Nitrogen-Induced Hydrogen Bonding Supramolecular Network for Ultra-Stable Ammonium Ion Storage.

Aqueous ammonium ion batteries (AAIBs) are emerging as sustainable energy storage systems due to their inherent safety and eco-friendliness. Organic electrode materials demonstrate significant potential as anode materials due to their structural diversity, eco-friendly, and abundant redox-active moieties. However, their practical application is hindered by low specific capacity and poor cycling stability.

Recyclable luminescent solar concentrator from lead-free perovskite derivative.

Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) offer a sustainable approach to power generation using fluorescent glasses, yet their green industrialization is impeded by the limited production scale and non-recyclability of embedded nanocrystals. Here, we introduce a lead-free perovskite derivative ETPSbCl (ETP = (CH)PCH) with a reversible transition between powder and glass states. Through molecular dynamics and density functional theory, we elucidate the possible structural distortions of [SbCl] pyramids and their impact on luminescence.

Activating the Chiroptical Properties of High-Fold Axial Chiral Perovskite by a Chiral Induction Strategy.

Chiral perovskites typically exhibit efficient circular dichroism and circularly polarized luminescence, demonstrating promising applications in chiroptical and spintronic devices. However, the relationship between the chiroptical properties and structurally symmetric elements of chiral perovskites has not been established. The unique structure of the high-fold axis may impart distinctive chiral optoelectronic properties, yet it remains unexplored.

Dihedral Restrained Molecular Dynamics Aligns Simulated and Experimental Crystallinity in Organic Solar Cells.

Organic solar cells (OSCs) present an efficient, low-cost alternative for renewable energy applications, with recent advancements driven by the development of nonfullerene acceptors (NFAs) that have significantly improved the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of OSCs to over 20%, narrowing the performance gap with other types of solar cells. The molecular stacking in the active layer is crucially important for highly efficient energy conversion; however, experimental techniques still face limitations in capturing the detailed structural information at the molecular level. To address this challenge, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations could provide atomistic insight into molecular configurations, offering opportunities to optimize the morphology in the active layer.

Regulate the Singlet-Triplet Energy Gap by Spatially Separating HOMO and LUMO for High Performance Organic Photovoltaic Acceptors.

Reducing the single-triplet energy gap (∆E) for organic photovoltaic (OPV) molecules has been proposed to be able to reduce the nonradiative recombination by tuning the low-lying triplet state (T) and/or the excited state (S), thus reducing the energy loss (E) and increasing the open-circuit voltage in their devices. However, how to design the non-fullerene acceptor (NFA) with small ∆E and high performance is challenging. Aiming to address this issue, YDF, YTF, and YTF-H were synthesized.

First Chiral Catalan Solid Based on Molybdenum Halide with Efficient Circularly Polarized Luminescence in the Deep-Red Region.

The design of novel chiral metal halides with exceptional chiroptical properties has attracted significant research attention due to their potential applications in chiral optoelectronics and spintronics. However, developing the deep-red circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) emitters is still challenging. In this work, we presented the first chiral molybdenum halide clusters by incorporating chiral methylbenzylammonium (R/S-MBA) for the design of (R-MBA)MoCl and (S-MBA)MoCl tetrakis hexahedra, which adopt the unique Catalan solid structure.

Magnetic Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Halide Perovskites: Fundamental Physics, Properties, and Applications.

Magnetic materials are pivotal in spintronics, where the electron's spin is harnessed for information processing, potentially leading to faster and more efficient devices. Among the promising materials in this domain are magnetic organic-inorganic hybrid halide perovskites, which effectively bridge the realms of magnetism and multifunctional applications. This review provides a comprehensive overview of these materials, covering their fundamental physical principles, diverse properties, and potential applications in spintronics and other emerging fields.

Synergistic Effect of Cation and Anion Passivation Defects and Suppression of Phase Transition Enhance the Performance and Stability of Inverted Perovskite Solar Cells.

The trap states and phase instability of perovskite films harm the fabrication of high-performance and stable perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Herein, the β-fluorophenylethanammonium cation (β-FPEA) and tosylate anions (TsO) are employed to enhance both the performance and stability of inverted PSCs. Theoretical calculations show that β-FPEATsO can passivate the defects at both FA-I and Pb-I terminals.

O, S, and N Bridged Atoms Screening on 2D Conjugated Central Units of High-Performance Acceptors.

