Low-cost Polymer Research Articles

Randomizing polarization of displays for fundamental improvement of color mura caused by birefringence.

Most existing displays utilize polarization technologies to produce images and improve image quality. However, polarized light from displays causes color mura because of the birefringence of the polymer films used. Thus, eliminating color degradation remains a challenge despite the incorporation of complex polarization technologies such as retardation films. Our proposed random depolarization film (RDF) addresses this issue by randomizing the polarization of light from displays. Chromaticity measurements demonstrate that the RDF effectively compensates for color mura due to low-cost polymer films. Notably, the RDF compensation mechanism is independent of the RDF position and light source spectrum. Therefore, the RDF could be an innovative solution for color degradation in existing displays.

TVT-Based New Building Block with Enhanced π-Electron Delocalization for Efficient Non-Fused Photovoltaic Acceptor.

To address the high-cost issue that impedes the large-scale fabrication and industrialization of organic solar cells (OSCs), it is crucial to design low-cost photovoltaic materials with simplified synthesis procedures. In this study, a novel fully non-fused acceptor, ATVT-BO, featuring a triisopropylbenzene-substituted (E)-1,2-di(thiophen-2-yl)ethene (TVT) unit as the central core is designed and synthesized. A control acceptor, A4T-BO, with the same alkyl chains but a bithiophene central core, is also synthesized for comparison. Theoretical calculations and practical measurements reveal that compared to A4T-BO, the insertion of an ethylene bond in ATVT-BO enhances the molecular planarity and reduces the aromaticity, leading to enhanced π-electron delocalization and thus improved electron mobility and a red-shifted optical absorption spectrum. The 3D molecular packing mode of ATVT-BO, characterized by tight intermolecular interactions, also promotes efficient charge transport in OSCs. Consequently, when paired with the low-cost polymer PTVT-T, featuring an ester-substituted TVT structure, as the photoactive layer, the PTVT-T:ATVT-BO-based device achieves a remarkable power conversion efficiency of 14.8%, distinctly higher than that of PTVT-T:A4T-BO-based cell. The result highlights the significant potential of TVT units in creating both low-cost polymer donors and fully non-fused acceptors, which opens up new possibilities for designing low-cost photoactive materials in OSCs.

Weakly-negatively-charged loose nanofiltration membranes tailored by polyethyleneimine for dye/salt separation

Loose nanofiltration membranes with a weakly negatively charged surface were made from interfacial polymerization between natural hydrophilic polymer carboxylated chitosan (C-CS) and trimesoyl chloride (TMC) firstly and further depositing branched polyethyleneimine (PEI) on top of the surface to tailor the membrane structures and surface charge properties. This kind of membrane was exploited for dye/salt separation in textile wastewater treatment. The effects of contents and molecular weights of PEI on the morphologies, surface charge, hydrophilicity, pore size, and dye/salt separation performance of the membrane were comprehensively investigated. We found that the top layer of PEI with a moderate molecular weight is suitable to form a loose structure for dye/salt separation. The optimized membrane has a comparable high water permeability (44.4 L/m2.h.bar), a low salt rejections (2.6 % for Na2SO4, 7.7 % for NaCl, and 6.8 % for MgCl2), a relatively high dye rejection (96.9 % for Congo Red, 85.4 % for Methyl Blue, 51.1 % for Bromophenol Blue, and 48.3 % for Reactive Black 5), and an extremely high CR/Na2SO4 fractionation ratio (37.27). Moreover, the resultant membrane shows excellent anti-fouling performance after 5 cycles (50 h) of filtration. It maintains a high Congo Red rejection during a 10-day long-term run. This study shows an easy way to fabricate and adjust the properties of loose nanofiltration membranes that work well for dye/salt separation using common and low-cost polymers. It shows promising potential in the application of textile wastewater treatment and resource recovery.

Design and application of low-cost polymer composite shell and backfill tooling for stamping of HSS 590 sheets

Design and application of low-cost polymer composite shell and backfill tooling for stamping of HSS 590 sheets

A low-cost wide bandgap polymer based on carboxylate substituted thiazole enables efficient organic solar cells with remarkable batch-to-batch reproducibility

A low-cost wide bandgap polymer based on carboxylate substituted thiazole enables efficient organic solar cells with remarkable batch-to-batch reproducibility

Converting a low-cost industrial polymer into organic cathodes for high mass-loading aqueous zinc-ion batteries

