Innovative Hybrid Nanocomposites in 3D Printing for Functional Applications: A Review.

3D printing has garnered significant attention across academia and industry due to its capability to design and fabricate complex architectures. Applications such as those requiring intricate geometries or custom designs, including footwear, healthcare, energy storage, and electronics applications, greatly benefit from exploiting 3D printing processes. Despite the recent advancement of structural 3D printing, its use in functional devices remains limited, requiring the need for the development of functional materials suitable for 3D printing in device fabrication.

Preparation of Photocurable Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Composites for Continuous Manufacturing of 3D-Patterned Abrasive.

Photocurable hybrid organic-inorganic composites were prepared via surface modification and 3D-patterned structures were fabricated by utilizing a continuous roll-to-roll manufacturing strategy. The surfaces of nanocrystals were engineered with a bifunctional ligand that is a 2-carboxyethyl acrylate, which possesses a carboxylic acid moiety at one end and an acrylate functionality moiety at the other end, yielding acrylate-functionalized nanocrystals. Micro-scale 3D patterns (protruding pyramidal shapes with each side measuring 147 μm) were continuously manufactured at a speed of 2.

Protective and vaccine dose-sparing efficacy of Poly I:C-functionalized calcium phosphate nanoparticle adjuvants in inactivated influenza vaccination.

Adjuvants are required to increase the immunogenicity and efficacy of vaccination and enable vaccine dose sparing. Polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (Poly I:C), a toll-like receptor 3 agonist, is a promising adjuvant candidate that can induce cell-mediated immune responses; however, it remains unlicensed owing to its low stability and toxicity. Calcium phosphate (CaP), a biocompatible and biodegradable nanoparticle, is widely used in biomedicine for stable and targeted drug delivery.

Lignin-Based Materials for Sustainable Rechargeable Batteries.

This review discusses important scientific progress, problems, and prospects of lignin-based materials in the field of rechargeable batteries. Lignin, a component of the secondary cell wall, is considered a promising source of biomass. Compared to cellulose, which is the most extensively studied biomass material, lignin has a competitive price and a variety of functional groups leading to broad utilization such as adhesive, emulsifier, pesticides, polymer composite, carbon precursor, etc.

Hybrid Polymer/Metal Oxide Thin Films for High Performance, Flexible Transistors.

Metal oxides (MOs) have garnered significant attention in a variety of research fields, particularly in flexible electronics such as wearable devices, due to their superior electronic properties. Meanwhile, polymers exhibit excellent mechanical properties such as flexibility and durability, besides enabling economic solution-based fabrication. Therefore, MO/polymer nanocomposites are excellent electronic materials for use in flexible electronics owing to the confluence of the merits of their components.

Control of Whispering Gallery Modes and PT-Symmetry Breaking in Colloidal Quantum Dot Microdisk Lasers with Engineered Notches.

Whispering gallery mode resonators have been demonstrated to be a great way to achieve superior optical cavities with high quality factor and small mode volume. However, due to the high sensitivity of these modes to the properties of the resonator boundary, they are susceptible to parasitic splitting of clockwise and counterclockwise modes. In this work, we investigate the effect of implantation of an engineered notch into the boundary of a circular microdisk resonator fabricated from colloidal quantum dots, which are particularly sensitive to boundary defects.

Enabling Tailorable Optical Properties and Markedly Enhanced Stability of Perovskite Quantum Dots by Permanently Ligating with Polymer Hairs.

Instability of perovskite quantum dots (QDs) toward humidity remains one of the major obstacles for their long-term use in optoelectronic devices. Herein, a general amphiphilic star-like block copolymer nanoreactor strategy for in situ crafting a set of hairy perovskite QDs with precisely tunable size and exceptionally high water and colloidal stabilities is presented. The selective partition of precursors within the compartment occupied by inner hydrophilic blocks of star-like diblock copolymers imparts in situ formation of robust hairy perovskite QDs permanently ligated by outer hydrophobic blocks via coprecipitation in nonpolar solvent.

Controlled Self-Assembly of Conjugated Polymers via a Solvent Vapor Pre-Treatment for Use in Organic Field-Effect Transistors.

A facile solution-processing strategy toward well-ordered one-dimensional nanostructures of conjugated polymers via a non-solvent vapor treatment was demonstrated, which resulted in enhancements to the charge transport characteristics of the polymers. The amount of crystalline poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) nanofibers was precisely controlled by simply varying the exposure time of solutions of P3HT solutions to non-solvent vapor. The effects of non-solvent vapor exposure on the molecular ordering and morphologies of the resultant P3HT films were systematically investigated using ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy, polarized optical microscopy (POM), grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD), and atomic force microscopy (AFM).

Robust lasing modes in coupled colloidal quantum dot microdisk pairs using a non-Hermitian exceptional point.

Evanescently coupled pairs of microdisk lasers have emerged as a useful platform for studying the non-Hermitian physics of exceptional points. It remains an open question how scalable and versatile such phenomena can be when carried over to other designs. Here we have studied the effect of gain/loss modulation in an evanescently coupled pair of microdisk optical resonators fabricated from solution-processed colloidal quantum dots.

Large-Scale Alignment of Polymer Semiconductor Nanowires for Efficient Charge Transport via Controlled Evaporation of Confined Fluids.

Long-range alignment of conjugated polymers is as critical as polymer chain packing for achieving efficient charge transport in polymer thin films used in electronic and optoelectronic devices. Here, the present study reports a facile, scalable strategy that enables the deposition of macroscopically aligned polymer semiconductor nanowire (NW)-array films with highly enhanced charge carrier mobility, using a modified controlled evaporative self-assembly (MCESA) technique. Organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) based on highly oriented poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT)-NW films exhibit more than 10-fold enhancement of carrier mobility, with the highest mobility of 0.

Solvent Additive-Assisted Anisotropic Assembly and Enhanced Charge Transport of π-Conjugated Polymer Thin Films.

Charge transport in π-conjugated polymer films involves π-π interactions within or between polymer chains. Here, we demonstrate a facile solution processing strategy that provides enhanced intra- and interchain π-π interactions of the resultant polymer films using a good solvent additive with low volatility. These increased interactions result in enhanced charge transport properties.

Light-enabled reversible self-assembly and tunable optical properties of stable hairy nanoparticles.

The ability to dynamically organize functional nanoparticles (NPs) via the use of environmental triggers (temperature, pH, light, or solvent polarity) opens up important perspectives for rapid and convenient construction of a rich variety of complex assemblies and materials with new structures and functionalities. Here, we report an unconventional strategy for crafting stable hairy NPs with light-enabled reversible and reliable self-assembly and tunable optical properties. Central to our strategy is to judiciously design amphiphilic star-like diblock copolymers comprising inner hydrophilic blocks and outer hydrophobic photoresponsive blocks as nanoreactors to direct the synthesis of monodisperse plasmonic NPs intimately and permanently capped with photoresponsive polymers.

Dewetting-Induced Photoluminescent Enhancement of Poly(lauryl methacrylate)/Quantum Dot Thin Films.

A new method for enhancing photoluminescence from quantum dot (QD)/polymer nanocomposite films is proposed. Poly(lauryl methacrylate) (PLMA) thin films containing embedded QDs are intentionally allowed to undergo dewetting on substrates by exposure to a nonsolvent vapor. After controlled dewetting, films exhibited typical dewetting morphologies with increased amounts of scattering that served to outcouple photoluminescence from the film and reduce internal light propagation within the film.

Hairy Uniform Permanently Ligated Hollow Nanoparticles with Precise Dimension Control and Tunable Optical Properties.

The ability to tailor the size and shape of nanoparticles (NPs) enables the investigation into the correlation between these parameters and optical, optoelectronic, electrical, magnetic, and catalytic properties. Despite several effective approaches available to synthesize NPs with a hollow interior, it remains challenging to have a general strategy for creating a wide diversity of high-quality hollow NPs with different dimensions and compositions on demand. Herein, we report on a general and robust strategy to in situ crafting of monodisperse hairy hollow noble metal NPs by capitalizing on rationally designed amphiphilic star-like triblock copolymers as nanoreactors.

Robust, Uniform, and Highly Emissive Quantum Dot-Polymer Films and Patterns Using Thiol-Ene Chemistry.

This work demonstrates a facile and versatile method for generating low scattering cross-linked quantum dot (QD)-polymer composite films and patterned highly emissive structures with ultrahigh QD loading, minimal phase separation, and tunable mechanical properties. Uniform QD-polymer films are fabricated using thiol-ene chemistry, in which cross-linked polymer networks are rapidly produced in ambient conditions via fast UV polymerization in bulk to suppress QD aggregation. UV-controlled thiol-ene chemistry limits phase separation through producing highly QD loaded cross-linked composites with loadings above majority of those reported in the literature (<1%) and approaching 30%.

Precisely Size-Tunable Monodisperse Hairy Plasmonic Nanoparticles via Amphiphilic Star-Like Block Copolymers.

