Self-organization of two-dimensional poly(3-hexylthiophene) crystals on Au(111) surfaces

Metal-Polymer Heterojunction in Colloidal-Phase Plasmonic Catalysis

Plasmonic catalysis in the colloidal phase requires robust surface ligands that prevent particles from aggregation in adverse chemical environments and allow carrier flow from reagents to nanoparticles. This work describes the use of a water-soluble conjugated polymer comprising a thiophene moiety as a surface ligand for gold nanoparticles to create a hybrid system that, under the action of visible light, drives the conversion of the biorelevant NAD⁺ to its highly energetic reduced form NADH. A combination of advanced microscopy techniques and numerical simulations revealed that the robust metal-polymer heterojunction, rich in sulfonate functional groups, directs the interaction of electron-donor molecules with the plasmonic photocatalyst. The tight binding of polymer to the gold surface precludes the need for conventional transition-metal surface cocatalysts, which were previously shown to be essential for photocatalytic NAD⁺ reduction but are known to hinder the optical properties of plasmonic nanocrystals. Moreover, computational studies indicated that the coating polymer fosters a closer interaction between the sacrificial electron-donor triethanolamine and the nanoparticles, thus enhancing the reactivity.

Recent progress in hybrid perovskite solar cells through scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy

Currently, sustainable renewable energy sources are urgently required to fulfill the cumulative energy needs of the world's 7.8 billion population, since the conventional coal and fossil fuels will be exhausted soon. Photovoltaic devices are a direct and efficient means to produce a huge amount of energy to meet these energy targets. In particular, hybrid-perovskite-based photovoltaic devices merit special attention not only due to their exceptional efficiency for generating appreciable energy but also their tunable band gaps and the ease of device fabrication. However, the commercialization of such devices suffers from the instability of the compositional materials. The cause of instability is the perovskite's structure and its morphology at the sub-molecular level; thereby revealing and eliminating these instabilities are a striking challenge. To address this issue, scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS) presents a comprehensive method to allow the visualization of the morphology and electronic structure of materials at atomic-level resolution. Here, we review the recent developments of perovskite-based solar cells (PSCs), the STM/STS analysis of photoactive halide/hybrid and oxide materials, and the real-time STM/STS investigation of electronic structures with defects and traps that are believed to mainly affect device performances. The detailed STM/STS analysis can facilitate a better understanding of the properties of materials at the nanoscale. This informative study may hold great promise to advance the development of stable PSCs under atmospheric conditions.

Two-dimensional Monte Carlo simulations of coarse-grained poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) adsorbed on striped substrates

We investigate the structural phases of single poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) polymers that are adsorbed on a two-dimensional substrate with a striped pattern. We use a coarse-grained representation of the polymer and sophisticated Monte Carlo techniques such as a parallelized replica exchange scheme and local as well as non-local updates to the polymer's configuration. From peaks in the canonically derived observables, it is possible to obtain structural phase diagrams for varying substrate parameters. We find that the shape of the stripe pattern has a substantial effect on the obtained configurations of the polymer and can be tailored to promote either more stretched out or more compact configurations. In the compact phases, we observe different structural motifs, such as hairpins, double-hairpins, and interlocking "zipper" states.

Theoretical Evaluation of the Influence of Molecular Packing Mode on the Intramolecular Reorganization Energy of Oligothiophene Molecules

Accurate determination of the relationships among packing mode, molecular structure and charge transfer mobility for oligothiophene analogues has been significantly impeded, due to the lack of crystal structure information. In the current study, molecular dynamics (MD) were used to investigate the packing mode of non-, methyl- and ethyl-substituted poly(3-alkylthiophenes) (P3ATs). Obvious conformational changes were observed when comparing the packed and isolated oligothiophene molecules, indicating the important influence of packing mode on the geometric structures of these materials. Considering the crucial role played by reorganization energy (RE) in the charge transfer process, both quantum mechanics (QM) and quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) were performed to examine the impact of different conformations on energy. Our simulations revealed that the geometric structures have distinct effects on the RE. Our data suggest that MD could give a reliable packing mode of oligothiophene analogues, and that QM/MM is indispensable for precisely estimating RE.

Conjugated Polymer for Voltage-Controlled Release of Molecules

Conjugated polymers are attractive in numerous biological applications because they are flexible, biocompatible, cost-effective, solution-processable, and electronic/ionic conductive. One interesting application is for controllable drug release, and this has been realized previously using organic electronic ion pumps. However, organic electronic ion pumps show high operating voltages and limited transportation efficiency. Here, the first report of low-voltage-controlled molecular release with a novel organic device based on a conjugated polymer poly(3-hexylthiophene) is presented. The releasing rate of molecules can be accurately controlled by the duration of the voltage applied on the device. The use of a handy mobile phone to remotely control the releasing process and its application in delivering an anticancer drug to treat cancer cells are also successfully demonstrated. The working mechanism of the device is attributed to the unique switchable permeability of poly(3-hexylthiophene) in aqueous solutions under a bias voltage that can tune the wettability of poly(3-hexylthiophene) via oxidation or reduction processes. The organic devices are expected to find many promising applications for controllable drug delivery in biological systems.

