Polymer electrolytes integrated with ionic liquids for future electrochemical devices

The global energy crisis and an increase in environmental pollution in the recent years have drawn the attention of the scientific community towards the development of efficient electrochemical devices. Polymers containing charged species have the potential to serve as electrolytes in next‐generation devices and achieving high ion transport properties in these electrolytes is the key to improving their efficiency. In this article, we explore ways to improve the ion transport properties of solid polymer electrolytes by focusing on the use of ionic liquids (ILs). The application of IL‐incorporated polymer electrolytes in lithium batteries, high temperature fuel cells, and electro‐active actuators is summarized. For each system, the current level of understanding of the diverse factors affecting the transport properties of polymer electrolytes integrated with ILs is presented, in addition to the challenges encountered and strategies toward obtaining significantly improved device performances. The creation of self‐assembled morphologies in IL‐containing polymer electrolytes by the use of block copolymers is particularly highlighted as a novel prospective technique geared towards obtaining next‐generation electrochemical devices with enhanced performances. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013     

High-speed atomic force microscope lithography using a piezo tube scanner driven by a sinusoidal waveform

Improving the throughput of atomic force microscope (AFM) lithography is an important success factor for employing it in nanolithography applications. The conventional motion of the AFM tube scanner is usually driven by triangular-shaped signals, but it is limited in speed due to mechanical instability of the scanner at the turning points. Here, we show that high-speed lithography is achievable using not only a piezo tube driven by a sinusoidal waveform signal but also highly sensitive noble organic resists including a photo acid generator. Cross-linked polymer nanostructures applying sinusoidal waveform driving have also shown improvements in the linearity and uniformity of line patterns.     

Scalable quantum computing model in the circuit-QED lattice with circulator function

We propose a model for a scalable quantum computing in the circuit quantum electrodynamics architecture. In the Kagome lattice of qubits, three qubits are connected to each other through a superconducting three-junction flux qubit at the vertices of the lattice. By controlling one of the three-Josephson-junction energies of the intervening flux qubit, we can achieve the circulator function that couples arbitrary pair of two qubits among three. This selective coupling enables the interaction between two nearest neighbor qubits in the Kagome lattice, and further the two-qubit gate operation between any pair of qubits in the whole lattice by performing consecutive nearest neighbor two-qubit gates.     

An Intrinsically Stretchable High‐Performance Polymer Semiconductor with Low Crystallinity

For wearable and implantable electronics applications, developing intrinsically stretchable polymer semiconductor is advantageous, especially in the manufacturing of large‐area and high‐density devices. A major challenge is to simultaneously achieve good electrical and mechanical properties for these semiconductor devices. While crystalline domains are generally needed to achieve high mobility, amorphous domains are necessary to impart stretchability. Recent progresses in the design of high‐performance donor–acceptor polymers that exhibit low degrees of energetic disorder, while having a high fraction of amorphous domains, appear promising for polymer semiconductors. Here, a low crystalline, i.e., near‐amorphous, indacenodithiophene‐co‐benzothiadiazole (IDTBT) polymer and a semicrystalline thieno[3,2‐b]thiophene‐diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPPTT) are compared, for mechanical properties and electrical performance under strain. It is observed that IDTBT is able to achieve both a high modulus and high fracture strain, and to preserve electrical functionality under high strain. Next, fully stretchable transistors are fabricated using the IDTBT polymer and observed mobility ≈0.6 cm² V^?1 s^?1 at 100% strain along stretching direction. In addition, the morphological evolution of the stretched IDTBT films is investigated by polarized UV–vis and grazing‐incidence X‐ray diffraction to elucidate the molecular origins of high ductility. In summary, the near‐amorphous IDTBT polymer signifies a promising direction regarding molecular design principles toward intrinsically stretchable high‐performance polymer semiconductor.     

Tough and Water‐Insensitive Self‐Healing Elastomer for Robust Electronic Skin

An electronic (e‐) skin is expected to experience significant wear and tear over time. Therefore, self‐healing stretchable materials that are simultaneously soft and with high fracture energy, that is high tolerance of damage or small cracks without propagating, are essential requirements for the realization of robust e‐skin. However, previously reported elastomers and especially self‐healing polymers are mostly viscoelastic and lack high mechanical toughness. Here, a new class of polymeric material crosslinked through rationally designed multistrength hydrogen bonding interactions is reported. The resultant supramolecular network in polymer film realizes exceptional mechanical properties such as notch‐insensitive high stretchability (1200%), high toughness of 12 000 J m^?2, and autonomous self‐healing even in artificial sweat. The tough self‐healing materials enable the wafer‐scale fabrication of robust and stretchable self‐healing e‐skin devices, which will provide new directions for future soft robotics and skin prosthetics.