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) using organic cathodes have emerged as a sustainable energy storage technology benefitting from high safety, low cost, and abundant feedstocks. However, most organic cathodes are n-type polyaromatic compounds and conjugated polymers, which require sophisticated synthesis, provide a low operational voltage and slow Zn2+ diffusion kinetics. Herein, we report access to p-type radical polymer cathodes from a commercially available poly(methyl vinyl ether-alt-maleic anhydride) (poly(MVE-alt-MA)) polymer. The modification of poly(MVE-alt-MA) with 4-amino-TEMPO produces radical polymers (PTEMPO) that are easily scalable to tens of grams. The corresponding polymer AZIBs deliver a capacity of 92 mAh g-1 at 10 C with 95 % capacity retention over 1000 cycles. Importantly, the electrode composites and battery assembly procedure are optimised so that no fluoro-containing electrolytes and binders are needed, and cheap carbon additives can be used. We assemble the Swagelok batteries, small pouch, and large pouch batteries with a high mass-loading of 7.8 to 50 mg cm-2, demonstrating nearly 100 % Coulombic efficiency. The pouch battery with 0.8–0.9 g of active polymer displayed a 60-mAh capacity with 1.5 V operational voltage. This work paves the way for simple and practical implementation of polymer AZIBs for real-world applications.

A gel polymer electrolyte obtained from cellulose acetate/polyvinylidene fluoride composite electrospun membrane for safe lithium metal batteries with high-rate capability

Li metal battery is a promising next-generation power storage devices, but faces the serious safety issues caused by the uncontrolled Li dendrite growth and leakage of the flammable organic electrolyte. Herein, a low-cost CA/PVDF (cellulose acetate/polyvinylidene fluoride) composite membrane is prepared via electrospinning technology for safe lithium metal batteries. This membrane (45 μm) exhibits the high porosity (76.9 %) and excellent thermally stability (>180 °C) preventing the short circuit during abuse. The CA/PVDF-based gel polymer electrolyte (GPE), fabricated with CA/PVDF electrospun membrane swelled by carbonate-based organic liquid electrolyte, delivers the ionic conductivity of 1.82 mS cm−1 and Li + transfer number of 0.506, which achieve uniform Li+ ion electrodeposition and inhibit the formation of lithium dendrites. As the results, the symmetrical cell Li/CA/PVDF-based GPE/Li exhibits the impressive reversible Li stripping/plating behavior over 300 h at 1 mA cm−2 with the capacity of 1 mA h cm−2. Furthermore, the assembled LiFePO4/GPE/Li battery exhibits the capacity of 101.2 mA h g−1 at 5C with the capacity retention of 94.6 % after 400 cycles, which exceeds that of traditional liquid electrolytes. This research provides a low-cost gel polymer electrolyte via the electrospinning technique for rechargeable lithium batteries with good electrochemical performance and high security.

Electroplating Additively Manufactured Honeycomb Structures to Increase Energy Absorption Under Quasi-Static Crush

Honeycomb (HC) has been used in energy absorption applications due to its high stiffness and low density. Metallic HC are used for energy absorption applications, however, these metallic structures can be challenging to manufacture if complex geometric features designed to improve energy absorption are used, which motivates the use of additive manufacturing (AM). Metal AM methods include powder bed fusion (PBF) and direct energy deposition (DED). In addition to capital equipment cost, these processes possess challenges that include a required inert environment, powder handling, final part porosity, residual stresses, and nonuniform surface finish. These concerns can be alleviated through the use of polymer AM, however, polymeric parts exhibit brittle failure and have a lower stiffness than metallic HC structures. In this study, a low-cost 3D polymer printing method, stereolithography (SLA), is combined with a conventional electroplating process to fabricate a metal-plastic composite HC structure with energy absorption capability much greater than of a plastic HC structures of the same nominal volume. SLA parts have a smooth surface, so that the surface finish is at least as uniform after electroplating as the SLA part. The energy absorption characteristics of the electroplated HC is studied to determine how these energy absorbing materials can be manufactured at reduced cost. Our study confirms that the metal-plastic composite HC increases both the crush strain range and the mean crush stress of these samples, resulting in metal-plastic composite HC structures with substantially increased energy absorption. This study also examines how buckling initiators (BIs), or diamond shaped holes located at 50, 75, and 100% of the height of the hexagonal cell vertices, can influence energy absorption performance. This study shows that it is feasible to fabricate electroplated HCs, using an SLA preform, to achieve a substantial increase in energy absorption over using SLA alone.

