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    Thiophene-Bridged Donor–Acceptor sp2-Carbon-Linked 2D Conjugated Polymers as Photocathodes for Water Reduction
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2021) Xu, Shunqi; Sun, Hanjun; Addicoat, Matthew; Biswal, Bishnu P.; He, Fan; Park, SangWook; Paasch, Silvia; Zhang, Tao; Sheng, Wenbo; Brunner, Eike; Hou, Yang; Richter, Marcus; Feng, Xinliang
    Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water reduction, converting solar energy into environmentally friendly hydrogen fuel, requires delicate design and synthesis of semiconductors with appropriate bandgaps, suitable energy levels of the frontier orbitals, and high intrinsic charge mobility. In this work, the synthesis of a novel bithiophene-bridged donor–acceptor-based 2D sp2-carbon-linked conjugated polymer (2D CCP) is demonstrated. The Knoevenagel polymerization between the electron-accepting building block 2,3,8,9,14,15-hexa(4-formylphenyl) diquinoxalino[2,3-a:2′,3′-c]phenazine (HATN-6CHO) and the first electron-donating linker 2,2′-([2,2′-bithiophene]-5,5′-diyl)diacetonitrile (ThDAN) provides the 2D CCP-HATNThDAN (2D CCP-Th). Compared with the corresponding biphenyl-bridged 2D CCP-HATN-BDAN (2D CCP-BD), the bithiophene-based 2D CCP-Th exhibits a wide light-harvesting range (up to 674 nm), a optical energy gap (2.04 eV), and highest energy occupied molecular orbital–lowest unoccupied molecular orbital distributions for facilitated charge transfer, which make 2D CCP-Th a promising candidate for PEC water reduction. As a result, 2D CCP-Th presents a superb H2-evolution photocurrent density up to ≈7.9 µA cm−2 at 0 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode, which is superior to the reported 2D covalent organic frameworks and most carbon nitride materials (0.09–6.0 µA cm−2). Density functional theory calculations identify the thiophene units and cyano substituents at the vinylene linkage as active sites for the evolution of H2. © 2020 The Authors. Advanced Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH
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    Reduced Intrinsic Non-Radiative Losses Allow Room-Temperature Triplet Emission from Purely Organic Emitters
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2021) Li, Yungui; Jiang, Lihui; Liu, Wenlan; Xu, Shunqi; Li, Tian-Yi; Fries, Felix; Zeika, Olaf; Zou, Yingping; Ramanan, Charusheela; Lenk, Simone; Scholz, Reinhard; Andrienko, Denis; Feng, Xinliang; Leo, Karl; Reineke, Sebastian
    Persistent luminescence from triplet excitons in organic molecules is rare, as fast non-radiative deactivation typically dominates over radiative transitions. This work demonstrates that the substitution of a hydrogen atom in a derivative of phenanthroimidazole with an N-phenyl ring can substantially stabilize the excited state. This stabilization converts an organic material without phosphorescence emission into a molecular system exhibiting efficient and ultralong afterglow phosphorescence at room temperature. Results from systematic photophysical investigations, kinetic modeling, excited-state dynamic modeling, and single-crystal structure analysis identify that the long-lived triplets originate from a reduction of intrinsic non-radiative molecular relaxations. Further modification of the N-phenyl ring with halogen atoms affects the afterglow lifetime and quantum yield. As a proof-of-concept, an anticounterfeiting device is demonstrated with a time-dependent Morse code feature for data encryption based on these emitters. A fundamental design principle is outlined to achieve long-lived and emissive triplet states by suppressing intrinsic non-radiative relaxations in the form of molecular vibrations or rotations.