In situ precision synthesis of monodisperse hairy plasmonic nanoparticles with tailored dimensions and compositions by capitalizing on amphiphilic star-like diblock copolymers as nanoreactors are reported. Such hairy plasmonic nanoparticles comprise uniform noble metal nanoparticles intimately and perpetually capped by hydrophobic polymer chains (i.e.

1D nanocrystals with precisely controlled dimensions, compositions, and architectures.

The ability to synthesize a diverse spectrum of one-dimensional (1D) nanocrystals presents an enticing prospect for exploring nanoscale size- and shape-dependent properties. Here we report a general strategy to craft a variety of plain nanorods, core-shell nanorods, and nanotubes with precisely controlled dimensions and compositions by capitalizing on functional bottlebrush-like block copolymers with well-defined structures and narrow molecular weight distributions as nanoreactors. These cylindrical unimolecular nanoreactors enable a high degree of control over the size, shape, architecture, surface chemistry, and properties of 1D nanocrystals.

Intimate organic-inorganic nanocomposites via rationally designed conjugated polymer-grafted precursors.

Semiconducting organic-inorganic nanocomposites comprising the conjugated polymer poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) in intimate contact with CdSe nanocrystals were crafted by exploiting rationally designed P3HT-grafted cadmium precursors (i.e., Cd-P3HT complexes).

Semiconducting organic-inorganic nanocomposites by intimately tethering conjugated polymers to inorganic tetrapods.

Semiconducting organic-inorganic nanocomposites were judiciously crafted by placing conjugated polymers in intimate contact with inorganic tetrapods via click reaction. CdSe tetrapods were first synthesized by inducing elongated arms from CdSe zincblende seeds through seed-mediated growth. The subsequent effective inorganic ligand treatment, followed by reacting with short bifunctional ligands, yielded azide-functionalized CdSe tetrapods (i.

Crafting Core/Graded Shell-Shell Quantum Dots with Suppressed Re-absorption and Tunable Stokes Shift as High Optical Gain Materials.

The key to utilizing quantum dots (QDs) as lasing media is to effectively reduce non-radiative processes, such as Auger recombination and surface trapping. A robust strategy to craft a set of CdSe/Cd(1-x)Zn(x)Se(1-y)S(y)/ZnS core/graded shell-shell QDs with suppressed re-absorption, reduced Auger recombination rate, and tunable Stokes shift is presented. In sharp contrast to conventional CdSe/ZnS QDs, which have a large energy level mismatch between CdSe and ZnS and thus show strong re-absorption and a constrained Stokes shift, the as-synthesized CdSe/Cd(1-x)Zn(x)Se(1-y)S(y)/ZnS QDs exhibited the suppressed re-absorption of CdSe core and tunable Stokes shift as a direct consequence of the delocalization of the electron wavefunction over the entire QD.

A general route to nanocrystal kebabs periodically assembled on stretched flexible polymer shish.

Assembling nanoparticles into one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures with precisely controlled size and shape renders the exploration of new properties and construction of 1D miniaturized devices possible. The physical properties of such nanostructures depend heavily on the size, chemical composition, and surface chemistry of nanoparticle constituents, as well as the close proximity of adjacent nanoparticles within the 1D nanostructure. Chemical synthesis provides an intriguing alternative means of creating 1D nanostructures composed of self-assembled nanoparticles in terms of material diversity, size controllability, shape regularity, and low-cost production.

Continuous crafting of uniform colloidal nanocrystals using an inert-gas-driven microflow reactor.

Recent research has witnessed rapid advances in synthesis of nanocrystals, which has led to the development of a large variety of approaches for producing nanocrystals with controlled dimensions. However, most of these techniques lack the high-throughput production. Herein, we report on a viable and robust strategy based on an inert-gas-driven microflow reactor for continuous crafting of high-quality colloidal nanocrystals.

An unconventional route to monodisperse and intimately contacted semiconducting organic-inorganic nanocomposites.

We developed an unconventional route to produce uniform and intimately contacted semiconducting organic-inorganic nanocomposites for potential applications in thermoelectrics. By utilizing amphiphilic star-like PAA-b-PEDOT diblock copolymer as template, monodisperse PEDOT-functionalized lead telluride (PbTe) nanoparticles were crafted via the strong coordination interaction between PAA blocks of star-like PAA-b-PEDOT and the metal moieties of precursors (i.e.

Semiconducting conjugated polymer-inorganic tetrapod nanocomposites.

Cadmium telluride (CdTe) tetrapods were synthesized via multiple injections of the Te precursor by utilizing bifunctional ligands. Subsequently, tetrapod-shaped semiconducting inorganic-organic nanocomposites (i.e.