Influence of the ordered structure of short-chain polymer molecule all-trans-β-carotene on Raman scattering cross section in liquid

We measured the resonant Raman spectra of all-trans-β-carotene in solvents with different densities and concentrations at different temperatures. The results demonstrated that the Raman scattering cross section （RSCS） of short-chain polymer all-trans-β-carotene is extremely high in liquid. Resonance and strong coherent weakly damped CC bond vibrating properties play important roles under these conditions. Coherent weakly damped CC bond vibration strength is associated with molecular ordered structure. All-trans-β-carotene has highly ordered structure and strong coherent weakly damped CC bond vibrating properties, which lead to large RSCS in the solvent with large density and low concentration at low temperature.

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.

Introducing alkoxy groups as outer side chains and substituents ofπ-bridges obtains high-performance medium-bandgap polymerized small molecule acceptors

The medium-bandgap polymerized small molecule acceptors(PSMAs)have broad application scenarios.However,the effort in the molecular design of the high-performance medium-bandgap PSMAs is limited.In this article,we introduce alkoxy groups as outer side chains and as substituents of the thiopheneπ-bridges of the high-performance PSMA PY-IT to synthesize a mediumbandgap PSMA PO-TO.Due to the fact that the non-covalent interaction between the alkoxy groups and the terminal groups of the small molecule acceptor(SMA)unit can weaken the intramolecular charge transfer(ICT)effect,the bandgap of PO-TO is enlarged and its absorption is blue-shifted compared with PY-IT,while the absorbance of PO-TO solution and film is enhanced significantly compared with that of PY-IT.When blended PO-TO with the polymer donor PBQx-TF,the corresponding all-polymer solar cells(all-PSCs)exhibit an open-circuit voltage(V_(oc))exceeding 1.04 V with a power conversion efficiency(PCE)of 13.75%.Furthermore,PO-TO was used as the third component to fabricate ternary all-PSCs with PBQx-TF as the polymer donor and PY-IT as the main polymer acceptor,and the ternary all-PSCs based on PBQx-TF:PY-IT:PO-TO(1:1:0.2,w/w/w)demonstrated a high PCE of 17.71%with simultaneously improved V_(oc)of 0.940 V,short-circuit current density(J_(sc))of 24.60 m A cm^(-2)and fill factor(FF)of76.81%.In comparison,the binary all-PSCs based on PBQx-TF:PY-IT showed a PCE of 16.77%.This result indicates that introducing alkoxy groups is a promising strategy for synthesizing high-performance medium-bandgap PSMAs.

Achieving high short-circuit current and fill-factor via increasing quinoidal character on nonfullerene small molecule acceptor

Recently, the fused-ring based low band gap （LBG） small molecule acceptors （SMAs） have emerged as efficient nonfullerene acceptors. So far, these LBG SMAs are mainly designed with IC （2-methylene-（3- （1,1 -dicyanomethylene）indanone）） or its analogs, the benzo-type electron-accepting （A） units. Compared to benzene, thiophene is less aromatic and thus the thiophene-involving semiconducting molecule has more quinoidal character, which effectively reduces the energy gap between the highest occupied molecular orbit （HOMO） and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbit （LUMO）. Herein, we show that replacing the IC units in ITIC with the CT （cyclopenta[c]thiophen-4-one-5-methylene-6-（1,1-dicyano- methylene））, a thiophene-fused A unit, the quinoidal character is enhanced from 0.0353 on ITIC to 0.0349 on ITCT, the CT-ended SMA. The increase in the quinoidal character reduces the optical band gap and enhances the near IR absorptivity. When blended with the wide band gap （WBG） polymer donor, PBDB-T, an average power conversion efficiency of 10.99% is obtained with a short-circuit current-density （Jso） of 17.88 mA/cm2 and a fill-factor （FF） of 0.723. For comparisons, theJsc is of 16.92 mA/cm2, FF is of 0.655 and PCE is of 9.94% obtained from the ITIC：PBDB-T device. This case indicates that the replacement of the benzene ring on the IC unit with a more polarizable five-member ring such as thiophene is an effective way to enhance the absorption of the near IR solar photons towards designing high-performance nonfullerene polymer solar cells.

