Solar Cells with Enhanced Photocurrent Efficiencies Using Oligoaniline‐Crosslinked Au/CdS Nanoparticles Arrays on Electrodes

Different configurations of CdS nanoparticles (NPs) are linked to Au electrodes by electropolymerization of thioaniline‐functionalized CdS NPs onto thioaniline‐functionalized Au‐electrodes. In one configuration, thioaniline‐functionalized CdS NPs are electropolymerized in the presence of thioanline‐modified Au NPs to yield an oligoaniline‐crosslinked CdS/Au NPs array. The NP‐functionalized electrode generates a photocurrent with a quantum yield that corresponds to ca. 9%. The photocurrent intensities are controlled by the potential applied on the electrode, and the redox‐state of the oligoaniline bridge. In the oxidized quinoide state of the oligoaniline units, the bridges act as electron acceptors that trap the conduction‐band electrons that are transported to the electrode and lead to high quantum yield photocurrents. The reduced π‐donor oligoaniline bridges act as π‐donor sites that associate N,N′‐dimethyl‐4,4′‐bipyridinium, MV²⁺, by donor/acceptor interactions, K_a = 5270 M^?1. The associated MV²⁺ acts as an effective trap of the conduction‐band electrons, and in the presence of triethanolamine (TEOA) as an electron donor, high photocurrent values are measured (ca. 12% quantum yield). The electropolymerization of thioaniline‐functionalized Au NPs and thioaniline‐modified CdS NPs in the presence of MV²⁺ yields a MV²⁺‐imprinted NP array. The imprinted array exhibits enhanced affinities toward the association of MV²⁺ to the oligoaniline π‐donor sites, K_a = 2.29 × 10⁴ M^?1. This results in the effective trapping of the conduction‐band electrons and an enhanced quantum yield of the photocurrent, ca. 34%. The sacrificial electron donor, TEOA, was substituted with the reversible donor I₃^?. A solar cell consisting of the imprinted CdS/Au NPs array, with MV²⁺ and I₃^?, was constructed. The cell generated a photocurrent with a quantum yield of 4.7%.     

Au nanoparticle modified flower-like ZnO structures with their enhanced properties for gas sensing

The flower-like ZnO (F-ZnO) synthesized by a solution approach was hydrothermally functionalized with Au nanoparticles (Au NPs). The Au coverage on the surface of F-ZnO was controllable by adjusting the Au concentration of the precursor. The gas sensing performance of the formed hybrid was systematically investigated. A Au-functionalized F-ZnO hybrid structure, combining excellent catalytic activity of Au NPs and efficient charge-transfer layer at the Au/ZnO interface, was demonstrated to possess the superior response to pristine ZnO. The optimal Au loading is 6 wt%, and its gas response is nearly 17 times higher than that of pristine ZnO and ~2.5 times higher than that of commercial ZnO functionalized with 6 wt% Au. Such a hybrid structure exhibits a great potential for gas sensing applications.     

Mesostructured Arrays of Nanometer‐spaced Gold Nanoparticles for Ultrahigh Number Density of SERS Hot Spots

A novel one‐trough synthesis via an air‐water interface is demonstrated to provide hexagonally packed arrays of densely spaced metallic nanoparticles (NPs). In the synthesis, a mesostructured polyoxometalate (POM)‐silicatropic template (PSS) is first self‐assembled at the air‐water interface; upon UV irradiation, anion exchange cycles enable the free‐floating PSS film to continuously uptake gold precursors from the solution subphase for diffusion‐controlled and POM‐site‐directed photoreduction inside the silica channels. NPs ≈ 2 nm can hence be homogeneously formed inside the silica‐surfactant channels until saturation. As revealed via X‐ray diffraction, small‐angle X‐ray scattering (SAXS), grazing incidence SAXS, and transmission electron microscopy, the Au NPs directed by the PSS template are arrayed into a 2D hexagonal lattice with inter‐channel spacing of 3.2 nm and a mean along‐channel NP spacing of 2.8 nm. This corresponds to an ultra‐high number density (≈10¹⁹ NPs cm^?3) of narrowly spaced Au NPs in the Au‐NP@PSS composite, leading to 3D densely deployed hot‐spots along and across the mesostructured POM‐silica channels for surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Consequently, the Au‐NP@PSS composite exhibits prominent SERS with 4‐mercaptobenzoic acid (4‐MBA) adsorbed onto Au NPs. The best 4‐MBA detection limit is 5 nm , with corresponding SERS enhancement factors above 10⁸.     

