Zhou, Yi-Cun; Zhou, Ling; Feng, Chang-Ping; Wu, Xiao-Tian; Bao, Rui-Ying; Liu, Zheng-Ying; Yang, Ming-Bo; Yang, Wei
Direct modification of polyketone resin for anion exchange membrane of alkaline fuel cells
A kind of side-chain type anion exchange membranes (AEMs) with high ionic conductivity and good comprehensive stability was prepared via direct modification of commercial engineering plastic polyketone with diamines through Paal-Knorr reaction and quaternization reaction. It was found that the amount of diamine can effectively tune the microphase morphology and…
Relation Between Charge Transport and the Number of Interconnected Lamellar Poly(3-Hexylthiophene) Crystals
Wang, Binghua; Chen, Jingbo; Shen, Changyu; Reiter, Günter; Zhang, Bin
We have investigated the lateral charge transport in a multilamellar network of crystalline structures of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) embedded in a matrix of small crystallites and amorphous polymers resulting from crystallization at temperatures close to the melting point. Removing the matrix by an appropriate washing process allowed us to observe a…
Ion Transport in Pendant and Backbone Polymerized Ionic Liquids
Kuray, Preeya; Noda, Takeru; Matsumoto, Atsushi; Iacob, Ciprian; Inoue, Tadashi; Hickner, Michael A.; Runt, James
Polymerized ionic liquids (PILs) are single-ion conductors in which one of the ionic species is tethered to the polymer chain while the other is free to be transported. The ionic species can either be directly incorporated into the polymeric backbone (backbone PILs) or placed as pendant groups to the chain…
CO2 capture with polyamine-based protic ionic liquid functionalized mesoporous silica
Zhang, Wei; Gao, Erhao; Li, Yu; Bernards, Matthew T.; He, Yi; Shi, Yao
A mesoporous silica supported polyamine-based protic ionic liquid (PIL) sorbent has been prepared by impregnating tetraethylenepentammonium nitrate onto the surface of SBA-15. This innovative hybrid adsorbent exhibits an excellent CO2 adsorption rate in the rate-controlling step of 147?×?10?3 mmol g?1 s?0.5, at least threefold better than other IL-functionalized and amine-modified
Harnessing Heat Beyond 200 °C from Unconcentrated Sunlight with Nonevacuated Transparent Aerogels
Zhao, Lin; Bhatia, Bikram; Yang, Sungwoo; Strobach, Elise; Weinstein, Lee A.; Cooper, Thomas A.; Chen, Gang; Wang, Evelyn N.
Heat at intermediate temperatures (120-220 °C) is in significant demand in both industrial and domestic sectors for applications such as water and space heating, steam generation, sterilization, and other industrial processes. Harnessing heat from solar energy at these temperatures, however, requires costly optical and mechanical components to concentrate the dilute…
Comprehensive Investigation and Analysis of Bulk-Heterojunction Microstructure of High-Performance PCE11:PCBM Solar Cells
Zhang, Chaohong; Heumueller, Thomas; Gruber, Wolfgang; Almora, Osbel; Du, Xiaoyan; Ying, Lei; Chen, Junwu; Unruh, Tobias; Cao, Yong; Li, Ning; Brabec, Christoph J.
Worldwide research efforts have been devoted to organic photovoltaics in the hope of a large-scale commercial application in the near future. To meet the industrial production requirements, organic photovoltaics that can reach power conversion efficiency (PCE) of over 10% along with promising operational device stability are of utmost interest. In…
A top-down strategy identifying molecular phase stabilizers to overcome microstructure instabilities in organic solar cells
Zhang, Chaohong; Heumueller, Thomas; Leon, Salvador; Gruber, Wolfgang; Burlafinger, Klaus; Tang, Xiaofeng; Perea, Jose D.; Wabra, Isabell; Hirsch, Andreas; Unruh, Tobias; Li, Ning; Brabec, Christoph J.
The operational stability of organic solar cells (OSCs) is the essential barrier to commercialization. Compared to thermally-induced degradation, photo-stability of OSCs is far away from being resolved. Here, we demonstrate that the thermal- and photo-degradation of metastable bulk-heterojunction OSCs are governed by the same mechanism. Understanding the fundamental principles behind…
Tuning charge transport dynamics via clustering of doping in organic semiconductor thin films
Boyle, Connor J.; Upadhyaya, Meenakshi; Wang, Peijian; Renna, Lawrence A.; Lu-Díaz, Michael; Jeong, Seung Pyo; Hight-Huf, Nicholas; Korugic-Karasz, Ljiljana; Barnes, Michael D.; Aksamija, Zlatan; Venkataraman, D.
A significant challenge in the rational design of organic thermoelectric materials is to realize simultaneously high electrical conductivity and high induced-voltage in response to a thermal gradient, which is represented by the Seebeck coefficient. Conventional wisdom posits that the polymer alone dictates thermoelectric efficiency. Herein, we show that doping …
Synergistic effects from super-small sized TiO2 and SiOx nanoparticles within TiO2/SiOx/carbon nanohybrid lithium-ion battery anode
Wang, Xiaoyan; Xia, Yonggao; Zuo, Xiuxia; Schaper, Simon J.; Yin, Shanshan; Ji, Qing; Liang, Suzhe; Yang, Zhaohui; Xia, Senlin; Xiao, Ying; Zhu, Jin; Müller-Buschbaum, Peter; Cheng, Ya-Jun
TiO2/SiOx/carbon nanohybrid consisting of super-small sized TiO2 and SiOx nanoparticles is in situ formed within the in situ formed carbon matrix using difunctional methacrylate monomers as solvent and carbon source. The relative composition of TiO2 and SiOx is systematically tuned by varying the feeding mass ratio of the precursors (TEOS/TTIP)…
Poly(bis-arylimidazoliums) possessing high hydroxide ion exchange capacity and high alkaline stability
Fan, Jiantao; Willdorf-Cohen, Sapir; Schibli, Eric M.; Paula, Zoe; Li, Wei; Skalski, Thomas J. G.; Sergeenko, Ania Tersakian; Hohenadel, Amelia; Frisken, Barbara J.; Magliocca, Emanuele; Mustain, William E.; Diesendruck, Charles E.; Dekel, Dario R.; Holdcroft, Steven
The hydroxide anion exchange polymers are key materials of solid polymer electrolyte devices that operate under alkaline conditions. Here the authors show the rational design of such polymers that exhibit high ion exchange capacity and exceptional stability under highly caustic