Transparent,Highly Stretchable,Rehealable, Sensing,and Fully Recyclable Ionic Conductors Fabricated by One‐Step Polymerization Based on a Small Biological Molecule

To date, various stretchable conductors have been fabricated, but simultaneous realization of the transparency, high stretchability, electrical conductivity, self‐healing capability, and sensing property through a simple, fast, cost‐efficient approach is still challenging. Here, α‐lipoic acid (LA), a naturally small biological molecule found in humans and animals, is used to fabricate transparent (>85%), electrical conductivity, highly stretchable (strain up to 1100%), and rehealable (mechanical healing efficiency of 86%, electrical healing efficiency of 96%) ionic conductor by solvent‐free one‐step polymerization. Furthermore, the ionic conductors with appealing sensitivity can be served as strain sensors to detect and distinguish various human activities. Notably, this ionic conductor can be fully recycled and reprocessed into new ionic conductors or adhesives by a direct heating process, which offers a promising prospect in great reduction of electronic wastes that have brought acute environmental pollution. In consideration of the extremely facile preparation process, biological available materials, satisfactory functionalities, and full recyclability, the emergence of LA‐based ionic conductors is believed to open up a new avenue for developing sustainable and wearable electronic devices in the future.     

A Facile Preparative Route of Nanoscale Perovskites over Mesoporous Metal Oxide Films and Their Applications to Photosensitizers and Light Emitters

By two‐step sequential Pb²⁺ adsorption and reaction with methylammonium‐iodide (MAI) or ‐bromide (MABr) at a low concentration level of 0.06–0.10 m over mesoporous TiO₂ or ZrO₂ film, a well‐defined nanoscale CH₃NH₃PbI₃ (MAPbI₃) photosensitizer or CH₃NH₃PbBr₃ (MAPbBr₃) light emitter could be prepared in situ, respectively in a reproducible and atom‐economical way. The as‐prepared nanoscale perovskites are compared with their thin film counterparts in terms of light absorption/emission, crystallinity, surface morphology, and energy‐conversion efficiency. The nanoscale perovskite‐decorated films display more transparency than the bulky film due to the much lower amount deposited, while blueshifted and overwhelmingly brighter photoluminescence is observed in the “nano” relative to the “bulk” due to quantum size confinement. Transmission electron microscopy images also clearly show that a few nanometer‐sized perovskite dots are deposited homogeneously over the surface of TiO₂‐ or ZrO₂‐particulate film in the course of the current preparative route. When the nano‐MAPbI₃ is tested as a photosensitizer in a solid‐state dye‐sensitized solar cell configuration with a very thin ( ≈ 650 nm) TiO₂ mesoporous film, it has a promising initial power conversion efficiency of 6.23%, which outperformed the result of 2.28% from a typical organic molecular dye coded as MK‐2.     

Characterizing multi‐hop localization for Internet of things

Deployments over large geographical areas in the Internet of Things (IoT) pose a major challenge for single‐hop localization techniques, giving rise to applications of multi‐hop localizations. And while many proposals have been made on implementations for multi‐hop localization, a close understanding of its characteristics is yet to be established. Such an understanding is necessary, and is inevitable in extending the reliability of location based services in IoT. In this paper, we study the characteristics of multi‐hop localization and propose a new solution to enhance the performance of multi‐hop localization techniques. We first examine popular assumptions made in simulating multi‐hop localization techniques, and offer rectifications facilitating more realistic simulation models. We identify the introduced errors to follow the Gaussian distribution, and the estimated distance follows the Rayleigh distribution. We next use our simulation model to characterize the effect of the number of hops on localization in both dense and sparse deployments. We find that, contrary to common belief, it is better to use long hops in sparse deployments, while short hops are better in dense deployments – despite the traffic overhead. Finally, we propose a new solution that decreases and manages the overhead generated during the localization process. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fluorinated Polyimide as a Novel High‐Voltage Binder for High‐Capacity Cathode of Lithium‐Ion Batteries