Aptamer‐Conjugated Nanoparticles Efficiently Control the Activity of Thrombin

Thrombin‐binding aptamer‐conjugated gold nanoparticles (TBA‐Au NPs) for highly effective control of thrombin activity towards fibrinogen are demonstrated. While a 29‐base long oligonucleotide (TBA₂₉) has known no enzymatic inhibitory functions for thrombin‐mediated coagulation, the ultrahigh anticoagulant potency of TBA₂₉‐Au NPs can be demonstrated via the steric blocking effect, at two orders of magnitude higher than that of free TBA₂₉. The surface aptamer density on the Au NPs is important in determining their enzymatic inhibition of thrombin and their stability in the presence of nuclease. The practicality of 100TBA₂₉‐Au NPs (100 TBA₂₉ molecules per Au NP) for controlling thrombin‐mediated coagulation in plasma is found, and the 100TBA₂₉‐Au NPs has an ultra binding affinity towards thrombin (K_d = 2.7 × 10^?11M ) due to their high ligand density. The anticoagulant activity of TBA₂₉‐Au NPs is found to be suppressed by TBA₂₉ complementary sequence (cTBA₂₉) modified Au NPs (cTBA₂₉‐Au NPs), with a suppression rate 4.6‐fold higher than that of cTBA₂₉. The easily prepared and low‐cost TBA₂₉‐Au NPs and cTBA₂₉‐Au NPs show their potential in biomedical applications for treating various diseases related to blood clotting disorders. In principle, this study opens the possibility of regulation of molecule binding, protein recognizing, and enzyme activity by using aptamer‐functionalized nanomaterials.     

Ultra-Small ATP-Decorated Gold Nanoparticles for Targeting Amyloid Fibrils in Neurodegenerative Diseases

Ultrafine Gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) functionalized with various biomolecules constitute an alternative to antibodies as anti-amyloidogenic agents. However, generating stable ultrafine Au NPs with high surface activity is challenging. Here, the capacity of phosphate groups in biomolecules is used to stabilize Au NPs. The characteristics of Au NPs decorated with adenosine mono-, di-, and tri-phosphate are compared as well as adenosine and peptide nucleic acid-containing adenosine as controls. Among them, ATP-Au NPs are found to be superior having small size (2–4 nm) and stability (for several months) when analysed by spectroscopy and electron microscopy. Spectroscopy analysis also revealed that each ATP-stabilized Au NP is decorated with 7–8 molecules of ATP. ThT binding analysis and TEM imaging showed that the ATP-Au NPs efficiently prevented amyloid fibril formation in vitro by Aβ-42, α-Synuclein as well as by the Glucosylceramide metabolite, and disaggregated their pre-formed fibrils. NMR analysis revealed the interaction of the ATP-Au NPs with the amyloid fibrils. The ATP-Au NPs are safe toward cultured SH-SY5Y cells and when co-incubated with α-Synuclein amyloids inhibited their cytotoxicity and readily enter the cells to inhibit formation of amyloid fibrils within them. The results indicates the pharmacological potentials of ATP decorated Au NPs.     

