simulate the growth process of the seahorse pattern.

Small molecule donors with different conjugated π linking bridges: Synthesis and photovoltaic properties

Three small molecule(SM)donors,namely B-T-CN,B-TT-CN and B-DTT-CN,with differentπconjugated bridges were synthesized in this research.Interestingly,with the conjugated fused rings of theπlinking bridge increasing,the SM HOMO levels exhibit a decline tendency with–5.27 eV for B-T-CN,–5.31 eV for B-TT-CN and–5.40 eV for B-DTT-CN.After blending the SM donors with the fullerene acceptor PC71BM,the all SM organic solar cells(OSCs)achieved high Vocs of 0.90 to 0.96 V.However,the phase separation morphology and molecule stacking are also unexpectedly changed together with the enhancement of conjugated degree ofπbridges,resulting in a lower power conversion efficiency(PCE)for the B-DTT-CN:PC71BM device.Our results demonstrate and provide a useful way to enhance OSC Voc and the morphology needs to be further optimized.

Enhanced Performance via π-Bridge Alteration of Porphyrin-Based Donors for All-Small-Molecule Organic Solar Cells

All-small-molecule organic solar cells (ASM OSCs) are promising for commercial application due to the well-defined chemical structures, convenient purifying process and low batch-to-batch variation. However, the similarity of molecule structures between small molecule donors and acceptors makes a hard regulation of their blend morphology, which will limit the efficiency.

Three New -CF3, -CN Containing <i>π</i>-Conjugated Heteroaromatic Compounds: Synthesis, Crystal Structure and Photoelectronic Properties

Three new π-conjugated hetero aromatic materials consisting of pyridine 3a, furan 3b, and thiophene 3c have been synthesized by Knoevenagel condensation reaction. These molecules have been characterized by 1H NMR, EI-MS and single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. Molecule 3a crystallized under monoclinic system with space group C2/c, molecule 3b crystallized under triclinic system with space group P-1 and the molecule 3c crystalized under triclinic system with space group P-1. The optoelectronic properties of these compounds have been studied.Molecules 3a, 3b and 3c showed strong absorption maxima wavelengths at 300, 419 and 418 nm, respectively. The molar extinction coefficients (ε) of the compounds 3a, 3b and 3c suggested that molecule 3b has better ability to absorb UV light;molecule 3a has better fluorescence intensity than molecule 3b and 3c. Low energy gaps of HOMO and LUMO energy levels of these compounds suggests that these compounds may be a promising new class of lead compounds for developing high performance semiconductor materials. Compounds 3a, 3b and 3c has emissions near to blue light, a slight modification of the structures by extending conjugation may find important applications in optoelectronic devices as blue light emitters in organic light-emitting devices for the development of new generation organic semiconducting materials.