Designing solution-processable air-stable liquid crystalline crosslinkable semiconductors

Organic electronics technology, in which at least the semiconducting component of the integrated circuit is an organic material, offers the potential for fabrication of electronic products by low-cost printing technologies, such as ink jet, gravure offset lithography and flexography. The products will typically be of lower performance than those using the present state of the art single crystal or polysilicon transistors, but comparable to amorphous silicon. A range of prototypes are under development, including rollable electrophoretic displays, active matrix liquid crystal (LC) displays, flexible organic light emitting diode displays, low frequency radio frequency identification tag and other low performance electronics. Organic semiconductors that offer both electrical performance and stability with respect to storage and operation under ambient conditions are required. This work describes the development of reactive mesogen semiconductors, which form large crosslinked LC domains on polymerization within mesophases. These crosslinked domains offer mechanical stability and are inert to solvent exposure in further processing steps. Reactive mesogens containing conjugated aromatic cores, designed to facilitate charge transport and provide good oxidative stability, were prepared and their liquid crystalline properties evaluated. The organization and alignment of the mesogens, both before and after crosslinking, were probed by grazing incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering of thin films. Both time-of-flight and field effect transistor devices were prepared and their electrical characterization reported.     

Structural characterization of drug-like compounds by ion mobility mass spectrometry: comparison of theoretical and experimentally derived nitrogen collision cross sections

We present the use of drug-like molecules as a traveling wave (T-wave) ion mobility (IM) calibration sample set, covering the m/z range of 122.1-609.3, the nitrogen collision cross-section (Ω(N(2))) range of 124.5-254.3 ?(2) and the helium collision cross-section (Ω(He)) range of 63.0-178.8 ?(2). Absolute Ω(N(2)) and Ω(He) values for the drug-like calibrants and two diastereomers were measured using a drift-tube instrument with radio frequency (RF) ion confinement. T-wave drift-times for the protonated diastereomers betamethasone and dexamethasone are reproducibly different. Calibration of these drift-times yields T-wave Ω(N(2)) values of 189.4 and 190.4 ?(2), respectively. These results demonstrate the ability of T-wave IM spectrometry to differentiate diastereomers differing in Ω(N(2)) value by only 1 ?(2), even though the resolution of these IM experiments were ～40 (Ω/ΔΩ). Demonstrated through density functional theory optimized geometries and ionic electrostatic surface potential analysis, the small but measurable mobility difference between the two diastereomers is mainly due to short-range van der Waals interactions with the neutral buffer gas and not long-range charge-induced dipole interactions. The experimental RF-confining drift-tube and T-wave Ω(N(2)) values were also evaluated using a nitrogen based trajectory method, optimized for T-wave operating temperature and pressures, incorporating additional scaling factors to the Lennard-Jones potentials. Experimental Ω(He) values were also compared to the original and optimized helium based trajectory methods.     

The cost of domestic fuel cell micro-CHP systems

Numerous academic and industrial estimates place the cost of future mass-produced small stationary fuel cell systems at around $1000 per kW, which compares well with targets set by agencies such as the US Department of Energy. Actual sale prices do not fit so neatly with these targets, and are currently 25–50 times higher even though mass production began three years ago.