Zn(II)‐Protoporphyrin IX‐Based Photosensitizer‐Imprinted Au‐Nanoparticle‐Modified Electrodes for Photoelectrochemical Applications

The electropolymerization of thioaniline‐modified Au nanoparticles (NPs) on thioaniline monolayer‐functionalized electrodes in the presence of Zn(II)‐protoporphyrin IX yields bis aniline‐crosslinked Au NPs matrices that include molecular imprinted sites for binding the Zn(II)‐protoporphyrin IX photosensitizer. The binding of the photosensitizer yields photoelectrochemically active electrodes that produce anodic photocurrents in the presence of the electron donor benzohydroquinone. The efficient photocurrents formed in the presence of the imprinted electrode are attributed to the high‐affinity binding of the photosensitizer to the imprinted sites, K_a = 3.2 × 10⁶ m ^?1, and to the effective transport of the photoejected electrons to the bulk electrode via the bridged Au NPs matrix. Similarly, a N,N′‐dialkyl‐4,4′‐bipyridinium‐modified Zn(II)‐protoporphyrin IX photosensitizer‐electron acceptor dyad is imprinted in the bis aniline‐crosslinked Au NPs matrix. The photocurrent generated by the imprinted matrix is approximately twofold higher as compared to the photocurrent generated by the Zn(II)‐protoporphyrin IX‐imprinted Au NPs matrix. The efficient photocurrents generated in the presence of the bipyridinium‐modified Zn(II)‐protoporphyrin IX‐imprinted matrix are attributed to the effective primary charge separation of the electron–hole species in the dyad structure, followed by the effective transport of the photoejected electrons to the electrode via the bis aniline‐crosslinked Au NPs matrix.     

High‐Performance UV–Vis–NIR Phototransistors Based on Single‐Crystalline Organic Semiconductor–Gold Hybrid Nanomaterials

Hybrid materials in optoelectronic devices can generate new functionality or provide synergistic effects that enhance the properties of each component. Here, high‐performance phototransistors with broad spectral responsivity in UV–vis–near‐infrared (NIR) regions, using gold nanorods (Au NRs)‐decorated n‐type organic semiconductor and N ,N ′‐bis(2‐phenylethyl)‐perylene‐3,4:9,10‐tetracarboxylic diimide (BPE‐PTCDI) nanowires (NWs) are reported. By way of the synergistic effect of the excellent photo‐conducting characteristics of single‐crystalline BPE‐PTCDI NW and the light scattering and localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPR) of Au NRs, the hybrid system provides new photo‐detectivity in the NIR spectral region. In the UV–vis region, hybrid nanomaterial‐based phototransistors exhibit significantly enhanced photo‐responsive properties with a photo‐responsivity (R ) of 7.70 × 10⁵ A W^?1 and external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 1.42 × 10⁸% at the minimum light intensity of 2.5 µW cm^?2, which are at least tenfold greater than those of pristine BPE‐PTCDI NW‐based ones and comparable to those of high‐performance inorganic material‐based devices. While a pristine BPE‐PTCDI NW‐based photodetector is insensitive to the NIR spectral region, the hybrid NW‐based phototransistor shows an R of 10.7 A W^?1 and EQE of 1.35 × 10³% under 980 nm wavelength‐NIR illumination. This work demonstrates a viable approach to high‐performance photo‐detecting systems with broad spectral responsivity.     

Highly Reproducible Surface‐Enhanced Raman Scattering on a Capillarity‐Assisted Gold Nanoparticle Assembly

A facile method based on capillarity‐assisted assembly is used to fabricate high‐performance surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates employing clean Au nanoparticles (NPs). This method is better than micro‐channel way because the former may supply large‐area uniform assembly and overcome the uneven radial distribution. Such densely‐arranged assembly of Au NPs exhibits high reproducibility and large Raman enhancement factors of 3 × 10¹⁰, arising from strong electromagnetic field coupling induced by adjacent Au NPs. The spot‐to‐spot SERS signals show that the relative standard deviation (RSD) in the intensity of the main Raman vibration modes (1310, 1361, 1509, 1650 cm^?1) of Rhodamine 6G at a concentration of 1 × 10^?10 M are consistently less than 20%, demonstrating good spatial uniformity and reproducibility. The SERS signals of sudan dye at a 1 × 10^?8 M concentration also shows high reproducibility with a low RSD of <20%. Further, the assembly substrate is stable, retaining excellent uniformity and sensitivity after storage for months. This assembly strategy integrating the advantages of low‐cost production, high sensitivity, and reproducibility would significantly facilitate practical SERS detection.     

