Polydopamine Adhesion: Catechol, Amine, Dihydroxyindole, and Aggregation Dynamics.

While polydopamine (PDA) possesses the surface-independent adhesion property of mussel-binding proteins, significant differences exist between them. Particularly, PDA's short and rigid backbone differs from the long and flexible protein sequence of mussel-binding proteins. Given that adhesion relies on achieving a conformal contact with large surface coverage, PDA has drawbacks as an adhesive. In our study, we investigated the roles of each building block of PDA to build a better understanding of their binding mechanisms. Initially, we anticipated that catecholamine oligomers form specific binding with substrates. However, our study showed that the universal adhesion of PDA is initiated by the solubility limit of growing oligomers by forming agglomerates, complemented by multiple binding modes of catechol. Notably, in the absence of amines, poly(catechol) either remained in solution or formed minor suspensions without any surface coating, underscoring the essential role of amines in the adhesion process by facilitating insoluble aggregate formation. To substantiate our findings, we induced poly(catechol) aggregation using quaternized poly(4-vinylpyridine) (qPVP), leading to subsequent surface adhesion upon agglomerate formation.

Conjugation through Si-O-Si bonds, silsesquioxane (SQ) half cage copolymers, extended examples via SiO0.5/SiO1.5 units: multiple emissive states in violation of Kasha's rule.

We previously reported that phenyl- and vinyl-silsesquioxanes (SQs), [RSiO1.5]8,10,12 (R = Ph or vinyl) functionalized with three or more conjugated moieties show red-shifted absorption- and emission features suggesting 3-D conjugation via a cage centered LUMOs. Corner missing [PhSiO1.5]7(OSiMe3)3 and edge opened, end capped [PhSiO1.5]8(OSiMe2)2 (double decker, DD) analogs also offer red shifted spectra again indicating 3-D conjugation and a cage centered LUMO. Copolymerization of DD [PhSiO1.5]8(OSiMevinyl)2 with multiple R-Ar-Br gives copolymers with emission red-shifts that change with degree of polymerization (DP), exhibit charge transfer to F4TNCQ and terpolymer averaged red-shifts suggesting through chain conjugation even with two (O-Si-O) end caps possibly via a cage centered LUMO. Surprisingly, ladder (LL) SQ, (vinylMeSiO2)[PhSiO1.5]4(O2SiMevinyl) copolymers offer emission red-shifts even greater for analogous copolymers requiring a different explanation. Here we assess the photophysical behavior of copolymers of a more extreme SQ form: the half cage [PhSiO1.5]4(OSiMe2Vinyl)4, Vy4HC SQs. We again see small red-shifted absorptions coupled with significant red-shifted emissions, even with just a half cage, thus further supporting the existence of pπ-dπ and/or σ*-π* conjugation through Si-O-Si bonds and contrary to most traditional views of Si-O-Si linked polymers. These same copolymers donate an electron to F4TCNQ generating the radical anion, F4TCNQ-. as further proof of conjugation. Column chromatographic separation of short from longer chain oligomers reveals a direct correlation between DP and emission λmax red-shifts as another indication of conjugation. Further, one- and two-photon absorption and emission spectroscopy reveals multiple excited fluorescence-emitting states in a violation of Kasha's rule wherein emission occurs only from the lowest excited state. Traditional modeling studies again find HOMO LUMO energy levels residing only on the aromatic co-monomers rather than through Si-O-Si bonds as recently found in related polymers.

Unlocking the Potential of Porous Bi2Te3-Based Thermoelectrics Using Precise Interface Engineering through Atomic Layer Deposition.

