Revealing Epitaxial Deposition in Alkali Metal Batteries.

Alkali metal batteries have high energy densities required to power future devices; however, uneven metal deposition is a critical barrier to achieving long lifespans. We have developed an elegant noncryogenic transmission electron microscopy method which has facilitated the first observations of epitaxial deposition in alkali metal batteries. Using this method, we have confirmed epitaxial interactions between (002) sodium crystallite planes and (01-11) planes in zinc current collectors.

Effect of Silyl Ether Bulk on Excited-State Intramolecular Proton Transfer-Based Sensing of Extant Hydrogen Fluoride for G-Series Nerve Agent Detection.

Luminescence-based sensing provides a method for the rapid detection of nerve agents. Previous approaches have generally focused on sensing materials containing a nucleophilic group that can react with the electrophilic phosphorus atom found in nerve agents. Herein we report an alternative approach for the detection of phosphonofluoridate-based G-series nerve agents that utilizes the fact they contain hydrogen fluoride.

Interplay between the Glass Transition Temperature, Analyte Diffusion, and Fluorescence Quenching for Detection of Nitro-Group Containing Explosives Using Organic Semiconducting Films.

Efficient detection of chemical analytes using fluorescence-based sensors necessitates an in-depth understanding of the physical interaction between the analyte molecules and the sensor films. This study explores the interplay between the thermal properties of a series of triphenylamine-centered fluorescent dendrimers with different glass transition temperatures () for detecting nitroaromatic explosives. When exposed to 4-nitrotoluene (pNT) vapors, biphasic diffusion kinetics were observed for all the dendrimers, corresponding to Super Case II kinetics, suggesting rapid film swelling during initial analyte uptake.

Dilute Donor Organic Solar Cells Based on Non-fullerene Acceptors.

The advent of small molecule non-fullerene acceptor (NFA) materials for organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices has led to a series of breakthroughs in performance and device lifetime. The most efficient OPV devices have a combination of electron donor and acceptor materials that constitute the light absorbing layer in a bulk heterojunction (BHJ) structure. For many BHJ-based devices reported to date, the weight ratio of donor to acceptor is near equal.