Broadband Photoresponse Enhancement of a High‐Performance t‐Se Microtube Photodetector by Plasmonic Metallic Nanoparticles

Broadband responsivity enhancement of single Se microtube (Se‐MT) photodetectors in the UV–visible region is presented in this research. The pristine Se‐MT photodetector demonstrates broadband photoresponse from 300 to 700 nm with peak responsivity of ≈19 mA W^?1 at 610 nm and fast speed (rise time 0.32 ms and fall time 23.02 ms). To further enhance the responsivity of the single Se‐MT photodetector, Au and Pt nanoparticles (NPs) are sputtered on these devices. In contrast to only enhancement of responsivity in UV region by Pt NPs, broadband responsivity enhancement (≈600% to ≈800%) of the Se‐MT photodetector is realized from 300 to 700 nm by tuning the size and density of Au NPs. The broadband responsivity enhancement phenomena are interpreted by both the surface modification and surface plasmon coupling. The experimental results of this work provide an additional opportunity for fabricating high‐performance UV–visible broadband photodetectors.     

Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance Enhanced Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution via Pt@Au NRs/C3N4 Nanotubes under Visible‐Light Irradiation

Au nanorods (NRs) decorated carbon nitride nanotubes (Au NRs/CNNTs) photocatalysts have been designed and prepared by impregnation–annealing approach. Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) peaks of Au NRs can be adjusted by changing the aspect ratios, and the light absorption range of Au NRs/CNNTs is extended to longer wavelength even near‐infrared light. Optimal composition of Pt@Au NR₇₆₉/CNNT₆₅₀ has been achieved by adjusting the LSPR peaks of Au NRs and further depositing Pt nanoparticles (NPs), and the photocatalytic H₂ evolution rate is 207.0 µmol h^?1 (20 mg catalyst). Preliminary LSPR enhancement photocatalytic mechanism is suggested. On one hand, LSPR of Au NRs is beneficial for visible‐light utilization. On the other hand, Pt NPs and Au NRs have a synergetic enhancement effect on photocatalytic H₂ evolution of CNNTs, in which the local electromagnetic field can improve the photogenerated carrier separation and direct electron transfer increases the hot electron concentration while Au NRs as the electron channel can well restrain charge recombination, finally Pt as co‐catalyst can boost H⁺ reduction rate. This work provides a new way to develop efficient photocatalysts for splitting water, which can simultaneously extend light absorption range and facilitate carrier generation, transportation and reduce carrier recombination.     

Organic Thermoelectric Materials Composed of Conducting Polymers and Metal Nanoparticles

Organic thermoelectric materials consisting of conducting polymers have received much attention recently because of their advantages such as wide availability of carbon, easy syntheses, easy processing, flexible devices, low cost, and low thermal conductivity. Nevertheless, their thermoelectric performance is still not good enough for practical use. To improve their performance, we present herein new kinds of hybrids of organic conducting polymers and metal nanoparticles (NPs). Since hybridization of polyaniline with poly-(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) (PVP)-protected Au NPs decreased the electrical conductivity of polyaniline films from 150?S?cm^?1 to 50?S?cm^?1, we carried out direct hybridization of polyaniline with Au NPs without PVP in this study. Direct hybridization improved the electrical conductivity to as high as 330?S?cm^?1 at 50°C while keeping the Seebeck coefficient at 15???V?m^?1?K^?2. Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) is another promising conducting polymer. Here, we used hybrid films of PEDOT with Au NPs protected by two kinds of ligands, terthiophenethiol and dodecanethiol (DT), revealing that the hybrid of PEDOT with DT-protected Au NPs showed better thermoelectric performance than pristine PEDOT without Au NPs. Addition of DT-protected Au NPs improved the electrical conductivity of the PEDOT films from 104?S?cm^?1 to 241?S?cm^?1 and the thermoelectric figure of merit from 0.62?×?10^?2 to 1.63?×?10^?2 at 50°C.     