An increase in the energy density of lithium‐ion batteries has long been a competitive advantage for advanced wireless devices and long‐driving electric vehicles. Li‐rich layered oxide, xLi₂MnO₃?(1?x)LiMn_1?y?zNi_yCo_zO₂, is a promising high‐capacity cathode material for high‐energy batteries, whose capacity increases by increasing charge voltage to above 4.6 V versus Li. Li‐rich layered oxide cathode however suffers from a rapid capacity fade during the high‐voltage cycling because of instable cathode–electrolyte interface, and the occurrence of metal dissolution, particle cracking, and structural degradation, particularly, at elevated temperatures. Herein, this study reports the development of fluorinated polyimide as a novel high‐voltage binder, which mitigates the cathode degradation problems through superior binding ability to conventional polyvinylidenefluoride binder and the formation of robust surface structure at the cathode. A full‐cell consisting of fluorinated polyimide binder‐assisted Li‐rich layered oxide cathode and conventional electrolyte without any electrolyte additive exhibits significantly improved capacity retention to 89% at the 100th cycle and discharge capacity to 223–198 mA h g^?1 even under the harsh condition of 55 °C and high charge voltage of 4.7 V, in contrast to a rapid performance fade of the cathode coated with polyvinylidenefluoride binder.     

Metal–Organic Framework Derived Narrow Bandgap Cobalt Carbide Sensitized Titanium Dioxide Nanocage for Superior Photo‐Electrochemical Water Oxidation Performance

Despite recent progress in photo‐electrochemical (PEC) water oxidation systems for TiO₂‐based photoanodes, PEC performance improvement is still seriously hampered due to poor carrier transport efficiency and sluggish surface water oxidation kinetics of pristine TiO₂. Herein, for the first time a brand new metal–organic framework (MOF)‐derived Co₃C nanosheet with narrow bandgap energy is demonstrated, to effectively sensitize TiO₂ hollow cages as a heterostructure photoanode for PEC water oxidation. It is found that MOF‐derived Co₃C nanosheet with narrow bandgap characteristic can simultaneously accelerate the surface water oxidation kinetics and extend the light harvesting range of pristine TiO₂. Meanwhile, a uniquely matched type‐II heterojunction constructed between MOF‐derived Co₃C and TiO₂ results in an evidently spontaneous e^?/h⁺ separation. MOF‐derived Co₃C/TiO₂ heterostructure photoanodes bring about drastically improved PEC water oxidation performance. Specifically, MOF‐derived Co₃C‐3/TiO₂ photoanode with an optimized content of Co₃C achieves the highest photocurrent density and charge separation efficiency of 2.6 mA cm^?2 and 92.6% at 1.23 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode, corresponding to 201% and 152% improvement compared with pristine TiO₂ nanocages. The ingeniously prepared MOF‐derived Co₃C carbide with narrow bandgap energy as a cocatalyst paves new way to construct potentially high performance solar‐energy conversion system.     

Anodized Aluminum Oxide/Polydimethylsiloxane Hybrid Mold for Roll‐to‐Roll Nanoimprinting

Two types (hard and soft) of the molds are widely used in nanoimprint lithography for a high throughput over a large area, and high‐resolution parallel patterning. Although hard molds have proven excellent resolutions and can be used at high temperatures, cracks often occur in the mold in addition to the requirement of high imprinting pressure. On the other hand, though soft molds can operate at lower pressures, they give poor pattern resolution. Here, a novel hybrid mold of anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) template attached to a flexible polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) plate is introduced. Due to the flexible nature of PDMS, various polymer nanostructures are obtained on flat and curved substrates without crack formation on the AAO mold surface. Furthermore, the hybrid mold is successfully used for roll‐to‐roll imprinting for the fabrication of high density array of various shaped polymeric nanostructures over a large area.     