Porous thermoelectric materials offer exciting prospects for improving the thermoelectric performance by significantly reducing the thermal conductivity. Nevertheless, porous structures are affected by issues, including restricted enhancements in performance attributed to decreased electronic conductivity and degraded mechanical strength. This study introduces an innovative strategy for overcoming these challenges using porous Bi0.4Sb1.6Te3 (BST) by combining porous structuring and interface engineering via atomic layer deposition (ALD). Porous BST powder was produced by selectively dissolving KCl in a milled mixture of BST and KCl; the interfaces were engineered by coating ZnO films through ALD. This novel architecture remarkably reduced the thermal conductivity owing to the presence of several nanopores and ZnO/BST heterointerfaces, promoting efficient phonon scattering. Additionally, the ZnO coating mitigated the high resistivity associated with the porous structure, resulting in an improved power factor. Consequently, the ZnO-coated porous BST demonstrated a remarkable enhancement in thermoelectric efficiency, with a maximum zT of approximately 1.53 in the temperature range of 333-353 K, and a zT of 1.44 at 298 K. Furthermore, this approach plays a significant role in enhancing the mechanical strength, effectively mitigating a critical limitation of porous structures. These findings open new avenues for the development of advanced porous thermoelectric materials and highlight their potential for precise interface engineering through the ALD.

Full-field, conformal epiretinal electrode array using hydrogel and polymer hybrid technology.

Shape-morphable electrode arrays can form 3D surfaces to conform to complex neural anatomy and provide consistent positioning needed for next-generation neural interfaces. Retinal prostheses need a curved interface to match the spherical eye and a coverage of several cm to restore peripheral vision. We fabricated a full-field array that can (1) cover a visual field of 57° based on electrode position and of 113° based on the substrate size; (2) fold to form a compact shape for implantation; (3) self-deploy into a curvature fitting the eye after implantation. The full-field array consists of multiple polymer layers, specifically, a sandwich structure of elastomer/polyimide-based-electrode/elastomer, coated on one side with hydrogel. Electrodeposition of high-surface-area platinum/iridium alloy significantly improved the electrical properties of the electrodes. Hydrogel over-coating reduced electrode performance, but the electrodes retained better properties than those without platinum/iridium. The full-field array was rolled into a compact shape and, once implanted into ex vivo pig eyes, restored to a 3D curved surface. The full-field retinal array provides significant coverage of the retina while allowing surgical implantation through an incision 33% of the final device diameter. The shape-changing material platform can be used with other neural interfaces that require conformability to complex neuroanatomy.

Selective Dissolution-Derived Nanoporous Design of Impurity-Free Bi2 Te3 Alloys with High Thermoelectric Performance.

Thermoelectric technology, which has been receiving attention as a sustainable energy source, has limited applications because of its relatively low conversion efficiency. To broaden their application scope, thermoelectric materials require a high dimensionless figure of merit (ZT). Porous structuring of a thermoelectric material is a promising approach to enhance ZT by reducing its thermal conductivity. However, nanopores do not form in thermoelectric materials in a straightforward manner; impurities are also likely to be present in thermoelectric materials. Here, a simple but effective way to synthesize impurity-free nanoporous Bi0.4 Sb1.6 Te3 via the use of nanoporous raw powder, which is scalably formed by the selective dissolution of KCl after collision between Bi0.4 Sb1.6 Te3 and KCl powders, is proposed. This approach creates abundant nanopores, which effectively scatter phonons, thereby reducing the lattice thermal conductivity by 33% from 0.55 to 0.37 W m-1 K-1 . Benefitting from the optimized porous structure, porous Bi0.4 Sb1.6 Te3 achieves a high ZT of 1.41 in the temperature range of 333-373 K, and an excellent average ZT of 1.34 over a wide temperature range of 298-473 K. This study provides a facile and scalable method for developing high thermoelectric performance Bi2 Te3 -based alloys that can be further applied to other thermoelectric materials.

Convolutional neural networks for approximating electrical and thermal conductivities of Cu-CNT composites.