Effective Removal of Malachite Green Dye from Water Using Low-Cost Porous Organic Polymers: Adsorption Kinetics, Isotherms, and Reusability Studies

In this study, triphenylaniline-based porous organic polymers (TPA-POPs) were successfully prepared by the Friedel–Crafts reaction and applied to adsorb malachite green (MG) dye from water. The TPA-POP was characterized using TEM, SEM, FTIR, 13C (CP/MAS) NMR, BET surface area, and XRD analysis. The results exhibited that the TPA-POP has a high surface area (1625.14 m2/g) with pore volume (0.353 cm3/g) and pore radius (1.57 nm) that reflect the high quantity of MG adsorbed on the TPA-POP. The polymer was evaluated as an excellent adsorbent for MG adsorption from water using the batch method. MG dye removal was optimized as 99.60% (at pH: 6.0, adsorbent dosage (m): 0.01 g, temperature (T): 45 °C, and contact time (t): 300 min). The kinetic data follow the Elovich model, while the isotherm data fit the Langmuir model well with uptake capacity (755.72 mg/g) at T: 45 °C. According to thermodynamic parameters, the adsorption process was endothermic and spontaneous. The adsorption of MG on the TPA-POP occurred via different mechanisms (π–π interaction, electrostatic attraction, and hydrogen bonding). Reusability experiments exhibited that the TPA-POP still maintained high removal efficiency (82.12%) after five cycles. In conclusion, the TPA-POP is a promising adsorbent owing to its cost-effectiveness, high adsorption capacity, high surface area, excellent reusability, and efficient MG removal from aqueous media.

Using Bulky Dodecaborane-Based Dopants to Produce Mobile Charge Carriers in Amorphous Semiconducting Polymers.

Conjugated polymers are a versatile class of electronic materials featured in a variety of next-generation electronic devices. The utility of such polymers is contingent in large part on their electrical conductivity, which depends both on the density of charge carriers (polarons) and on the carrier mobility. Carrier mobility, in turn, is largely controlled by the separation between the polarons and dopant counterions, as counterions can produce Coulombic traps. In previous work, we showed that large dopants based on dodecaborane (DDB) clusters were able to reduce Coulombic binding and thus increase carrier mobility in regioregular (RR) poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT). Here, we use a DDB-based dopant to study the effects of polaron-counterion separation in chemically doped regiorandom (RRa) P3HT, which is highly amorphous. X-ray scattering shows that the DDB dopants, despite their large size, can partially order the RRa P3HT during doping and produce a doped polymer crystal structure similar to that of DDB-doped RR P3HT; Alternating Field (AC) Hall measurements also confirm a similar hole mobility. We also show that use of the large DDB dopants successfully reduces Coulombic binding of polarons and counterions in amorphous polymer regions, resulting in a 77% doping efficiency in RRa P3HT films. The DDB dopants are able to produce RRa P3HT films with a 4.92 S/cm conductivity, a value that is ∼200× higher than that achieved with 3,5,6-tetrafluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (F4TCNQ), the traditional dopant molecule. These results show that tailoring dopants to produce mobile carriers in both the amorphous and semicrystalline regions of conjugated polymers is an effective strategy for increasing achievable polymer conductivities, particularly in low-cost polymers with random regiochemistry. The results also emphasize the importance of dopant size and shape for producing Coulombically unbound, mobile polarons capable of electrical conduction in less-ordered materials.

One-Stone-for-Two-Birds Method to Improve the SnO2 Layers for High Power-per-Weight Flexible Perovskite Solar Cell Mini-modules.

Maintaining the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of flexible perovskite solar cells (fPSCs) while decreasing their weight is essential to utilize their lightweight and flexibility as much as possible for commercialization. Strengthening the interfaces between functional layers, such as flexible substrates, charge transport layers, and perovskite active layers, is critical to addressing the issue. Herein, we propose a feasible and one-stone-for-two-birds method to improve the electron transport layer (ETL), SnO2, and the interface between the ETL and perovskite layer simultaneously. In detail, poly(acrylate ammonium) (PAAm), a low-cost polymer with a long chain structure, is added into the SnO2 aqueous solution to reduce the aggregation of SnO2 nanoparticles, resulting in the deposition of a conformal and high-quality ETL film on the tin-doped indium oxide film surface. Simultaneously, PAAm addition can effectively regulate the crystallization of the perovskite films, strengthening the interface between the SnO2 film and the buried surface of the perovskite layer. The outstanding PCEs of 22.41% on small-scale fPSCs and 18.54% on fPSC mini-modules are among the state-of-the-art n-i-p type fPSCs. Moreover, the fPSC mini-module on the 20 μm-thick flexible substrate shows a comparable PCE with that of the fPSC mini-module on the 125 μm-thick flexible substrate, exhibiting a high power-to-weight of 5.097 W/g. This work provides an easy but essential direction for further applications of fPSCs in diverse scenarios.

