SEARCH · Engineering Papers
Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Polymeric dopant strategy distinctly suppressed the molecular aggregations and surface dewetting of the NPB small molecule hole transport layer in perovskite photovoltaics.
We optimized the domain size and phase purity of J51:N2200 blends by changing solvent to promote solution ordered aggregation and the confinement of acceptor N2200 to J51 during phase separation.
A critical issue in developing high-performance organic light-emitting transistors (OLETs) is to balance the trade-off between charge transport and light emission in a semiconducting material. Although traditional materials for organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) or organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) have shown modest performance in OLET devices, design strategies towards high-performance OLET materials and the crucial structure–performance relationship remain unclear. Our research effort in developing cross-conjugated weak acceptor-weak donor copolymers for luminescent properties lead us to an unintentional discovery that these copolymers form coiled foldamers with intramolecular H-aggregation, leading to their exceptional OLET properties. An impressive external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 6.9% in solution-processed multi-layer OLET devices was achieved.
The strategy of aggregation-induced emission enhancement (AIEE) has been proven to be efficient in wide areas and has recently been adopted in the field of metal nanoclusters. Furthermore, the relationship between atomically precise clusters and AIEE is still unclear. Herein, we have successfully obtained two few-atom heterometallic gold–silver hepta-/decanuclear clusters, denoted Au 6 Ag and Au 9 Ag, and determined their structures by X-ray diffraction and mass spectrometry. The nature of the AuI…AgI interactions thereof is demonstrated through energy decomposition analysis to be far-beyond typical closed-shell metal–metal interaction dominated by dispersion interaction. Furthermore, a positive correlation has been established between the particle size of the nanoaggregates and the photoluminescence quantum yield for Au 6 Ag, manifesting AIEE control upon varying the stoichiometric ratio of Au : Ag in atomically-precise clusters.
Control H- and J-aggregation of non-fullerene acceptor and research their different influence on photovoltaic performance.
The precipitation of zeolite nanoparticles involves the initial formation of metastable precursors, such as amorphous entities, that crystallize through non-classical pathways. Here, using reactive force field-based simulations, we reveal how aluminosilicate oligomers grow concomitantly to the decondensation of silicate entities during the initial step of the reaction. Aluminate clusters first form in the solution, thus violating the Loewenstein rule in the first instant of the reaction, which is then followed by their connection with silicate oligomers at the terminal silanol groups before reorganization to finally diffuse within the silicate oligomers to form stable amorphous aluminosilicate nanoparticles that do obey the Loewenstein rule. Our results clearly indicate that aluminate does not serve as the nucleation center for the growth of aluminosilicates in a nucleation-like process but rather proceeds via an aggregation process. Furthermore, the coexistence of aluminosilicate oligomers and small silicate entities induces a phase separation that promotes the precipitation of zeolites with aging.
Our work presents a strategy for the development of eco-compatible highly efficient organic solar cells with sufficient solubility and optimized aggregation by introducing an ester-substituted thiophene.
Morphological optimization has proved to be one crucial factor contributing to the 19% efficiency of Y6-based organic solar cells (OSCs). Although the relationship between component miscibility and film morphology has been established, it has not been clarified how the film formation processes proceed, especially for methods compatible with large-area fabrication, i.e. slot-die coating, which restricts the further optimization of the morphology. Herein, we comprehensively investigate the effect of miscibility and the film-formation kinetic process on film morphology during processing with different solvents. A highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 17.38% can be obtained in a D18:Y6 device processed with slot-die coating in an open-air environment. However, due to their relatively poor miscibility, incorporating a trace amount of chlorobenzene (CB) into CF can sufficiently promote Y6 aggregation, leading to increased phase separation and thus the average PCE drops to 15.16%. In contrast, a PM6:Y6 blend shows insensitive changes in the kinetic process as well as the final morphology, and thus in the comparable PCEs when cast with different solvents, which is ascribed to their relatively good miscibility. As a result, this work provides scientific guidelines for device optimization by combining the intermediate gap from miscibility to kinetic process and their impact on final morphology.