A Generic Synthetic Approach to Large‐Scale Pristine‐Graphene/Metal‐Nanoparticles Hybrids

The homogeneous attachment of metal‐nanoparticles (metal‐NPs) on pristine‐graphene surface to construct pristine‐graphene/metal‐NPs hybrids is highly expected for application in many fields such as transparent electrodes and conductive composites. However, it remains a great challenge since the pristine‐graphene is highly hydrophobic. Here, an environmentally friendly generic synthetic approach to large‐scale pristine‐graphene/metal‐NPs hybrids is presented, by a combinatorial process of exfoliating expanded graphite in N‐methyl pyrrolidone via sonication and centrifugation to achieve the pristine‐graphene, and attaching pre‐synthesized metal‐NPs on the pristine‐graphene in ethanol via van der Waals interactions between the metal‐NPs and the pristine‐graphene. Nanoparticles of different metals (such as Ag, Au, and Pd) with various morphologies (such as sphere, cube, plate, multi‐angle, and spherical‐particle assembling) can be homogeneously attached on the defect‐free pristine‐graphene with controlled packing densities. Both the pristine‐graphene and the metal‐NPs preserve their original intrinsic structures. The as‐synthesized pristine‐graphene/Ag‐NPs hybrids show very high surface‐enhanced Raman scattering activity due to the combined effects of large surface area of the pristine‐graphene to adsorb more target molecules and the electromagnetic enhancement of the Ag‐NPs. This large‐scale synthesis of the pristine‐graphene/metal‐NPs hybrids with tunable shape and packing density of metal‐NPs opens up opportunities for fundamental research and potential applications ranging from devices to transparent electrodes and conductive composites.     

Functionalized Gold Nanoclusters Identify Highly Reactive Oxygen Species in Living Organisms

Surface engineering of nanomaterials allows fine tuning of their interactions with biological systems, and thus can benefit their applications in monitoring intracellular events. Herein, the facile synthesis of ligand‐functionalized gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) as intracellular probes targeting highly reactive oxygen species (hROS, such as ?OH, ClO^?, and ONOO^?) is demonstrated. Selected ligands such as quaternary ammonium and oligopeptides are utilized to modulate the surface chemistry of AuNCs. It is shown that AuNCs decorated with the cell‐penetrating oligoarginine peptide facilitate cellular uptake and intracellular imaging of hROS in living cells and the zebrafish, with high stability and selectivity.     

等离激元共振增强多晶硅薄膜太阳电池性能研究

采用磁控溅射方法,在多晶硅薄膜太阳电池表面沉积了不同粒径大小的Au纳米粒子,利用粒径大小可调控的Au纳米粒子的局域表面等离激元共振增强效应(LSPR),对入射光中的可见光区域实现“光俘获”;采用UV-vis吸收光谱对LSPR进行了研究,结果表明,LSPR能够有效拓展Au纳米粒子的光谱响应范围(400～800 nm),并且,随着Au纳米粒子粒径的增大,LSPR共振吸收峰呈现出明显“红移”;同时,通过SERS表征,证实LSPR能够有效增强Au纳米粒子周围的局域电磁场强度;最后,多晶硅太阳电池的J-V特性曲线表明,当Au纳米粒子溅射时间为50 s时,多晶硅太阳电池光电转换效率(η)最高为14.8％,比未修饰Au纳米粒子的电池η提高了42.3％.     

