Ultra-wideband transmission filter based on guided-mode resonances in two terahertz metasurfaces.

This paper reports on a broadband transmission filter that employs the guided mode resonances pertaining to a terahertz metasurface composed of metallic gold disks with a quartz slab. Unlike structures involving conventional metasurfaces, two identical metasurfaces are placed on the upper and lower sides of a thick quartz slab. This structure can excite both even and odd guided mode resonances. The interaction of the two resonances at similar frequencies produces a broadband transmission peak. The sharp spectral feature of each resonance leads to the abrupt degradation of the transmission at the spectral edge, which can enable the development of the filter application. The proposed scheme can facilitate practical applications such as those of broadband filters at a terahertz frequency.

Fabrication of Wearable Transistor with All-Graphene Electrodes via Hot Pressing.

Textile electronics are ideal for novel electronic devices owing to their flexibility, light weight, and wearability. In this work, wearable organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) with all-graphene electrodes, fabricated using hot pressing, are described. First, highly conductive and flexible electrodes consisting of a cotton textile substrate and electrochemically exfoliated graphene (EEG) were prepared via hot pressing. The EEG/textile electrodes exhibited a low sheet resistance of 1.3 Ω sq-1 and high flexibility; these were used as gate electrodes in the wearable OFETs. In addition, spray-coated EEG was also used as the source/drain (S/D) electrodes of the wearable OFETs, which recorded a sheet resistance of 14.8 Ω sq-1 after hot pressing. The wearable OFETs exhibited stable electrical performance, a field-effect mobility of 13.8 cm2 V-1 s-1, and an on-off current ratio of ~103 during 1000 cycles of bending. Consequently, the fabrication method for wearable transistors developed using textiles and hot-pressed graphene electrodes has potential applications in next-generation wearable devices.

A Review of Polymer Composites Based on Carbon Fillers for Thermal Management Applications: Design, Preparation, and Properties.

With the development of microelectronic devices having miniaturized and integrated electronic components, an efficient thermal management system with lightweight materials, which have outstanding thermal conductivity and processability, is becoming increasingly important. Recently, the use of polymer-based thermal management systems has attracted much interest due to the intrinsic excellent properties of the polymer, such as the high flexibility, low cost, electrical insulation, and excellent processability. However, most polymers possess low thermal conductivity, which limits the thermal management applications of them. To address the low thermal conduction of the polymer materials, many kinds of thermally conductive fillers have been studied, and the carbon-based polymer composite is regarded as one of the most promising materials for the thermal management of the electric and electronic devices. In addition, the next generation electronic devices require composite materials with various additional functions such as flexibility, low density, electrical insulation, and oriented heat conduction, as well as ultrahigh thermal conductivity. In this review, we introduce the latest papers on thermally conductive polymer composites based on carbon fillers with sophisticated structures to meet the above requirements. The topic of this review paper consists of the following four contents. First, we introduce the design of a continuous three-dimensional network structure of carbon fillers to reduce the thermal resistance between the filler-matrix interface and individual filler particles. Second, we discuss various methods of suppressing the electrical conductivity of carbon fillers in order to manufacture the polymer composites that meet both the electrical insulation and thermal conductivity. Third, we describe a strategy for the vertical alignment of carbon fillers to improve the through-plane thermal conductivity of the polymer composite. Finally, we briefly mention the durability of the thermal conductivity performance of the carbon-based composites. This review presents key technologies for a thermal management system of next-generation electronic devices.

Highly Chlorinated Polyvinyl Chloride as a Novel Precursor for Fibrous Carbon Material.

Pure, highly chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC), with a 63 wt % of chlorine, showed a unique-thermal-pyrolytic-phenomenon that meant it could be converted to carbon material through solid-phase carbonisation rather than liquid-phase carbonisation. The CPVC began to decompose at 270 °C, with a rapid loss in mass due to dehydrochlorination and novel aromatisation and polycondensation up to 400 °C. In this study, we attempted to prepare carbon fibre (CF) without oxidative stabilisation, using the aforementioned CPVC as a novel precursor. Through the processes of solution spinning and solid-state carbonisation, the spun CPVC fibre was directly converted to CF, with a carbonisation yield of 26.2 wt %. The CPVC-derived CF exhibited a relatively smooth surface; however, it still demonstrated a low mechanical performance. This was because the spun fibre was not stretched during the heat treatment. Tensile strength, Young's modulus and elongation values of 590 ± 84 MPa, 50 ± 8 GPa, and 1.2 ± 0.2%, respectively, were obtained from the CPVC spun fibre, with an average diameter of 19.4 µm, following carbonisation at 1600 °C for 5 min.

Shortening Stabilization Time Using Pressurized Air Flow in Manufacturing Mesophase Pitch-Based Carbon Fiber.