Acceptor molecules with Carbon–Carbon singly bonded central and terminal units for efficient P3HT-based organic solar cells

Herein, we synthesized two small molecules named as 4TBTCN and 6TBTCN with strongly electron-rich 4,4,9,9-tetrakis(4-hexylphenyl)-4,9-dihydrothieno[3′,2′:4,5]cyclopenta[1,2-b]thieno[2″,3′′:3′,4′]cyclopenta[1′,2′:4,5]thieno[2,3-d]thiophene or 6,6,12,12-tetrakis(4-hexylphenyl)-6,12-dihydrothieno[2″,3′′:4′,5′]thieno[3′,2′:4,5]cyclopenta[1,2-b]thieno[2‴,3‴:4″,5′′]thieno[2″,3′′:3′,4′]cyclopenta[1′,2′:4,5]thieno[2,3-d]thiophene as central unit and weak electron-withdrawing benzo[c] [1,2,5] thiadiazole-4-carbonitrile as termini, which were connected by C–C single bond. Both molecules exhibited medium optical bandgap and high-lying frontier molecular orbital energy levels, which were matched with those of the representative low-cost polymer donor P3HT. Moreover, 4TBTCN and 6TBTCN showed high stability under continuous illumination and base condition, owing to a lack of exocyclic vinyl group between the central unit and end group. Compared to P3HT:6TBTCN, P3HT:4TBTCN blend system displayed lower miscibility and thus more distinct phase separation, leading to more efficient charge transport and collection. Although the LUMO energy level of 4TBTCN was 0.15 eV deeper than that of 6TBTCN, the energy loss for P3HT:4TBTCN based device was similar to that of P3HT:6TBTCN based device. As a result, P3HT:4TBTCN based device displayed a similar open-circuit voltage but higher fill factor and short-circuit current density, yielding a superior power conversion efficiency, in comparison to P3HT:6TBTCN based device. This work provides a new strategy for design of efficient and stable acceptor molecules.

Hypercrosslinked polymers with hierarchical pores synthesized using biphenyl crosslinker for carbon dioxide capture

Microporous hypercrosslinked polymers have an upright capacity to develop into prime materials in energy and environmental applications in the near future. The chemical tunability, structural robustness and high surface area are some of the critical factors that lead to their application in the gas adsorption area. Three novel hypercrosslinked porous polymers viz. PABMC, PFBMC and PPzBMC were synthesized via the Friedel-Crafts alkylation process using 4,4′-bis(chloromethyl)biphenyl as the external cross-linker and anhydrous FeCl3 as the catalyst. The polymers obtained are found to be microporous with very high surface areas of 983 m2/g, 1002 m2/g, and 1265 m2/g, respectively, for PABMC, PFBMC and PPzBMC. The polymers PABMC, PFBMC and PPzBMC exhibited appreciable carbon dioxide uptake of 10.18 wt%, 12.02 wt% and 14.18 wt%, respectively, at 273 K. The results reveal a practical approach to synthesizing low-cost heteroatom-rich hypercrosslinked organic polymers with hierarchical pores for gas adsorption and storage applications.

In situ electrochemical potential-induced synthesis of metal organic framework membrane on polymer support for H2/CO2 separation

Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) membranes act as selective layers have offered unprecedented opportunities for energy-efficient and cost-effective gas separation. Searching for the green and sustainable synthesis method of dense MOF membrane has received huge attention in both academia and industry. In this work, we demonstrate an in situ electrochemical potential-induced synthesis strategy to aqueously fabricate Metal Azolate Framework-4 (MAF-4) membranes on polypropylene (PP) support. The constant potential can induce the heterogeneous nucleation and growth of MAF-4, resulting an ultrathin membrane with the thickness of only 390 nm. This high-quality membrane exhibits a high H2/CO2 separation performance with the H2 permeance as high as 1565.75 GPU and selectivity of 11.6. The deployment of this environment friendly one-step fabrication method under mild reaction conditions, such as low-cost polymer substrate, water instead of organic solvent, room temperature and ambient pressure shows great promise for the scale-up of MOF membranes.