Adsorbing and Activating N2 on Heterogeneous Au–Fe3O4 Nanoparticles for N2 Fixation

Electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) is a promising approach to convert earth‐adundant N₂ into highly value‐added NH₃. Herein, it is demonstrated that the heterogeneous Au–Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles (NPs) can be adopted as highly efficient catalysts for NRR. Due to the synergistic effect of the strong N₂ fixation ability of Fe₃O₄ and the charge transfer capability of Au, the Au–Fe₃O₄ NPs show excellent performance with a high yield (NH₃: 21.42 µg mg_cat^?1 h^?1) and a favorable faradaic efficiency (NH₃: 10.54%) at ?0.2 V (vs reversible hydrogen electrode), both of which are much better than those of the Au NPs, Fe₃O₄ NPs, as well as core@shell Au@Fe₃O₄ NPs. It also exhibits good stability with largely maintained performance after six cycles. The N₂ temperature‐programmed desorption, surface valance band spectra, and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy collectively confirm that Au–Fe₃O₄ NPs have a strong adsorption capacity for the reaction species and suitable surface structure for electronic transfer. The theoretical calculations reveal that Fe provides the active site to fix N₂ into *N₂H while introducing Au optimizes the adsorption of NRR intermediates, making the NRR pathway on Au–Fe₃O₄ along an energetic‐favorable process and enhancing the NRR.     

In Situ Functionalization of Stable 3D Nest‐Like Networks in Confined Channels for Microfluidic Enrichment and Detection

Construction of stable 3D networks directly on the inner wall of microchannels is of great importance for various microfluidic applications. 3D nest‐like networks with large contact surface areas and excellent structural stability are fabricated via a facile, template‐free, continuous fluid construction process directly in confined microchannels. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) is chosen as a model albumin to test the adsorption of the network modified microchannel to the target albumin. The high structural stability of the networks is confirmed both by finite element analysis (FEA) simulation and recycling experiments for BSA enrichment. ZnS shells are fabricated based on the original 3D Zn(OH)F networks through in situ chemical conversion. The nest‐like networks decorated with Ag nanoparticles (NPs) serve as 3D substrates for surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), exhibiting excellent sensitivity for rapid detection of trace 10^?12 mol L^?1 (1 pM) BSA. Three different gap sizes between Ag NPs in the 3D geometry create a large number of SERS hot spots that contribute to the high sensitivity of the networks. Furthermore, a transparent, flexible, microfluidic device containing the 3D nest‐like structures exhibits excellent recyclability and flexible stability for trace BSA enrichment, showing potential for application in online SERS detection.     

Highly Conductive Ordered Mesoporous Carbon Based Electrodes Decorated by 3D Graphene and 1D Silver Nanowire for Flexible Supercapacitor

Ordered mesoporous carbon (OMC) is considered one of the most promising materials for electric double layer capacitors (EDLC) given its low‐cost, high specific surface area, and easily accessed ordered pore channels. However, pristine OMC electrode suffers from poor electrical conductivity and mechanical flexibility, whose specific capacitance and cycling stability is unsatisfactory in flexible devices. In this work, OMC is coated on the surface of highly conductive three‐dimensional graphene foam, serving as both charge collector and flexible substrate. Upon further decoration with silver nanowires (Ag NWs), the novel architecture of Ag NWs/3D‐graphene foam/OMC (Ag‐GF‐OMC) exhibits exceptional electrical conductivity (up to 762 S cm^?1) and mechanical robustness. The Ag‐GF‐OMC electrodes in flexible supercapacitors reach a specific capacitance as high as 213 F g^?1, a value five‐fold higher than that of the pristine OMC electrode. Moreover, these flexible electrodes also exhibit excellent long‐term stability with >90% capacitance retention over 10 000 cycles, as well as high energy and power density (4.5 Wh kg^?1 and 5040 W kg^?1, respectively). This study provides a new procedure to enhance the device performance of OMC based supercapacitors, which is a promising candidate for the application of flexible energy storage devices.     