An approach to slow down the polymer solar cell ink aging by employing an additive (i.e., PCBM variants) was developed. It is inferred that PCBMs in the ink act as a co-solvent and slow down the polymer pre-aggregation.
The aggregation and onset of gelation of PEGylated gold nanoparticles dispersed in a glycerol–water mixture is studied by small-angle X-ray scattering and X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy.
Effect of Si doping on low-temperature grown GaCrN films has been investigated by positron annihilation spectroscopy. In undoped GaCrN films grown at 540 Degree-Sign C, vacancy clusters with sizes of V{sub 6}-V{sub 12} were found to be responsible for positron trapping. Such vacancy clusters were considerably suppressed in Si-doped GaCrN films grown at 540 Degree-Sign C, although divacancies (V{sub Ga}V{sub N}) still survived. The Si-doping may be one possible way to suppress vacancy aggregation during low temperature crystal growth, and the further methods to remove divacancies are required.
A general theory of electronic excitations in aggregates of molecules coupled to intramolecular vibrations and the harmonic environment is developed for simulation of the third-order nonlinear spectroscopy signals. It is applied in studies of the time-resolved two-dimensional coherent spectra of four characteristic model systems: weakly/strongly vibronically coupled molecular dimers interacting with high/low frequency intramolecular vibrations. The results allow us to (i) classify and define the typical spectroscopic features of vibronically coupled molecules, (ii) separate the cases, when the long-lived quantum coherences due to vibrational lifetime borrowing should be expected, (iii) define when the complete exciton–vibrational mixing occurs, and (iv) when separation of excitonic and vibrational coherences is possible.
We found that electron-beam irradiation of sumanene aggregates strongly enhanced their transformation into a graphitic carbon cage, having a diameter of about 20 nm. The threshold electron dose was about 32 mC/cm{sup 2} at 200 keV, but the transformation is still induced at 20 keV. The transformation sequence suggested that the cage was constructed accompanied by the dynamical movement of the transiently linked sumanene molecules in order to pile up inside the shell. Thus, bond excitation in the sumanene molecules rather than a knock-on of carbon atoms seems to be the main cause of the cage transformation.
The time-dependent wavepacket diffusive method [X. Zhong and Y. Zhao, J. Chem. Phys. 138, 014111 (2013)] is extended to investigate the energy relaxation and separation of a hot electron-hole pair in organic aggregates with incorporation of Coulomb interaction and electron-phonon coupling. The pair initial condition generated by laser pulse is represented by a Gaussian wavepacket with a central momentum. The results reveal that the hot electron energy relaxation is very well described by two rate processes with the fast rate much larger than the slow one, consistent with experimental observations, and an efficient electron-hole separation is accomplished accompanying the fast energy relaxation. Furthermore, although the extra energy indeed helps the separation by overcoming the Coulomb interaction, the width of initial wavepacket is much sensitive to the separation efficiency and the narrower wavepacket generates the more separated charges. This behavior may be useful to understand the experimental controversy of the hot carrier effect on charge separation.
We present a combined experimental and theoretical study to analyze the structure, electronic properties, and aggregation behavior of hydroxylated multiwalled carbon nanotubes (OH–MWCNT). Our MWCNTs have average diameters of ∼2 nm, lengths of approximately 100–300 nm, and a hydroxyl surface coverage θ∼0.1. When deposited on the air/water interface the OH–MWCNTs are partially soluble and the floating units interact and link with each other forming extended foam-like carbon networks. Surface pressure-area isotherms of the nanotube films are performed using the Langmuir balance method at different equilibration times. The films are transferred into a mica substrate and atomic force microscopy images show that the foam like structure is preserved and reveals fine details of their microstructure. Density functional theory calculations performed on model hydroxylated carbon nanotubes show that low energy atomic configurations are found when the OH groups form molecular islands on the nanotube's surface. This patchy behavior for the OH species is expected to produce nanotubes having reduced wettabilities, in line with experimental observations. OH doping yields nanotubes having small HOMO–LUMO energy gaps and generates a nanotube → OH direction for the charge transfer leading to the existence of more hole carriers in the structures. Our synthesized OH–MWCNTs might have promising applications.