Recent Developments of Metal-N-C Catalysts Toward Oxygen Reduction Reaction for Anion Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell: A Review

<p>Metal-N-C (MNC) catalysts have been anticipated as promising candidates for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) to achieve low-cost polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. The structure of the M-N<sub>x</sub> moiety enabled a high catalytic activity that was not observed in previously reported transition metal nanoparticle-based catalysts. Despite progress in non-precious metal catalysts, the low density of active sites of MNCs, which resulted in lower single-cell performance than Pt/C, needs to be resolved for practical application. This review focused on the recent studies and methodologies aimed to overcome these limitations and develop an inexpensive catalyst with excellent activity and durability in an alkaline environment. It included the possibility of non-precious metals as active materials for ORR catalysts, starting from Co phthalocyanine as ORR catalyst and the development of methodologies (e.g., metal-coordinated N-containing polymers, metal-organic frameworks) to form active sites, M-N<sub>x</sub> moieties. Thereafter, the motivation, procedures, and progress of the latest research on the design of catalyst morphology for improved mass transport ability and active site engineering that allowed the promoted ORR kinetics were discussed.</p>

Biodegradable and flame-retardant cellulose-based wearable triboelectric nanogenerator for mechanical energy harvesting in firefighting clothing

Integrating flexible triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) into firefighting clothing offers exciting opportunities for wearable portable electronics in personal protective technology. However, it is still a grand challenge to produce eco-friendly TENGs from biodegradable and low-cost natural polymers for mechanical-energy harvesting and self-powered sensing. Herein, conductive polypyrrole (PPy) and natural chitosan (CS)/phytic acid (PA) tribonegative materials were employed onto the Lycra fabric (LC) in turn to assemble the biodegradable and flame-retardant single-electrode mode LC/PPy/CS/PA TENG (abbreviated as LPCP-TENG). The resultant LPCP-TENG exhibits truly wearable breathability (1378.6 mm/s), elasticity (breaking elongation 291 %), and shape adaptivity performance that can produce an open circuit voltage of 0.3 V with 2 N contact pressure at a working frequency of 5 Hz with a limiting oxygen index of 35.2 %. Furthermore, facile monitoring for human motion of firefighters on fireground is verified by LPCP-TENG when used as self-powered flexible tactile sensor. In addition, degradation experiments have shown that waste LPCP-TENG can be fully degraded in soil within 120 days. This work broadens the applicational range of wearable TENG to reduce the environmental effects of abandoned TENG, exhibiting prosperous applications prospects in the field of wearable power source and self-powered motion detection sensor for personal protection application on fireground.

Aqueous Processed All-Polymer Solar Cells with High Open-Circuit Voltage Based on Low-Cost Thiophene-Quinoxaline Polymers.

Eco-friendly solution processing and the low-cost synthesis of photoactive materials are important requirements for the commercialization of organic solar cells (OSCs). Although varieties of aqueous-soluble acceptors have been developed, the availability of aqueous-processable polymer donors remains quite limited. In particular, the generally shallow highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy levels of existing polymer donors limit further increases in the power conversion efficiency (PCE). Here, we design and synthesize two water/alcohol-processable polymer donors, poly[(thiophene-2,5-diyl)-alt-(2-((13-(2,5,8,11-tetraoxadodecyl)-2,5,8,11-tetraoxatetradecan-14-yl)oxy)-6,7-difluoroquinoxaline-5,8-diyl)] (P(Qx8O-T)) and poly[(selenophene-2,5-diyl)-alt-(2-((13-(2,5,8,11-tetraoxadodecyl)-2,5,8,11-tetraoxatetradecan-14-yl)oxy)-6,7-difluoroquinoxaline-5,8-diyl)] (P(Qx8O-Se)) with oligo(ethylene glycol) (OEG) side chains, having deep HOMO energy levels (∼-5.4 eV). The synthesis of the polymers is achieved in a few synthetic and purification steps at reduced cost. The theoretical calculations uncover that the dielectric environmental variations are responsible for the observed band gap lowering in OEG-based polymers compared to their alkylated counterparts. Notably, the aqueous-processed all-polymer solar cells (aq-APSCs) based on P(Qx8O-T) and poly[(N,N'-bis(3-(2-(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)-ethoxy)ethoxy)-2-((2-(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethoxy)ethoxy)-methyl)propyl)naphthalene-1,4,5,8-bis(dicarboximide)-2,6-diyl)-alt-(2,5-thiophene)] (P(NDIDEG-T)) active layer exhibit a PCE of 2.27% and high open-circuit voltage (VOC) approaching 0.8 V, which are among the highest values for aq-APSCs reported to date. This study provides important clues for the design of low-cost, aqueous-processable polymer donors and the fabrication of aqueous-processable OSCs with high VOC.

