Search Results
Prospects of Coupled Organic-Inorganic Nanostructures for Charge and Energy Transfer Applications
We review the field of organic–inorganic nanocomposites with a focus on materials that exhibit a significant degree of electronic coupling across the hybrid interface. These nanocomposites undergo a variety of charge and energy transfer processes, enabling optoelectronic applications in devices which exploit singlet fission, triplet energy harvesting, photon upconversion or hot charge carrier transfer. We discuss the physical chemistry of the most common organic and inorganic components. Based on those we derive synthesis and assembly strategies and design criteria on material and device level with a focus on photovoltaics, spin memories or optical upconverters. We conclude that future research in the field should be directed towards an improved understanding of the binding motif and molecular orientation at the hybrid interface. © 2020 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH GmbH
Poly(3-hexylthiophene)s Functionalized with N-Heterocyclic Carbenes as Robust and Conductive Ligands for the Stabilization of Gold Nanoparticles
Recently, N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) are explored as anchor groups to bind organic ligands to colloidal gold (i.e. gold nanoparticles, Au NPs), yet these efforts are confined to non-conjugated ligands so far—that is, focused solely on exploiting the stability aspect. Using NHCs to link Au NPs and electronically active organic components, for example, conjugated polymers (CPs), will allow capitalizing on both the stability as well as the inherent conductivity of the NHC anchors. Here, we report three types of Br-NHC-Au-X (X=Cl, Br) complexes, which, when used as starting points for Kumada polymerizations, yield regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophenes)-NHC-Au (P3HTs-NHC-Au) with narrow molecular weight distributions. The corresponding NPs are obtained via direct reduction and show excellent thermal as well as redox stability. The NHC anchors enable electron delocalization over the gold/CP interface, resulting in an improved electrochromic response behavior in comparison with P3HT-NHC-Au. © 2020 The Authors. Angewandte Chemie International Edition published by Wiley-VCH GmbH
Ultrasoft and High-Mobility Block Copolymers for Skin-Compatible Electronics
Polymer semiconductors (PSCs) are an essential component of organic field-effect transistors (OFETs), but their potential for stretchable electronics is limited by their brittleness and failure susceptibility upon strain. Herein, a covalent connection of two state-of-the-art polymers—semiconducting poly-diketo-pyrrolopyrrole-thienothiophene (PDPP-TT) and elastomeric poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS)—in a single triblock copolymer (TBC) chain is reported, which enables high charge carrier mobility and low modulus in one system. Three TBCs containing up to 65 wt% PDMS were obtained, and the TBC with 65 wt% PDMS content exhibits mobilities up to 0.1 cm2 V−1 s−1, in the range of the fully conjugated reference polymer PDPP-TT (0.7 cm2 V−1 s−1). The TBC is ultrasoft with a low elastic modulus (5 MPa) in the range of mammalian tissue. The TBC exhibits an excellent stretchability and extraordinary durability, fully maintaining the initial electric conductivity in a doped state after 1500 cycles to 50% strain. © 2020 The Authors. Advanced Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH