The Effect of Gradual Fluorination on the Properties of FnZnPc Thin Films and FnZnPc/C60 Bilayer Photovoltaic Cells

Motivated by the possibility of modifying energy levels of a molecule without substantially changing its band gap, the impact of gradual fluorination on the optical and structural properties of zinc phthalocyanine (F_nZnPc) thin films and the electronic characteristics of F_nZnPc/C₆₀ (n = 0, 4, 8, 16) bilayer cells is investigated. UV–vis measurements reveal similar Q‐ and B‐band absorption of F_nZnPc thin films with n = 0, 4, 8, whereas for F₁₆ZnPc a different absorption pattern is detected. A correlation between structure and electronic transport is deduced. For F₄ZnPc/C₆₀ cells, the enhanced long range order supports fill factors of 55% and an increase of the short circuit current density by 18%, compared to ZnPc/C₆₀. As a parameter being sensitive to the organic/organic interface energetics, the open circuit voltage is analyzed. An enhancement of this quantity by 27% and 50% is detected for F₄ZnPc‐ and F₈ZnPc‐based devices, respectively, and is attributed to an increase of the quasi‐Fermi level splitting at the donor/acceptor interface. In contrast, for F₁₆ZnPc/C₆₀ a decrease of the open circuit voltage is observed. Complementary photoelectron spectroscopy, external quantum efficiency, and photoluminescence measurements reveal a different working principle, which is ascribed to the particular energy level alignment at the interface of the photoactive materials.     

Integrating Ecological,Social and Cultural Dimensions in the Implementation of the Landscape Convention

Implementation of the European Landscape Convention requires new tools that link ecological, social and cultural dimensions in practical planning. Here, we propose connectivity as a conceptual tool to include different dimensions into landscape and spatial planning. We present a short review of the connectivity concept in relation to ecological, social and cultural dimensions and illustrate it by examples from a real landscape planning case.     

An assessment of briefs used for designing healthcare environments: a survey in Sweden

The brief is a central document in decision-making during the early stages of the planning and construction (briefing/programming) of healthcare environments. Thus, the demand on the content and quality of these documents is high. The content and quality of initial briefs developed in Sweden were assessed to obtain an up-to-date picture of current practices of writing project statements in the early stages of designing healthcare environments. A new instrument called the Content and Quality of Brief Instrument (CQB-I) was used to study 29 initial briefs. In many cases, the documentation in the briefs was incomplete and the information did not adequately address users’ needs. In addition, the briefs often did not include any measurable outcomes or explicitly evidence-based information. These findings have implications for identifying areas for improvement in design teams’ documentation practices. Assessment can have a real impact on the quality of briefs and can raise awareness of the need to improve the briefing process itself. This is one of the first studies to assess the content and quality of briefs and it provides a starting point for both practitioners and future researchers to explore the role of briefs in briefing process quality improvement.     

Growth effects of regional policy in Germany: results from a spatially augmented multiplicative interaction model

Private investment subsidies are a key instrument for regional policy making to foster the economic development in lagging regions. In this paper, we analyze their effect on labor productivity growth for German labor market regions for the period from 1994 to 2006. A spatially augmented multiplicative interaction model based on neoclassical growth theory is used, which allows us to assess the marginal effect of regional policy proxied by overall payments of the main German regional development program on the region’s convergence speed conditional on its initial income position as well as policy-related spillovers from its spatial neighborhood. Our results show a statistically significant positive effect of regional policy on labor productivity growth, which increases, the further away the supported region is from its steady-state income level, and the more grants are provided to its geographical neighborhood. The latter effect highlights the existence of positive spatial spillover effects from regional policy in Germany, which enhance the attractiveness of the whole macro region for private sector investments. The additional growth stimulus provided by a 1 % increase in the region’s funding volume is thereby related to an up to 0.3 % gain in terms of labor productivity growth. For regions with the highest initial gaps to steady-state income in the sample distribution, the regional policy stimulus accounts for almost 8 % of the regions’ productivity growth performance.     

Functionalized galactoglucomannan‐based hydrogels for the removal of metal cations from aqueous solutions

New types of hydrogels derived from O‐acetyl galactoglucomannan (AcGGM) hemicellulose have been synthesized and characterized. The objective of this work was to analyze the sorption capacity (S) of three types of hydrogels containing AcGGM derivatives incorporated into the carboxylic groups of the polymer chain in the AA hydrogel, sulfonic groups in the APA hydrogel, and amide groups in the acrylamide (Aam) hydrogel. These hydrogels are capable of interacting and removing ions such as cadmium [Cd(II)], copper [Cu(II)], lead [Pb(II)], nickel [Ni(II)], and zinc [Zn(II)]. The results show that AA and Aam hydrogels had a lower sorption capacity of ions compared to the APA hydrogel, which had a high sorption capacity. The maximal sorption capacity was determined by the successive enrichment method, obtaining Pb(II) amount of 48.3 mg/g of AA hydrogel, 65.8 mg/g of APA hydrogel, and 40.8 mg/g of Aam hydrogel. Hence, Pb(II) ions are greatly retained by the three hydrogels. These results are promising for the development of new materials with potential applications in metal ion removal. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 44093.     

Polyurethanes based on 2,2‐Dinitropropane‐1,3‐diol and 2,2‐bis(azidomethyl)propane‐1,3‐diol as potential energetic binders

On the base of 2,2‐bis(azidomethyl)propane‐1,3‐diol (BAMP) and 2,2‐dinitropropane‐1,3‐diol (DNPD) four different polyurethanes were synthesized in a polyaddition reaction using hexamethylene diisocyanate (HMDI) and diisocyanato ethane (DIE). The obtained prepolymers were mainly characterized using vibrational spectroscopy (IR) and elemental analysis. For determination of low and high temperature behavior, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were used. Investigations concerning friction and impact sensitivities were carried out using a BAM drop hammer and friction tester. The energetic properties of the polymers were determined using bomb calorimetric measurements and calculated with the EXPLO5 V6.02 computer code. The obtained values were compared with the glycidyl azide polymer (GAP). The compounds turned out to be insensitive toward friction (>360 N) and less sensitive toward impact (40 J). The good physical stabilities, along with their sufficient thermal stability (170–210 °C) and moderate energetic properties renders these polymers into potential compounds for applications as binders in energetic formul;ations. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 43991.     

Ultra-trace Analysis of Enantiomeric Impurities in Proteinogenic N-Fmoc-Amino-acid Samples on Cinchona Alkaloid-based Chiral Stationary Phases

The enantiomeric purity of N_α-Fmoc-protected amino acids is crucial from the viewpoint of peptide synthesis; therefore, a sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic protocol was developed for the identification and quantification of enantiomeric impurities of commercially available N_α-Fmoc-protected amino acids on Cinchona alkaloid quinine- and quinidine-based weak anion exchanger-type chiral stationary phases. In the course of the evaluation of the chiral chromatographic method, the effect of the mobile phase composition, nature, and concentration of different additives were optimized. The specific phenomenon that quinine- and quinidine-based chiral stationary phases behave as pseudo-enantiomers permits that the sequence of elution of the enantiomers might be reversed by simple column switching. This is quite advantageous as regards the separation of the minor component in the presence of the major one. The method developed permits detection of less than 0.01 % enantiomeric impurity in the presence of the major enantiomer.