Dopant-Free Tetrakis-Triphenylamine Hole Transporting Material for Efficient Tin-Based Perovskite Solar Cells.

Developing dopant-free hole transporting layers (HTLs) is critical in achieving high-performance and robust state-of-the-art perovskite photovoltaics, especially for the air-sensitive tin-based perovskite systems. The commonly used HTLs require hygroscopic dopants and additives for optimal performance, which adds extra cost to manufacturing and limits long-term device stability. Here we demonstrate the use of a novel tetrakis-triphenylamine (TPE) small molecule prepared by a facile synthetic route as a superior dopant-free HTL for lead-free tin-based perovskite solar cells. The best-performing tin iodide perovskite cells employing the novel mixed-cation ethylenediammonium/formamidinium with the dopant-free TPE HTL achieve a power conversion efficiency as high as 7.23%, ascribed to the HTL's suitable band alignment and excellent hole extraction/collection properties. This efficiency is one of the highest reported so far for tin halide perovskite systems, highlighting potential application of TPE HTL material in low-cost high-performance tin-based perovskite solar cells.

Chemoenzymatic Synthesis of a Phosphorylated Glycoprotein.

The majority of lysosomal enzymes are targeted to the lysosome by post-translational tagging with N-glycans terminating in mannose-6-phosphate (M6P) residues. Some current enzyme replacement therapies (ERTs) for lysosomal storage disorders are limited in their efficacy by the extent to which the recombinant enzymes bear the M6P-terminated glycans required for effective trafficking. Chemical synthesis was combined with endo-ß-N-acetylglucosaminidase (ENGase) catalysis to allow the convergent synthesis of glycosyl amino acids bearing M6P residues. This approach can be extended to the remodeling of proteins, as exemplified by RNase. The powerful synergy of chemical synthesis and ENGase-mediated biocatalysis enabled the first synthesis of a glycoprotein bearing M6P-terminated N-glycans in which the glycans are attached to the peptide backbone by entirely natural linkages.

High performance solution-processable tetrathienoacene (TTAR) based small molecules for organic field effect transistors (OFETs).

Three new organic semiconductors with alkyl chain-substituted tetrathienoacene (TTAR) as the central core and both ends capped with thiophene (DT-TTAR), thienothiophene (DTT-TTAR) and dithienothiophene (DDTT-TTAR) have been synthesized and characterized for organic field effect transistor (OFET) applications. A hole mobility of 0.81 cm2 V-1 s-1 was achieved for the DDTT-TTAR film, which represents the highest mobility yet found for a solution-processable p-type TTAR-based small molecular semiconductors.

Intramolecular Locked Dithioalkylbithiophene-Based Semiconductors for High-Performance Organic Field-Effect Transistors.

New 3,3'-dithioalkyl-2,2'-bithiophene (SBT)-based small molecular and polymeric semiconductors are synthesized by end-capping or copolymerization with dithienothiophen-2-yl units. Single-crystal, molecular orbital computations, and optical/electrochemical data indicate that the SBT core is completely planar, likely via S(alkyl)⋯S(thiophene) intramolecular locks. Therefore, compared to semiconductors based on the conventional 3,3'-dialkyl-2,2'-bithiophene, the resulting SBT systems are planar (torsional angle <1°) and highly π-conjugated. Charge transport is investigated for solution-sheared films in field-effect transistors demonstrating that SBT can enable good semiconducting materials with hole mobilities ranging from ≈0.03 to 1.7 cm2 V-1 s-1 . Transport difference within this family is rationalized by film morphology, as accessed by grazing incidence X-ray diffraction experiments.

Synthesis of a hybrid type N-glycan heptasaccharide oxazoline for Endo M catalysed glycosylation.

Endo-ß-N-acetylglucosaminidases (ENGases) are versatile biocatalysts that allow access to a wide variety of defined homogenous N-linked glycoconjugates in a convergent manner. A hybrid-type N-glycan was accessed by total synthesis, converted to an oxazoline, and used as a donor substrate with both wild type Endo M and an N175Q glycosynthase Endo M mutant allowing the convergent synthesis of a glycosylated amino acid bearing a hybrid N-glycan structure.