Oxidation-stabilization using pressurized air flows of 0.5 and 1.0 MPa could successfully shorten the total stabilization time to less than 60 min for manufacturing mesophase pitch-based carbon fibers without deteriorating mechanical performance. Notably, the carbonized fiber heat-treated at 1000 °C for 30 min, which was oxidative-stabilized at 260 °C without soaking time with a heating rate of 2.0 °C/min using 100 mL/min of pressurized air flow of 0.5 MPa (total stabilization time: 55 min), showed excellent tensile strength and Young's modulus of 3.4 and 177 GPa, respectively, which were higher than those of carbonized fiber oxidation-stabilized at 270 °C without soaking time with a heating rate of 0.5 °C/min using 100 mL/min of atmospheric air flow (total stabilization time: 300 min). Activation energies for oxidation reactions in stabilization using pressurized air flows were much lower than those of oxidation reactions using atmospheric air flow because of the higher oxidation diffusion from the outer surface into the center part of pitch fibers for the use of the pressurized air flows of 0.5 and 1.0 MPa than the atmospheric one. The higher oxygen diffusivities resulted in a more homogeneous distribution of oxygen weight uptake across the transverse section of mesophase pitch fibers, and allowed the improvement of the mechanical properties.

Enhancement of the Luminance Efficiency in Organic Light-Emitting Devices with p-Substituted Phenylphosphonic-Acid Self-Assembled Monolayers.

Organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) containing self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) prepared by using p-substituted phenylphosponic acids on indium-tin-oxide electrodes were fabricated and examined to understand the substituent effect of the SAMs on the device performance. OLEDs modified by using (4-methoxyphenyl)phosphonic acid (MOPPA) SAMs or (4-chlorophenyl)phosphonic acid (CPPA) SAMs, both with electron withdrawing groups, had enhanced hole injection, reduced operating voltage, and remarkably increased current density and luminance efficiency compared with those without SAMs. The luminance efficiency which was the ratio of luminous flux to power for OLEDs containing CPPA SAMs and that for the OLEDs containing MOPPA SAMs were enhanced 2.2 and 1.9 times, respectively, in comparison with that of OLEDs without SAMs. CPPA SAMs significantly reduced the operating voltage of OLED by 24.8% compared with OLEDs without SAMs.

Efficiency Enhancement of Tandem Organic Light-Emitting Devices Fabricated Utilizing an 1,4,5,8,9,11-Hexaazatriphenylene-Hexacarbonitrile Charge-Generation Layer.

The electrical and the optical properties of tandem organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) with stacked electroluminescence units were investigated to clarify the charge-generation mechanisms due to the existence of a charge-generation layer (CGL). The current density of the current limited devices with an 1,4,5,8,9,11-hexaazatriphenylene-hexacarbonitrile (HAT-CN) CGL was 35% higher than that of devices with a tungsten-oxide (WO3) CGL. The maximum current density of the current limited devices with a HAT-CN CGL was as high as 259 mA/cm2. The brightness of the tandem OLEDs with a HAT-CN CGL was 15% higher than that of the tandem OLEDs with a WO3 CGL due to an increase in the current density. The charge-generation mechanisms of tandem OLEDs with a CGL were described on the basis of the experimental results.

Luminance enhancement of color stabilized organic light-emitting devices with an active layer containing CdSe/CdS/ZnS core/shell/shell quantum dots.

Organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) with a 1,3-bis(9-carbazolyl)benzene (mCP) or a (9-(3-(9 H-carbazol-9-yl)phenyl)-9 H-carbazol-3-yl)-diphenylphosphine oxide (mCPPO1) layer containing CdSe/CdS/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) were fabricated. The average diameter of core/shell/shell QDs, as determined from transmission electron microscopy measurements, was approximately 7 nm. The photoluminescence spectrum for the CdSe/CdS/ZnS QDs showed a dominant exciton peak. Current densities as functions of the voltage showed that the turn-on voltage of the OLED with an mCP layer containing QDs was as small as 5 V, and the luminances as functions of the voltage showed that the luminance of the OLED with an mCP layer containing QDs was much larger than that of the OLED with an mCPPO1 layer containing QDs. Electroluminescence spectra for OLEDs with an mCP layer containing QDs showed that the dominant exciton peaks corresponding to the QDs were located at almost the same positions, regardless of the applied voltage. These results help to understand the electrical and optical properties of OLEDs with an mCP or an mCPPO1 layer containing CdSe/CdS/ZnS core/shell/shell QDs.

Flexible white organic light-emitting devices with a porous red polymer layer and a blue small molecular layer utilizing a phase separation of blended polymer.

Flexible white organic light-emitting devices (WOLEDs) with an emitting layer consisting of a porous red poly(2-methoxy-5-(2'-ethyl-hexyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene) (MEH-PPV) polymer layer and a blue 4,4'-bis(2,2'-diphenylvinyl)-1,1'-biphenyl (DPVBi) small molecular layer were fabricated on polyethylene terephthalate substrates. The current density of the flexible WOLEDs fabricated with a blend layer formed with a higher spincoating speed was significantly higher than that of a device fabricated with a lower spincoating speed, due to the higher pore density. The ratio between the red and the blue color peak intensities of the electroluminescence spectra for the flexible WOLEDs with a porous red MEH-PPV polymer layer and a blue DPVBi small molecular layer was controlled by the spincoating speed of the blend layer.

Evolution of power law distributions in science and society.

Power law distributions have been observed in numerous physical and social systems; for example, the size distributions of particles, aerosols, corporations, and cities are often power laws. Each system is an ensemble of clusters, comprising units that combine with or dissociate from the cluster. Constructing models and investigating their properties are needed to understand how such clusters evolve. To describe the growth of clusters, we hypothesize that a distribution obeys a governing population dynamics equation based on a reversible association-dissociation process. The rate coefficients are considered to depend on the cluster size as power expressions, thus providing an explanation for the asymptotic evolution of power law distributions.