This article explores the deep learning approach towards approximating the effective electrical and thermal conductivities of copper (Cu)-carbon nanotube (CNT) composites with CNTs aligned to the field direction. Convolutional neural networks (CNN) are trained to map the two-dimensional images of stochastic Cu-CNT networks to corresponding conductivities. The CNN model learns to estimate the Cu-CNT composite conductivities for various CNT volume fractions, interfacial electrical resistances, Rc = 20 Ω-20 kΩ, and interfacial thermal resistances, R″t,c = 10-10-10-7 m2K/W. For training the CNNs, the hyperparameters such as learning rate, minibatch size, and hidden layer neurons are optimized. Without iteratively solving the physical governing equations, the trained CNN model approximates the electrical and thermal conductivities within a second with the coefficient of determination (R2) greater than 98%, which may take longer than 100 min for a convectional numerical simulation. This work demonstrates the potential of the deep learning surrogate model for the complex transport processes in composite materials.

Metal-Free Organic Phosphors toward Fast and Efficient Room-Temperature Phosphorescence.

ConspectusMetal-free purely organic phosphors (POPs) are promising materials for display technologies, solid-state lighting, and sensors platforms because of their advantageous properties such as large design windows, easy processability, and economic material cost. Unlike inorganic semiconductors, creating the conditions for triplet excitons to produce light in organic materials is a demanding task because of the presence of electron spin configurations that undergo spin-forbidden transitions, which is usually facilitated by spin-orbit coupling (SOC). In the absence of heavy metals, however, the SOC efficiency in POPs remains low, and consequently, external nonradiative photophysical processes will also severely affect triplet excitons. Addressing these challenges requires the development of rational molecular design principles to accurately account for how all conceivable structural, electronic, chemical, compositional factors affect materials performance.This Account summarizes important molecular design and matrix engineering strategies to tackle the two key challenges for POPs─boosting SOC efficiencies and suppressing nonradiative decays. We start by reviewing the fundamental understanding of internal and external factors affecting the emission efficiencies of POPs, including the theory behind SOC and the origin of nonradiative decays. Subsequently, we discuss the design of contemporary POP systems on the basis of research insights from our group and others, where SOC is mostly promoted by heavy atom effects and the El-Sayed rule. On one hand, nonmetal heavy atoms including Br, I, or Se provide the heavy atom effects to boost SOC. On the other hand, the El-Sayed rule addresses the necessity of orbital angular momentum change in SOC and the general utilization of carbonyl, heterocyclic rings, and other moieties with rich nonbonding electrons. Because of the slow-decaying nature of triplet excitons, engineering the matrices of POPs is critical to effectively suppress collisional quenching as the major nonradiative decay route, thus achieving POPs with decent room temperature quantum efficiency. For that purpose, crystalline or rigid amorphous matrices have been implemented along with specific intermolecular forces between POPs and their environment.Despite the great efforts made in the past decade, the intrinsic SOC efficiencies of POPs remain low, and their emission lifetimes are pinned in the millisecond to second regime. While this is beneficial for POPs with ultralong emission, designing high-SOC POPs with simultaneous fast decay and high quantum efficiencies is particularly advantageous for display systems. Following the design of contemporary POPs, we will discuss molecular design descriptors that could potentially break the current limit to boost internal SOC in purely organic materials. Our recently developed concept of "heavy atom oriented orbital angular momentum manipulation" will be discussed, accompanied by a rich and expanded library of fast and efficient POP molecules, which serves as a stepping stone into the future of this field. We will conclude this Account by discussing the noteworthy application of POPs in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), solid-state lighting, and sensors, as well as the remaining challenges in the design of fast and efficient POPs.

Chorioretinal Hypoxia Detection Using Lipid-Polymer Hybrid Organic Room-Temperature Phosphorescent Nanoparticles.