In this paper, we report simulation results assessing the deformation and aggregation of mixed healthy and malaria-infected red blood cells (RBCs) in a tube flow. A three dimensional particle model based on Dissipative Particle Dynamics (DPD) is developed to predict the tube flow containing interacting cells. The cells are also modelled by DPD, with a Morse potential to characterize the cell-cell interaction. As validation tests, a single RBC in a tube flow and two RBCs in a static flow are simulated to examine the cell deformation and intercellular interaction, respectively. The study of two cells, one healthy and the other malaria-infected RBCs in a tube flow demonstrates that the malaria-infected RBC (in the leading position along flow direction) has different effects on the healthy RBC (in the trailing position) at the different stage of parasite development or at the different capillary number. With parasitic development, the malaria-infected RBC gradually loses its deformability, and in turn the corresponding trailing healthy RBC also deforms less due to the intercellular interaction. With increasing capillary number, both the healthy and malaria-infected RBCs are likely to undergo an axisymmetric motion. The minimum intercellular distance becomes small enough so that rouleaux is easily formed, i.e., the healthy and malaria-infected RBCs are difficultly disaggregated.
Non-Markovian Quantum State Diffusion (NMQSD) has turned out to be an efficient method to calculate excitonic properties of aggregates composed of organic chromophores, taking into account the coupling of electronic transitions to vibrational modes of the chromophores. NMQSD is an open quantum system approach that incorporates environmental degrees of freedom (the vibrations in our case) in a stochastic way. We show in this paper that for linear optical spectra (absorption, circular dichroism), no stochastics is needed, even for finite temperatures. Thus, the spectra can be obtained by propagating a single trajectory. To this end, we map a finite temperature environment to the zero temperature case using the so-called thermofield method. The resulting equations can then be solved efficiently by standard integrators.
The vibrational frequency, frequency fluctuation dynamics, and transition dipole moment of the O—D stretch mode of HDO molecule in aqueous solutions are strongly dependent on its local electrostatic environment and hydrogen-bond network structure. Therefore, the time-resolved vibrational spectroscopy the O—D stretch mode has been particularly used to investigate specific ion effects on water structure. Despite prolonged efforts to understand the interplay of O—D vibrational dynamics with local water hydrogen-bond network and ion aggregate structures in high salt solutions, still there exists a gap between theory and experiment due to a lack of quantitative model for accurately describing O—D stretch frequency in high salt solutions. To fill this gap, we have performed numerical simulations of Raman scattering and IR absorption spectra of the O—D stretch mode of HDO in highly concentrated NaCl and KSCN solutions and compared them with experimental results. Carrying out extensive quantum chemistry calculations on not only water clusters but also ion-water clusters, we first developed a distributed vibrational solvatochromic charge model for the O—D stretch mode in aqueous salt solutions. Furthermore, the non-Condon effect on the vibrational transition dipole moment of the O—D stretch mode was fully taken into consideration with the charge response kernel that is non-local polarizability density. From the fluctuating O—D stretch mode frequencies and transition dipole vectors obtained from the molecular dynamics simulations, the O—D stretch Raman scattering and IR absorption spectra of HDO in salt solutions could be calculated. The polarization effect on the transition dipole vector of the O—D stretch mode is shown to be important and the asymmetric line shapes of the O—D stretch Raman scattering and IR absorption spectra of HDO especially in highly concentrated NaCl and KSCN solutions are in quantitative agreement with experimental results. We anticipate that this computational approach will be of critical use in interpreting linear and nonlinear vibrational spectroscopies of HDO molecule that is considered as an excellent local probe for monitoring local electrostatic and hydrogen-bonding environment in not just salt but also other confined and crowded solutions.