Almost all of central cores in high-performance acceptors are limited to the electron-withdrawing diimide structure currently, which constrains further acceptor structural innovation greatly. Herein, oxygen (O), sulfur (S), and nitrogen (N) atoms are adopted to bridge the 2D conjugated central cores, yielding three acceptor platforms of CH─O, CH─S, and CH─N that differ in structure by only two atoms. Because of the characteristic atomic outer electron configuration and hybrid orbital orientation, O-, S-, and N-bridged central cores display quite different conformations and electronic properties, namely, dibenzodioxin (planar, non-aromatic), thianthrene (puckered, non-aromatic) and phenazine (planar, aromatic), respectively.

Regulating the Metal Nodes of In Situ Electropolymerized Metal-Organic Coordination Polymers for High Performance LIBs.

Metal-organic coordination polymers (MOPs) comprised of redox-active organic moieties and metal ions emerge as an important class of electroactive materials for battery applications. The bipolar two transition metal-based (Fe and Co) coordination complexes bearing terpyridine-triphenylamine ligand are used as models to investigate the relationships between structure and electrochemical performance. It turned out that the choice of central metal atom has a profound influence on the practical voltage window and specific capacity.

Highly Efficient Acceptors with a Nonaromatic Thianthrene Central Core for Organic Photovoltaics.

Despite the great role in determining molecular packings and organic photovoltaic outcomes, very rare candidates could be employed as central cores in current high-performance acceptors except diimide-based moieties. Herein, a new type of central core of nonaromatic thianthrene is explored firstly, affording an exotic but structurally tailorable molecular platform for acceptor design. A unique puckered rather than planar conformation of central core is adopted, caused by the 4n πe feature, great ring strain and largely the insufficient p-π orbital overlap of lone pair on sulfur of thianthrene and coterminous benzene planes.

High Performance Electron Acceptors Containing Transition Metals.

A novel molecular platform characteristic of multiple transition metals (CH─Zn, CH─Ni, CH─Pt) on conjugated backbones is first established as high-performance electron acceptors. The CH─Pt-based ternary organic photovoltaics render an excellent power conversion efficiency surpassing 20%, more importantly, the unexplored dependency of central metals on intrinsic physicochemical properties of acceptors, nanoscale morphologies of donor/acceptor blends and final photovoltaic outcomes is fully disclosed. By demonstrating such a rare case of metal-containing acceptor, our work provides insight into whether metal complexes can serve as the building blocks of high-performance acceptors and gives guidance to rational design of metal-containing acceptors.

Chiral europium halides with high-performance magnetic field tunable red circularly polarized luminescence at room temperature.

Chiral organic-inorganic hybrid metal halides as promising circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) emitter candidates hold great potential for high-definition displays and future spin-optoelectronics. The recent challenge lies primarily in developing high-performance red CPL emitters. Here, coupling the f-f transition characteristics of trivalent europium ions (Eu) with chirality, we construct the chiral Eu-based halides, (R/S-3BrMBA)EuCl, which exhibit strong and predictable red emission with large photoluminescence quantum yield (59.

Perovskite spin light-emitting diodes with simultaneously high electroluminescence dissymmetry and high external quantum efficiency.

Realizing high electroluminescence dissymmetric factor and high external quantum efficiency at the same time is challenging in light-emitting diodes with direct circularly polarized emission. Here, we show that high electroluminescence dissymmetric factor and high external quantum efficiency can be simultaneously achieved in light-emitting diodes based on chiral perovskite quantum dots. Specifically, chiral perovskite quantum dots with chiral-induced spin selectivity can concurrently serve as localized radiative recombination centers of spin-polarized carriers for circularly polarized emission, thereby suppressing the relaxation of spins, Meanwhile, improving the chiral ligand exchange efficiency is found to synergistically promote their spin selectivity and optoelectronic properties so that chiroptoelectronic performance of resulting devices can be facilitated.

A medium bandgap dimeric acceptor with a high open-circuit voltage for efficient organic solar cells.

Dimeric acceptors (DMAs) exhibit significant potential for optimizing both the efficiency and stability of organic solar cells (OSCs). However, medium band-gap DMAs with a high open-circuit voltage () for efficient OSCs remain underexplored. In this study, we designed and synthesized a medium bandgap dimeric acceptor, designated DYO-1, through the strategy of alkoxy side-chain substitutions.

Against the Wallach's Rule Through Rational Design of Metal-Free Chiral Perovskites Toward Efficient Red Circularly Polarized Phosphorescence.