Polydopamine Encapsulation of Fluorescent Nanodiamonds for Biomedical Applications

Fluorescent nanodiamonds (FNDs) are promising bioimaging probes compared with other fluorescent nanomaterials such as quantum dots, dye‐doped nanoparticles, and metallic nanoclusters, due to their remarkable optical properties and excellent biocompatibility. Nevertheless, they are prone to aggregation in physiological salt solutions, and modifying their surface to conjugate biologically active agents remains challenging. Here, inspired by the adhesive protein of marine mussels, encapsulation of FNDs within a polydopamine (PDA) shell is demonstrated. These PDA surfaces are readily modified via Michael addition or Schiff base reactions with molecules presenting thiol or nitrogen derivatives. Modification of PDA shells by thiol terminated poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG‐SH) molecules to enhance colloidal stability and biocompatibility of FNDs is described. Their use as fluorescent probes for cell imaging is demonstrated; it is found that PEGylated FNDs are taken up by HeLa cells and mouse bone marrow‐derived dendritic cells and exhibit reduced nonspecific membrane adhesion. Furthermore, functionalization with biotin‐PEG‐SH is demonstrated and long‐term high‐resolution single‐molecule fluorescence based tracking measurements of FNDs tethered via streptavidin to individual biotinylated DNA molecules are performed. This robust polydopamine encapsulation and functionalization strategy presents a facile route to develop FNDs as multifunctional labels, drug delivery vehicles, and targeting agents for biomedical applications.     

Designing a Stable Cathode with Multiple Layers to Improve the Operational Lifetime of Polymer Light‐Emitting Diodes

The short device lifetime of blue polymer light‐emitting diodes (PLEDs) is still a bottleneck for commercialization of self‐emissive full‐color displays. Since the cathode in the device has a dominant influence on the device lifetime, a systematic design of the cathode structure is necessary. The operational lifetime of blue PLEDs can be greatly improved by introducing a three‐layer (BaF₂/Ca/Al) cathode compared with conventional two‐layer cathodes (BaF₂/Al and Ba/Al). Therefore, the roles of the BaF₂ and Ca layers in terms of electron injection, luminous efficiency, and device lifetime are here investigated. For efficient electron injection, the BaF₂ layer should be deposited to the thickness of at least one monolayer (～3 nm). However, it is found that the device lifetime does not show a strong relation with the electron injection or luminous efficiency. In order to prolong the device lifetime, sufficient reaction between BaF₂ and the overlying Ca layer should take place during the deposition where the thickness of each layer is around that of a monolayer.     

Charge Generation and Photovoltaic Operation of Solid‐State Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells Incorporating a High Extinction Coefficient Indolene‐Based Sensitizer

An investigation of the function of an indolene‐based organic dye, termed D149, incorporated in to solid‐state dye‐sensitized solar cells using 2,2′,7,7′‐tetrakis(N,N‐di‐p‐methoxypheny‐amine)‐9,9′‐spirobifluorene (spiro‐OMeTAD) as the hole transport material is reported. Solar cell performance characteristics are unprecedented under low light levels, with the solar cells delivering up to 70% incident photon‐to‐current efficiency (IPCE) and over 6% power conversion efficiency, as measured under simulated air mass (AM) 1.5 sun light at 1 and 10 mW cm^?2. However, a considerable nonlinearity in the photocurrent as intensities approach “full sun” conditions is observed and the devices deliver up to 4.2% power conversion efficiency under simulated sun light of 100 mW cm^?2. The influence of dye‐loading upon solar cell operation is investigated and the thin films are probed via photoinduced absorption (PIA) spectroscopy, time‐correlated single‐photon counting (TCSPC), and photoluminescence quantum efficiency (PLQE) measurements in order to deduce the cause for the non ideal solar cell performance. The data suggest that electron transfer from the photoexcited sensitizer into the TiO₂ is only between 10 to 50% efficient and that ionization of the photo excited dye via hole transfer directly to spiro‐OMeTAD dominates the charge generation process. A persistent dye bleaching signal is also observed, and assigned to a remarkably high density of electrons “trapped” within the dye phase, equivalent to 1.8 × 10¹⁷ cm^?3 under full sun illumination. it is believed that this localized space charge build‐up upon the sensitizer is responsible for the non‐linearity of photocurrent with intensity and nonoptimum solar cell performance under full sun conditions.