Ischemia-induced hypoxia is a common complication associated with numerous diseases and is the most important prognostic factor in retinal vein occlusions (RVOs). Early detection and long-term visualization of retinal tissue hypoxia is essential to understand the pathophysiology and treatment of ischemic retinopathies. However, no effective solution exists to evaluate extravascular retinal tissue oxygen tension. Here, we demonstrate a lipid-polymer hybrid organic room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) nanoparticle (NP) platform that optically detects tissue hypoxia in real-time with high signal-to-noise ratio. The fabricated NPs exhibit long-lived bright RTP, high sensitivity toward oxygen quenching, and desirable colloidal and optical stability. When tested as a hypoxia imaging probe in vivo using rabbit RVO and choroidal vascular occlusion (CVO) models via intravitreal and intravenous (IV) injections, respectively, its RTP signal is exclusively turned on where tissue hypoxia is present with a signal-to-noise ratio of 12.5. The RTP NP platform is compatible with multimodal imaging. No ocular or systemic complications are observed with either administration route. The developed organic RTP NPs present a novel platform approach that allows for biocompatible, nondestructive detection of tissue hypoxia and holds promise as a sensitive imaging tool to monitor longitudinal tissue oxygen levels and evaluate various hypoxia-driven vascular diseases.

Amplifying the Sensitivity of Polydiacetylene Sensors: The Dummy Molecule Approach.

There is an increasing need for fast and accurate assessment of various health conditions, where polydiacetylenes (PDA), having unique stress-sensitive optical properties, have great potential. When the conjugated backbone of PDA is disturbed by steric repulsion between the receptor-target complexes formed at the PDA surface via specific recognition events, the bandgap of PDA increases and produces color change and fluorescent emission as a dual sensory signal. However, this detection mechanism suggests an intrinsic sensitivity limit of PDA platform because unless adjacent receptors are occupied by target molecules no signal is anticipated. A novel approach to improve the sensitivity and limit of detection of PDA sensors has been developed by preoccupying the surface of PDA liposomes with an optimized amount of artificial target molecules named as dummy molecules. The sensitivity and limit of detection (LOD) showed large improvement by the surface-bound dummy molecules. In addition, the dummy strategy was synergically integrated with another sensitivity enhancing method with a different working mechanism in a PDA sensor for Neomycin detection. When optimized, the LOD of the PDA sensor was improved to 7 nM from 80 nM of the control and the signal intensity increased consistently throughout the entire tested concentration range of the target Neomycin. Finally, the general applicability of the dummy strategy to other target molecules was successfully confirmed by implementing the dummy strategy in a PDA sensor for Surfactin detection.

Operation of Wearable Thermoelectric Generators Using Dual Sources of Heat and Light.

A wearable thermoelectric generator (WTEG) that utilizes human body heat can be a promising candidate for the wearable power generators. The temperature difference (ΔT) between the body and the environment is a stable source driving the WTEG, but this driving force is limited by the ambient temperature itself at the same time. Here, a novel WTEG that can be operated using the dual source of body heat and light with exceptionally high driving force is fabricated. The printable solar absorbing layer attached to the bottom of the WTEG absorbs ≈95% of the light from ultraviolet to far infrared and converts it into heat. To optimize the power density of WTEGs, the fill factor of the thermoelectric (TE) leg/electrode is considered through finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation. When operated by the dual sources, the WTEG exhibits a power density of 15.33 µW cm-2 , which is the highest under "actual operating conditions" among all kinds of WTEGs. In addition, unlike conventional WTEGs, the WTEG retains 83.1% of its output power at an ambient temperature of 35 °C compared to its output power at room temperature. This study will accelerate the commercialization of WTEGs by introducing a novel method to overcome their limitations.

Heavy atom oriented orbital angular momentum manipulation in metal-free organic phosphors.

Metal-free purely organic phosphors (POPs) are emerging materials for display technologies, solid-state lighting, and chemical sensors. However, due to limitations in contemporary design strategies, the intrinsic spin-orbit coupling (SOC) efficiency of POPs remains low and their emission lifetime is pinned in the millisecond regime. Here, we present a design concept for POPs where the two main factors that control SOC-the heavy atom effect and orbital angular momentum-are tightly coupled to maximize SOC. This strategy is bolstered by novel natural-transition-orbital-based computational methods to visualize and quantify angular momentum descriptors for molecular design. To demonstrate the effectiveness of this strategy, prototype POPs were created having efficient room-temperature phosphorescence with lifetimes pushed below the millisecond regime, which were enabled by boosted SOC efficiencies beyond 102 cm-1 and achieved record-high efficiencies in POPs. Electronic structure analysis shows how discrete tuning of heavy atom effects and orbital angular momentum is possible within the proposed design strategy, leading to a strong degree of control over the resulting POP properties.