High Strength Conductive Composites with Plasmonic Nanoparticles Aligned on Aramid Nanofibers

Rapidly evolving fields of biomedical, energy, and (opto)electronic devices bring forward the need for deformable conductors with constantly rising benchmarks for mechanical properties and electronic conductivity. The search for conductors with improved strength and strain have inspired the multiple studies of nanocomposites and amorphous metals. However, finding conductors that defy the boundaries of classical materials and exhibit simultaneously high strength, toughness, and fast charge transport while enabling their scalable production, remains a difficult materials engineering challenge. Here, composites made from aramid nanofibers (ANFs) and gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) that offer a new toolset for engineering high strength flexible conductors are described. ANFs are derived from Kevlar macrofibers and retain their strong mechanical properties and temperature resilience. Au NPs are infiltrated into a porous, free‐standing aramid matrix, becoming aligned on ANFs, which reduces the charge percolation threshold and facilitates charge transport. Further thermal annealing at 300 °C results in the Au‐ANF composites with an electrical conductivity of 1.25 × 10⁴ S cm^?1 combined with a tensile strength of 96 MPa, a Young's modulus of 5.29 GPa, and a toughness of 1.3 MJ m^?3. These parameters exceed those of most of the composite materials, and are comparable to those of amorphous metals but have no volume limitations. The plasmonic optical frequencies characteristic for constituent NPs are present in the composites with ANFs enabling plasmon‐based optoelectronic applications.     

Conjugated Polyelectrolyte Hybridized ZnO Nanoparticles as a Cathode Interfacial Layer for Efficient Polymer Light‐Emitting Diodes

Alkoxy side‐chain tethered polyfluorene conjugated polyelectrolyte (CPE), poly[(9,9‐bis((8‐(3‐methyl‐1‐imidazolium)octyl)‐2,7‐fluorene)‐alt‐(9,9‐bis(2‐(2‐methoxyethoxy)ethyl)‐fluorene)] dibromide (F8imFO₄), is utilized to obtain CPE‐hybridized ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) (CPE:ZnO hybrid NPs). The surface defects of ZnO NPs are passivated through coordination interactions with the oxygen atoms of alkoxy side‐chains and the bromide anions of ionic pendent groups from F8imFO₄ to the oxygen vacancies of ZnO NPs, and thereby the fluorescence quenching at the interface of yellow‐emitting poly(p‐phenylene vinylene)/CPE:ZnO hybrid NPs is significantly reduced at the CPE concentration of 4.5 wt%. Yellow‐emitting polymer light‐emitting diodes (PLEDs) with CPE(4.5 wt%):ZnO hybrid NPs as a cathode interfacial layer show the highest device efficiencies of 11.7 cd A^?1 at 5.2 V and 8.6 lm W^?1 at 3.8 V compared to the ZnO NP only (4.8 cd A^?1 at 7 V and 2.2 lm W^?1 at 6.6 V) or CPE only (7.3 cd A^?1 at 5.2 V and 4.9 lm W^?1 at 4.2 V) devices. The results suggest here that the CPE:ZnO hybrid NPs has a great potential to improve the device performance of organic electronics.     

Flexible Nonvolatile Transistor Memory Devices Based on One‐Dimensional Electrospun P3HT:Au Hybrid Nanofibers

A novel flexible nonvolatile flash transistor memory devices on polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) substrate using 1D electrospun nanofiber of poly(3‐hexylthiophene) (P3HT):gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) hybrid as the channel is presented. The Au NPs are functionalized with self‐assembled monolayer (SAM) of para‐substituted amino (Au‐NH₂), methyl (Au‐CH₃) or trifluoromethyl (Au‐CF₃) tail groups on the benzenethiol moiety. They are employed as localized charge traps across the nanofiber channel and program/erase the device towards low conductance (OFF)/high conductance (ON) states under the applied electrical field. With the low operation voltage of ±5 V, the hybrid nanofiber transistor memories exhibit a 3.5–10.6 V threshold voltage shifting and at least 10⁴ s data retention, with a minimum effect on ≈100 programmed/erased stress endurances. The dipoles of the SAM probably modify the work function of the Au NPs associated with the P3HT nanofiber channel and manifest the degree of negative threshold voltage shifting in an order of Au‐NH₂ > Au‐CH₃ > Au‐CF₃. The devices remain reliable and stable even under the bending conditions (radius: 5–30 mm) or 1000 repetitive bending cycles. The hybrid nanofiber can be used to obtain high‐performance digital nanoscale memories for flexible high density data storage devices.