Recent Research Progress of n-Type Conjugated Polymer Acceptors and All-Polymer Solar Cells

The active layer of all polymer solar cells(all-PSCs)is composed of a blend of a p-type conjugated polymer(p-CP)as donor and an n-type conjugated polymer(n-CP)as acceptor.All-PSCs possess the advantages of light weight,thin active layer,mechanical flexibility,low cost solution processing and high stability,but the power conversion efficiency(PCE)of the all-PSCs was limited by the poor photovoltaic performance of the n-CP acceptors before 2016.Since the report of the strategy of polymerized small molecule acceptors(PSMAs)in 2017,the photovoltaic performance of the PSMA-based n-CPs improved rapidly,benefitted from the development of the A-DA’D-A type small molecule acceptors(SMAs).PCE of the all-PSCs based on the PSMA acceptors reached 17%-18%recently.In this review article,we will introduce the development history of the n-CPs,especially the recent research progress of the PSMAs.Particularly,the structure-property relationship of the PSMAs is introduced and discussed.Finally,current challenges and prospects of the n-CP acceptors are analyzed and discussed.

Organic Memristor Based on High Planar Cyanostilbene/Polymer Composite Films

Organic memristors with low power consumption,fast write/erasure speed,and complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor(CMOS)compatibility have attracted tremendous attention to mimic biological synapses to realize neuromorphic computation in recent years.In this paper,organic resistive switching memory(ORSM)based on(Z)-3-(naphthalen-2-yl)-2-(4-nitrophenyl)acrylonitrile(NNA)and polymer poly(N-vinylcarbazole)(PVK)composite film was prepared by spin-coating method.Device performance based on NNA:PVK composite films with different mass fractions of NNA were systematically investigated.The ORSM based on PVK:40%(mass fraction)NNA composite film exhibited non-volatile and bipolar memory properties with a switching ratio(Ion/Ioff)of 24.1,endurance of 68 times and retention time of 104 s,a“SET”voltage(Vset)of−0.55 V and a“RESET”voltage(Vreset)of 2.35 V.The resistive switching was ascribed to the filling and vacant process of the charge traps induced by NNA and the inherent traps in PVK bulk.The holes trapping and de-trapping process occurred when the device was applied with a negative or positive bias,which caused the transforming of the conductive way of charges,that is the resistive behaviors in the macroscopic.This study provides a promising platform for the fabrication of ORSM with high performance.

n-Octyl substituted quinoxaline-based polymer donor enabling all-polymer solar cell with efficiency over 17%

Recently, the power conversion efficiencies(PCEs) of all-polymer solar cells(all-PSCs) have increased rapidly. To further increase the PCE of all-PSCs, it is necessary to create new donor polymers matching the polymer acceptors. In this paper, we synthesize a new quinoxaline-based polymer donor PBQ8 with n-octyl side chain on the quinoxaline unit, which possesses the same skeleton structure to the previously reported PBQ5(with isooctyl side chain). The effects of alkyl side chains on the physicochemical properties of the polymer donor were investigated. In comparison with PBQ5, PBQ8 exhibits stronger intermolecular interactions and better molecular packing. When blending with polymer acceptor PY-IT, the PBQ8:PY-IT based devices demonstrated a higher PCE value of 17.04%, which is one of the highest PCEs occurred in the all-PSCs. And the PBQ5:PY-IT(PCE 15.56%, Voc0.907 V, FF 69.72%, and Jsc24.60 m A cm^(-2)) is much lower. The PBQ8:PY-IT blend displayed more efficient exciton dissociation, better molecular stacking properties, preferable phase separation and higher mobility. These indicate that as an effective method, side chain engineering can improve the efficiency of the all-PSCs.