Breaking the Limits of Ionic Liquid‐Based Supercapacitors: Mesoporous Carbon Electrodes Functionalized with Manganese Oxide Nanosplotches for Dense,Stable, and Wide‐Temperature Energy Storage

Manganese oxide (MnO₂) nanosplotches (NSs) are deposited on N‐ and S‐doped ordered mesoporous carbon (N,S‐CMK‐3) essentially blocking microporosity. The obtained N,S‐CMK‐3/MnO₂ composite materials are assembled into ionic liquid (IL)‐based symmetric supercapacitors, which exhibit a high specific capacitance of 200 F g^?1 (0–3.5 V) at a scan rate of 2 mV s^?1, and good rate stability with 55.5% capacitance retention at a scan rate of 100 mV s^?1. The device can operate in a wide temperature range (?20 to 60 °C), and high cycling stability of N,S‐CMK‐3/MnO₂ composite electrode is demonstrated. Lower energy of ?3.56 eV can be achieved for the adsorption of 1‐ethyl‐3‐methylimidazolium⁺ (EMIM⁺) cation on the edge between MnO₂ NSs and N,S‐CMK‐3 than on the plane of MnO₂ NS (?3.04 eV), both being more preferred than the surface of pristine N,S‐CMK‐3 (?1.52 eV). This strengthening of the ion adsorption at the three‐phase boundary between N,S‐CMK‐3, MnO₂, and IL leads to enhancement of the specific capacity as compared to nondoped or MnO₂‐free reference materials. Supercapacitors based on such composite electrodes show significantly enhanced areal capacity pointing to energy storage in the mesopores rather than in the electrochemical surface layer, demonstrating a new energy storage mechanism in ILs.     

处理器性能推动车载娱乐系统的发展

以前,汽车还只是一种普通而简单的运输工具.随着电子时代的来临,从防刹车死锁到汽车仪表板,电子和半导体器件在汽车领域的应用变得日益广泛.现在,应用在汽车中的电子娱乐设备将更直接的出现在你面前,比如一个后排座的DVD播放器(其实可以把一个车载收音机也称作娱乐设备,但是它不能像DVD播放器那样令人兴奋).实际上,人们已经有能力在汽车中集成具有无线连接能力的DVD播放器、移动电话、全球定位系统、MP3播放器、卫星电台和因特网浏览器,所有这些都可以通过语音识别和中央控制系统来操控.     

Quadrature ���� Modulators for Cognitive Radio��I/Q Imbalance Analysis and Complex Multiband Principle

This article discusses the applicability of quadrature ΣΔ modulator (QΣΔM) based analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion in cognitive radio (CR) receivers. First, unavoidable in-phase/quadrature (I/Q) mismatch effects, limiting the dynamic range, are analyzed in closed-form in the case of a first-order modulator. In addition, using the derived analytical converter model, it is shown that notching the signal transfer function (STF) of the modulator at the mirror frequencies of the desired signals will effectively cancel the I/Q imbalance induced mirror-frequency interference in case of the modulator feedback mismatch. In practice, such STF design is easy to implement within the existing converter circuitry, as will be demonstrated in this article. The latter part of the article proposes a novel complex multiband QΣΔM scheme, particularly aimed for the CR receivers. This multiband scheme allows parallel reception of scattered frequency chunks in the CR context and is stemming from the additional degrees of freedom in noise transfer function (NTF) design, provided by the QΣΔM principle. Here multiple noise shaping notches on distinct frequencies are effectively realized through proper design of complex NTF. The modulator structure also allows flexible reconfigurability of the notches with straightforward parameterization of the modulator transfer functions. When combined with the above mirror-frequency rejecting STF design, the concept is demonstrated and proved effective and robust against I/Q imbalances using practical radio signal simulations in realistic received signal conditions.     

Nongeminate and Geminate Recombination in PTB7:PCBM Solar Cells

A combination of transient photovoltage (TPV), voltage dependent charge extraction (CE), and time delayed collection field (TDCF) measurements is applied to poly[[4,8‐bis[(2‐ethylhexyl)oxy]benzo[1,2‐b:4,5‐b']dithiophene‐2,6‐diyl] [3‐fluoro‐2‐[(2‐ethylhexyl)carbonyl] thieno[3,4‐b]thiophenediyl]] (PTB7):[6,6]‐phenyl‐C71‐butyric acid (PC₇₁BM) bulk heterojunction solar cells to analyze the limitations of photovoltaic performance. Devices are processed from pure chlorobenzene (CB) solution and a subset is optimized with 1,8‐diiodooctane (DIO) as co‐solvent. The dramatic changes in device performance are discussed with respect to the dominating loss processes. While in the devices processed from CB solution severe geminate and nongeminate recombination is observed, the use of DIO facilitates efficient polaron pair dissociation and minimizes geminate recombination. Thus, from the determined charge carrier decay rate under open circuit conditions and the voltage dependent charge carrier densities n(V), the nongeminate loss current J_loss of the samples with DIO alone enables the reconstruction of the current/voltage (j/V) characteristics across the whole operational voltage range. Geminate and nongeminate losses are considered to describe the j/V response of cells prepared without additive, but lead to a clearly overestimated device performance. The deviation between measured and reconstructed j/V characteristics is attributed to trapped charges in isolated domains of pure fullerene phases.     

