Effects of alkyl chain length on the optoelectronic properties and performance of pyrrolo-perylene solar cells

Recent Advances in Heterocyclic Nanographenes and Other Polycyclic Heteroaromatic Compounds

This review surveys recent progress in the chemistry of polycyclic heteroaromatic molecules with a focus on structural diversity and synthetic methodology. The article covers literature published during the period of 2016-2020, providing an update to our first review of this topic (Chem. Rev. 2017, 117 (4), 3479-3716).

Ferrocene-appended boronated ester: effect of cyanovinylene group on the nonlinear optical properties and colorimetric detection of fluoride ion

A centrosymmetric ferrocenyl boronated ester shows second-order NLO effect, selective and sensitive detection of fluoride ion.

Compound Copper Chalcogenide Nanocrystals

This review captures the synthesis, assembly, properties, and applications of copper chalcogenide NCs, which have achieved significant research interest in the last decade due to their compositional and structural versatility. The outstanding functional properties of these materials stems from the relationship between their band structure and defect concentration, including charge carrier concentration and electronic conductivity character, which consequently affects their optoelectronic, optical, and plasmonic properties. This, combined with several metastable crystal phases and stoichiometries and the low energy of formation of defects, makes the reproducible synthesis of these materials, with tunable parameters, remarkable. Further to this, the review captures the progress of the hierarchical assembly of these NCs, which bridges the link between their discrete and collective properties. Their ubiquitous application set has cross-cut energy conversion (photovoltaics, photocatalysis, thermoelectrics), energy storage (lithium-ion batteries, hydrogen generation), emissive materials (plasmonics, LEDs, biolabelling), sensors (electrochemical, biochemical), biomedical devices (magnetic resonance imaging, X-ray computer tomography), and medical therapies (photochemothermal therapies, immunotherapy, radiotherapy, and drug delivery). The confluence of advances in the synthesis, assembly, and application of these NCs in the past decade has the potential to significantly impact society, both economically and environmentally.

Impact of the Crystalline Packing Structures on Charge Transport and Recombination via Alkyl Chain Tunability of DPP-Based Small Molecules in Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells

A series of small compound materials based on benzodithiophene (BDT) and diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) with three different alkyl side chains were synthesized and used for organic photovoltaics. These small compounds had different alkyl branches (i.e., 2-ethylhexyl (EH), 2-butyloctyl (BO), and 2-hexyldecyl (HD)) attached to DPP units. Thin films made of these compounds were characterized and their solar cell parameters were measured in order to systematically analyze influences of the different side chains of compounds on the film microstructure, molecular packing, and hence, charge-transport and recombination properties. The relatively shorter side chains in the small molecules enabled more ordered packing structures with higher crystallinities, which resulted in higher carrier mobilities and less recombination factors; the small molecule with the EH branches exhibited the best semiconducting properties with a power conversion efficiency of up to 5.54% in solar cell devices. Our study suggested that tuning the alkyl chain length of semiconducting molecules is a powerful strategy for achieving high performance of organic photovoltaics.