Highly sensitive and quantitative biodetection with lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticles having organic room-temperature phosphorescence.

A versatile organic room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP)-based "turn on" biosensor platform has been devised with high sensitivity by combining oxygen-sensitive lipid-polymer hybrid RTP nanoparticles with a signal-amplifying enzymatic oxygen scavenging reaction in aqueous solutions. When integrated with a sandwich-DNA hybridization assay on 96-well plates, our phosphorimetric sensor demonstrates sequence-specific detection of a cell-free cancer biomarker, a TP53 gene fragment, with a sub-picomolar (0.5 p.m.) detection limit. This assay is compatible with detecting cell-free nucleic acids in human urine samples. Simply by re-programming the detection probe, our unique methodology can be adapted to a broad range of biosensor applications for biomarkers of great clinical importance but difficult to detect due to their low abundance in vivo.

Hydrogen-Bonding-Mediated Molecular Vibrational Suppression for Enhancing the Fluorescence Quantum Yield Applicable for Visual Phenol Detection.

It is generally accepted that while efficient suppression of molecular vibration is inevitable for purely organic phosphors due to their long emission lifetime in the regime of 1 ms or longer, fluorophores having a lifetime in the nanoseconds regime are not sensitive to collisional quenching. Here, however, we demonstrate that a fluorophore, 2,5-bis(hexyloxy)terephthaldehyde (BHTA), capable of having hydrogen bonding (H bonding) via its two aldehyde groups can have a largely enhanced (450%) fluorescence quantum yield (QY) in amorphous poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) matrix compared to its crystalline powder. We ascribe this enhanced QY to the efficient suppression of molecular vibrations via intermolecular H bonding. We confirm this feasibility by conducting temperature-dependent fluorescence emission intensity measurement. As gaseous phenol can intervene with the H bonding between BHTA and PAA, interestingly, BHTA embedded in PAA can selectively detect gaseous phenol by a sharp fluorescence emission intensity drop that is visibly recognizable by the naked eye. The results provide an insightful molecular design strategy for a fluorophore and fluorometric sensory system design for enhanced photoluminescence QY and convenient detection of various volatile organic compounds.

Chaotic Organic Crystal Phosphorescent Patterns for Physical Unclonable Functions.

Since the 4th Industrial Revolution, Internet of Things based environments have been widely used in various fields ranging from mobile to medical devices. Simultaneously, information leakage and hacking risks have also increased significantly, and secure authentication and security systems are constantly required. Physical unclonable functions (PUF) are in the spotlight as an alternative. Chaotic phosphorescent patterns are developed based on an organic crystal and atomic seed heterostructure for security labels with PUFs. Phosphorescent organic crystal patterns are formed on MoS2 . They seem similar on a macroscopic scale, whereas each organic crystal exhibits highly disorder features on the microscopic scale. In image analysis, an encoding capacity as a single PUF domain achieves more than 1017 on a MoS2 small fragment with lengths of 25 µm. Therefore, security labels with phosphorescent PUFs can offer superior randomness and no-cloning codes, possibly becoming a promising security strategy for authentication processes.

Polydiacetylene Liposome Microarray toward Facile Measurement of Platelet Activation in Whole Blood.