Isomerization of Benzothiadiazole Yields a Promising Polymer Donor and Organic Solar Cells with Efficiency of 19.0.

The exploration of high-performance and low-cost wide-bandgap polymer donors remains critical to achieve high-efficiency nonfullerene organic solar cells (OSCs) beyond current thresholds. Herein, the 1,2,3-benzothiadiazole (iBT), which is an isomer of 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole (BT), is used to design wide-bandgap polymer donor PiBT. The PiBT-based solar cells reach efficiency of 19.0%, which is one of the highest efficiencies in binary OSCs. Systemic studies show that isomerization of BT to iBT can finely regulate the polymers' photoelectric properties including i) increasing the extinction coefficient and photon harvest, ii) downshifting the highest occupied molecular orbital energy levels, iii) improving the coplanarity of polymer backbones, iv) offering good thermodynamic miscibility with acceptors. Consequently, the PiBT:Y6 bulk heterojunction (BHJ) device simultaneously reaches advantageous nanoscale morphology, efficient exciton generation and dissociation, fast charge transportation, and suppressed charge recombination, leading to larger VOC of 0.87V, higher JSC of 28.2 mA cm-2, greater fill factor of 77.3%, and thus higher efficiency of 19.0%, while the analog-PBT-based OSCs reach efficiency of only 12.9%. Moreover, the key intermediate iBT can be easily afforded from industry chemicals via two-step procedure. Overall, this contribution highlights that iBT is a promising motif for designing high-performance polymer donors.

Cyano-Functionalized Pyrazine: A Structurally Simple and Easily Accessible Electron-Deficient Building Block for n-Type Organic Thermoelectric Polymers.

Developing low-cost and high-performance n-type polymer semiconductors is essential to accelerate the application of organic thermoelectrics (OTEs). To achieve this objective, it is critical to design strong electron-deficient building blocks with simple structure and easy synthesis, which are essential for the development of n-type polymer semiconductors. Herein, we synthesized two cyano-functionalized highly electron-deficient building blocks, namely 3,6-dibromopyrazine-2-carbonitrile (CNPz) and 3,6-Dibromopyrazine-2,5-dicarbonitrile (DCNPz), which feature simple structures and facile synthesis. CNPz and DCNPz can be obtained via only one-step reaction and three-step reactions from cheap raw materials, respectively. Based on CNPz and DCNPz, two acceptor-acceptor (A-A) polymers, P(DPP-CNPz) and P(DPP-DCNPz) are successfully developed, featuring deep-positioned lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels, which are beneficial to n-type organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) and OTEs performance. An optimal unipolar electron mobility of 0.85 and 1.85 cm2 V-1 s-1 is obtained for P(DPP-CNPz) and P(DPP-DCNPz), respectively. When doped with N-DMBI, P(DPP-CNPz) and P(DPP-DCNPz) show high n-type electrical conductivities/power factors of 25.3 S cm-1 /41.4 μW m-1 K-2 , and 33.9 S cm-1 /30.4 μW m-1 K-2 , respectively. Hence, the cyano-functionalized pyrazine CNPz and DCNPz represent a new class of structurally simple, low-cost and readily accessible electron-deficient building block for constructing n-type polymer semiconductors.

Polymeric Binder Design for Sustainable Lithium-Ion Battery Chemistry.

The design of binders plays a pivotal role in achieving enduring high power in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and extending their overall lifespan. This review underscores the indispensable characteristics that a binder must possess when utilized in LIBs, considering factors such as electrochemical, thermal, and dispersion stability, compatibility with electrolytes, solubility in solvents, mechanical properties, and conductivity. In the case of anode materials, binders with robust mechanical properties and elasticity are imperative to uphold electrode integrity, particularly in materials subjected to substantial volume changes. For cathode materials, the selection of a binder hinges on the crystal structure of the cathode material. Other vital considerations in binder design encompass cost effectiveness, adhesion, processability, and environmental friendliness. Incorporating low-cost, eco-friendly, and biodegradable polymers can significantly contribute to sustainable battery development. This review serves as an invaluable resource for comprehending the prerequisites of binder design in high-performance LIBs and offers insights into binder selection for diverse electrode materials. The findings and principles articulated in this review can be extrapolated to other advanced battery systems, charting a course for developing next-generation batteries characterized by enhanced performance and sustainability.