Acid-Triggered Side Chain Cleavage Leads to Doped Conjugated Polymers of High Conductivity.

Cleavable side chain based conjugated polymers (CSCPs) represent a unique approach to offering solution processability with added benefits via the elimination of insulating side chains. This work highlights an optimally designed polythiophene-carboxylic acid based CSCP, POET-T2-COOH, which achieves a conductivity exceeding 350 S/cm in molecularly doped and side chain cleaved films, 100-100,000 times higher than three other structurally isomeric CSCPs. The high conductivity of POET-T2-COOH is accomplished via a new "cleavage with doping" methodology, synergistically combining a strong acid and a primary dopant.

Modeling the co-assembly of binary nanoparticles.

In this work, we present a binary assembly model that can predict the co-assembly structure and spatial frequency spectra of monodispersed nanoparticles with two different particle sizes. The approach relies on an iterative algorithm based on geometric constraints, which can simulate the assembly patterns of particles with two distinct diameters, size distributions, and at various mixture ratios on a planar surface. The two-dimensional spatial-frequency spectra of the modeled assembles can be analyzed using fast Fourier transform analysis to examine their frequency content.

Distance measurements between 5 nanometer diamonds - single particle magnetic resonance or optical super-resolution imaging?

5 nanometer sized detonation nanodiamonds (DNDs) are studied as potential single-particle labels for distance measurements in biomolecules. Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) defects in the crystal lattice can be addressed through their fluorescence and optically-detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) of a single particle can be recorded. To achieve single-particle distance measurements, we propose two complementary approaches based on spin-spin coupling or optical super-resolution imaging.

Metal-Halide Perovskite Lasers: Cavity Formation and Emission Characteristics.

Hybrid metal-halide perovskites (MHPs) have shown remarkable optoelectronic properties as well as facile and cost-effective processability. With the success of MHP solar cells and light-emitting diodes, MHPs have also exhibited great potential as gain media for on-chip lasers. However, to date, stable operation of optically pumped MHP lasers and electrically driven MHP lasers-an essential requirement for MHP laser's insertion into chip-scale photonic integrated circuits-is not yet demonstrated.

Importance of Electric-Field-Independent Mobilities in Thick-Film Organic Solar Cells.

In organic solar cells (OSCs), a thick active layer usually yields a higher photocurrent with broader optical absorption than a thin active layer. In fact, a ∼300 nm thick active layer is more compatible with large-area processing methods and theoretically should be a better spot for efficiency optimization. However, the bottleneck of developing high-efficiency thick-film OSCs is the loss in fill factor (FF).