The necessity of a simple measurement of platelet activation has been increasing in clinical medicine to regulate the proper dose of the antiplatelet drugs for patients having clinical outcomes in acute situations such as angina pectoris, stroke, or peripheral vascular disease or procedures involving angioplasty or coronary thrombolysis. We developed a self-signaling polydiacetylene (PDA) liposome microarray to detect activated platelets from whole blood samples in a single step. A specific antibody, 9F9 antibody, to platelet-bound fibrinogen was selected and conjugated to the PDA liposome microarray to quantify the fibrinogen-bound platelets. The developed PDA liposome-9F9 microarray generated an intense fluorescence signal when activated platelets in whole blood were introduced and also successfully distinguished the reduced platelet activation in the presence of Tirofiban, a model antiplatelet drug. The results of this single-step benchtop assay incorporates simple, sensitive, and rapid attributes that can detect the extent of platelet activation prior to needed clinical procedures.

Nanostructured Inorganic Chalcogenide-Carbon Nanotube Yarn having a High Thermoelectric Power Factor at Low Temperature.

As power-conversion devices, flexible thermoelectrics that enable conformal contact with heat sources of arbitrary shape are attractive. However, the low performance of flexible thermoelectric materials, which does not exceed those of brittle inorganic counterparts, hampers their practical applications. Herein, we propose inorganic chalcogenide-nanostructured carbon nanotube (CNT) yarns with outstanding power factor at a low temperature using electrochemical deposition. The inorganic chalcogenide-nanostructured CNT yarns exhibit the power factors of 3425 and 2730 µW/(m·K2) at 298 K for the p- and n-type, respectively, which is higher than those of previously reported flexible TE materials. On the basis of excellent performance and geometry advantage of the nanostructured CNT yarn for modular design, all-CNT based thermoelectric generators have been easily fabricated, showing the maximum power densities of 24 and 380 mW/m2 at ΔT = 5 and 20 K, respectively. These results provide a promising strategy for the realization of high-performance flexible thermoelectric materials and devices for flexible/or wearable self-powering systems.

Charge Transfer as the Key Parameter Affecting the Color Purity of Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Emitters.

The key factors determining the emission bandwidth of thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) are investigated by combining computational and experimental approaches. To achieve high internal quantum efficiencies in a metal-free organic light-emitting diode via TADF, the first triplet (T1) to first singlet (S1) reverse intersystem crossing is promoted by configuring molecules in an electron donor-acceptor (D-A) alternation with a large dihedral angle, which results in a small energy gap (ΔEST) between S1 and T1 levels. This allows for effective non-radiative up-conversion of triplet excitons to singlet excitons that fluoresce. However, this traditional molecular design of TADF results in broad emission spectral bands (full-width at half-maximum = 70-100 nm). Despite reports suggesting that suppressing the D-A dihedral rotation narrows the emission band, the origin of emission broadening remains elusive. Indeed, our results suggest that the intrinsic TADF emission bandwidth is primarily determined by the charge transfer character of the molecule, rather than its propensity for rotational motion, which offers a renewed perspective on the rational molecular design of organic emitters exhibiting sharp emission spectra.

High-performance compliant thermoelectric generators with magnetically self-assembled soft heat conductors for self-powered wearable electronics.

Softening of thermoelectric generators facilitates conformal contact with arbitrary-shaped heat sources, which offers an opportunity to realize self-powered wearable applications. However, existing wearable thermoelectric devices inevitably exhibit reduced thermoelectric conversion efficiency due to the parasitic heat loss in high-thermal-impedance polymer substrates and poor thermal contact arising from rigid interconnects. Here, we propose compliant thermoelectric generators with intrinsically stretchable interconnects and soft heat conductors that achieve high thermoelectric performance and unprecedented conformability simultaneously. The silver-nanowire-based soft electrodes interconnect bismuth-telluride-based thermoelectric legs, effectively absorbing strain energy, which allows our thermoelectric generators to conform perfectly to curved surfaces. Metal particles magnetically self-assembled in elastomeric substrates form soft heat conductors that significantly enhance the heat transfer to the thermoelectric legs, thereby maximizing energy conversion efficiency on three-dimensional heat sources. Moreover, automated additive manufacturing paves the way for realizing self-powered wearable applications comprising hundreds of thermoelectric legs with high customizability under ambient conditions.