Fast Switching ITO Free Electrochromic Devices

Indium‐doped tin oxide free electrochromic devices are prepared by coating electrochromic polymers onto polyethylene terephthalate substrates encompassing two different silver grids as electrodes. One design comprises a flexoprinted highly conductive silver grid electrode, yielding electrochromic devices with a response time of 2 s for an optical contrast of 27%. The other design utilizes an embedded silver grid electrode whereupon response times of 0.5 s for a 30% optical contrast are realized when oxidizing the device. A commercially available conductive poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(4‐styrenesulfonate acid) formulation (PEDOT:PSS) is coated onto the silver grids as a charge balancing polymer, and is in this setting found to be superior to a polypyrrole previously employed in electrochromic devices. In addition, the PEDOT:PSS layer increases the conductivity in the hexagonal grid structure.     

A Bio-Conjugated Fullerene as a Subcellular-Targeted and Multifaceted Phototheranostic Agent

Fullerenes are candidates for theranostic applications because of their high photodynamic activity and intrinsic multimodal imaging contrast. However, fullerenes suffer from low solubility in aqueous media, poor biocompatibility, cell toxicity, and a tendency to aggregate. C₇₀@lysozyme is introduced herein as a novel bioconjugate that is harmless to a cellular environment, yet is also photoactive and has excellent optical and optoacoustic contrast for tracking cellular uptake and intracellular localization. The formation, water-solubility, photoactivity, and unperturbed structure of C₇₀@lysozyme are confirmed using UV-visible and 2D ¹H, ¹⁵N NMR spectroscopy. The excellent imaging contrast of C₇₀@lysozyme in optoacoustic and third harmonic generation microscopy is exploited to monitor its uptake in HeLa cells and lysosomal trafficking. Last, the photoactivity of C₇₀@lysozyme and its ability to initiate cell death by means of singlet oxygen (¹O₂) production upon exposure to low levels of white light irradiation is demonstrated. This study introduces C₇₀@lysozyme and other fullerene-protein conjugates as potential candidates for theranostic applications.     

Ultrawideband Radar Measurements of Thickness of Snow Over Sea Ice

An accurate knowledge of snow thickness and its variability over sea ice is crucial in determining the overall polar heat and freshwater budget, which influences the global climate. Recently, algorithms have been developed to extract snow thicknesses from satellite passive microwave data. However, validation of these data over the large footprint of the passive microwave sensor has been a challenge. The only method used thus far has been with meter sticks during ship cruises. To address this problem, we developed an ultrawideband frequency-modulated continuous-wave radar to measure the snow thickness over sea ice. We synthesized a very linear chirp signal by using a phase-locked loop with a digitally generated chirp signal as a reference to obtain a fine-range resolution. The radar operates over the frequency range from 2-8 GHz. We made snow-thickness measurements over the Antarctic sea ice by operating the radar from a sled in September and October 2003. We performed radar measurements over 11 stations with varying snow thicknesses between 4 and 85 cm. We observed an excellent agreement between radar estimates of snow thickness with physical measurements, achieving a correlation coefficient of 0.95 and a vertical resolution of about 3 cm. Comparison of simulated radar waveforms using a simple transmission line model with the measurements confirms our expectations that echoes from snow-covered sea ice are dominated by reflections from air-snow and snow-ice interfaces.     

Charge Transfer Excitons in Polymer/Fullerene Blends: The Role of Morphology and Polymer Chain Conformation

Here, it is shown how carrier recombination through charge transfer excitons between conjugated polymers and fullerene molecules is mainly controlled by the intrachain conformation of the polymer, and to a limited extent by the mesoscopic morphology of the blend. This experimental result is obtained by combining near‐infrared photoluminescence spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy, which are sensitive to charge transfer exciton emission and morphology, respectively. The photoluminescence intensity of the charge transfer exciton is correlated to the degree of intrachain order of the polymer, highlighting an important aspect for understanding and limiting carrier recombination in organic photovoltaics.     

X-ray based tools for the investigation of buried interfaces in organic electronic devices

X-ray reflectivity combined with grazing incidence diffraction is a valuable tool for investigating organic multilayer structures that can be used in devices. We focus on a bilayer stack consisting of two materials (poly-(3-hexylthiophene)) (P3HT) and poly-(4-styrenesulfonic acid) (PSSA) spin cast from orthogonal solvents (water in the case of PSSA and chloroform or toluene for P3HT). X-ray reflectivity is used to determine the thickness of all layers as well as the roughness of the organic–organic hetero-interface and the P3HT surface. The surface roughness is found to be consistent with the results of atomic force microscopy measurements. For the roughness of P3HT/PSSA interface, we observe a strong dependence on the solvent used for P3HT deposition. The solvent also strongly impacts the texturing of the P3HT crystallites as revealed by grazing incidence diffraction. When applying the various PSSA/P3HT multilayers in organic thin-film transistors, we find an excellent correlation between the determined interface morphology, structure and the device performance.