Direct observation of the influence of chirality on the microstructure of regioregular poly(3-alkylthiophene)s at the liquid/solid interface

The degree of order of poly(3-alkylthiophene)s on atomically flat surfaces is strongly influenced by interchain interactions. Regularly ordered, disordered and amorphous microstructures are observed for achiral, homochiral and meso poly(3-alkylthiophene)s, respectively, as revealed by scanning tunneling microscopy.

Tracking the Evolution of Polymer Interface Films during the Process of Thermal Annealing at the Domain and Single Molecular Levels using Scanning Tunneling Microscopy

Structural evolution of polymer (NTZ12) interface films during the process of annealing is revealed at the domain and single molecular levels using the statistical data measured from scanning tunneling microscopy images and through theoretical calculations. First, common features of the interface films are examined. Then, mean values of surface-occupied ratio, size and density of the domain are used to reveal the intrinsic derivation of the respective stages. Formation of new domains is triggered at 70 °C, but domain ripening is not activated. At 110 °C, the speed of formation of new domains is almost balanced by the consumption due to the ripening process. However, formation of new domains is reduced heavily at 150 °C but restarted at 190 °C. At the single molecular level, the ratio of the average length of linear to curved backbones is increased during annealing, whereas the ratios of the total length and the total number of linear to curved skeletons reaches a peak value at 150 °C. The two major conformations of curved backbones for all samples are 120° and 180° bending, but the ripening at 150 °C reduces 180° folding dramatically. Molecular dynamic simulations disclose the fast relaxing process of curved skeletons at high temperature.

Gold nanorods with conjugated polymer ligands: sintering-free conductive inks for printed electronics

Metal-based nanoparticle inks for printed electronics usually require sintering to improve the poor electron transport at particle-particle interfaces. The ligands required for colloidal stability act as insulating barriers and must be removed in a post-deposition sintering step. This complicates the fabrication process and makes it incompatible with many flexible substrates. Here, we bind a conjugated, electrically conductive polymer on gold nanorods (AuNRs) as a ligand. The polymer, poly[2-(3-thienyl)-ethyloxy-4-butylsulfonate] (PTEBS), provides colloidal stability and good electron transport properties to stable, sintering-free inks. We confirm that the polymer binds strongly through a multidentate binding motif and provides superior colloidal stability in polar solvents over months by IR and Raman spectrometry and zeta potential measurements. We demonstrate that the developed ligand exchange protocol is directly applicable to other polythiophenes such as poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS). Films of AuNRs coated with above polymers reached conductivities directly after deposition comparable to conventional metal inks after ligand removal and retained their conductivity for at least one year when stored under ambient conditions.

Real-space visualization of conformation-independent oligothiophene electronic structure

We present scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy (STM/STS) investigations of the electronic structures of different alkyl-substituted oligothiophenes on the Au(111) surface. STM imaging showed that on Au(111), oligothiophenes adopted distinct straight and bent conformations. By combining STS maps with STM images, we visualize, in real space, particle-in-a-box-like oligothiophene molecular orbitals. We demonstrate that different planar conformers with significant geometrical distortions of oligothiophene backbones surprisingly exhibit very similar electronic structures, indicating a low degree of conformation-induced electronic disorder. The agreement of these results with gas-phase density functional theory calculations implies that the oligothiophene interaction with the Au(111) surface is generally insensitive to molecular conformation.

Oligothiophene wires: impact of torsional conformation on the electronic structure

Different torsional conformations of alkyl-substituted oligothiophenes show nearly identical progressions of particle-in-a-box-like electronic orbitals.

Two-dimensional Au lattices featuring unique carrier transport preference and wide forbidden gap

Large-scale 2D Au lattices with honeycomb-like structure are fabricated on Si(111)-7 × 7 surface at room temperature. The growth pattern investigated by reflection high-energy electron diffraction and in situ scanning tunneling microscopy indicates that the 2D Au lattices are composed of two interfacial distinct layers that are completely formed one after another with a close-packed structure. A unique wide forbidden gap of 4.1 eV is measured around the Fermi level of the 2D Au lattices by scanning tunneling spectroscopy. Bias-dependent STM images and theoretical simulations suggest that the in-plane quantum coupling and carrier transport behavior are responsible for the novel electronic properties. In addition to local electronic states, the electronic structures of 2D Au lattices are further modulated by the carrier transport preference that is determined by carrier energy and symmetry of 2D lattices. These findings will provide some references for the controlled fabrication and for routing the carrier transport behavior of low-dimensional metal structures.