The potential applications of circularly polarized phosphorescent materials in chiroptical devices have attracted considerable interest. Nevertheless, the design of efficient near-infrared/red circularly polarized phosphorescent pure organic materials remains a significant challenge, largely due to the limitations imposed by the energy-gap law and Wallach's rule. In this study, the chiral metal-free perovskite strategy is employed to overcome these restrictions.

Alkyl Fluorination Aromatic Acetamidine Cation Enhances the Lattice Stability and Performance of 2D Ruddlesden-Popper Perovskite Solar Cells.

Fluorinated organic cations  are used to enhance the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of quasi-2D Ruddlesden-Popper perovskite solar cells (2DRP PSCs), however, most of them focus fluorine substitution on the benzene ring. Herein, a novel α-fluorophenylethanimidamide (α-FPEIA) spacer cation with a fluorine atom at α-carbon of the amidine group is designed and employed to enhance the performance and stability of 2DRP PSCs. The single-crystal structure of (α-FPEIA)PbI exhibits stronger interaction between the organic cations and inorganic skeleton, with a larger angle of Pb-I-Pb, thus benefiting the charge transfer and improving lattice stability of perovskite film.

Stepwise amplification of circularly polarized luminescence in indium-based metal halides by regulating their structural dimension.

The pursuit of chiral lead-free metal halides with both high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) and large luminescence dissymmetry factor (g) remains a priority for designing efficient circularly polarized light sources. However, a tradeoff exists between PLQY and g in chiral materials due to the mismatched electric (μ) and magnetic transition dipole moment (m). Herein, we address this contradiction and develop the efficient circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) emitters through structural dimension modulation.

A butterfly-shaped acceptor with rigid skeleton and unique assembly enables both efficient organic photovoltaics and high-speed organic photodetectors.

It remains challenging to design efficient bifunctional semiconductor materials in organic photovoltaic and photodetector devices. Here, we report a butterfly-shaped molecule, named WD-6, which exhibits low energy disorder and small reorganization energy due to its enhanced molecular rigidity and unique assembly with strong intermolecular interaction. The binary photovoltaic device based on PM6:WD-6 achieved an efficiency of 18.

Isomerism Effect of 3D Dimeric Acceptors for Non-Halogenated Solvent-Processed Organic Solar Cells with 20 % Efficiency.

Organic photovoltaic materials that can be processed via non-halogenated solvents are crucial for the large-area manufacturing of organic solar cells (OSCs). However, the limited available of electron acceptors with adequate solubility and favorable molecular packing presents a challenge in achieving efficient non-halogenated solvent-processed OSCs. Herein, inspired by the three-dimensional dimeric acceptor CH8-4, we employed a molecular isomerization strategy to synthesize its isomers, CH8-4A and CH8-4B, by tuning the position of fluorine (F) atom in the central unit.

Reversal of chirality in solutions and aggregates of chiral tetrachlorinated diperylene diimides towards efficient circularly polarized light detection.

Helicenes exhibit promise as active layer materials for circularly polarized light (CPL) detectors due to their strong chiroptical activity. However, their practical application is limited by the complicated synthesis and loosely solid-state packing. This study introduces a chiral induction strategy towards the synthesis of helicene derivatives, chiral tetrachlorinated diperylene diimides (()-4CldiPDI or ()-4CldiPDI).

Chiral Metal-Free Anti-Perovskite with Strong Chiroptical Nonlinearity.

The nonlinear chiroptical properties of chiral metal halide perovskite has attracted substantial attention in recent years. In order to overcome the inherent limitations of metal halide, such as high costs, potential toxicity, challenges with recycling, especially the limited laser-induced damage threshold (LDT), we have successfully constructed the first chiral metal-free anti-perovskite, with the aim of utilizing it in second harmonic generation-circular dichroism (SHG-CD). Moreover, the anti-perovskite composed entirely of small organic ions typically display a more extensive transparent window, which could contribute a high LDT.

Strong Magneto-Chiroptical Effects through Introducing Chiral Transition-Metal Complex Cations to Lead Halide.

The interplay between chirality with magnetism can break both the space and time inversion symmetry and have wide applications in information storage, photodetectors, multiferroics and spintronics. Herein, we report the chiral transition-metal complex cation-based lead halide, R-CDPB and S-CDPB. In contrast with the traditional chiral metal halides with organic cations, a novel strategy for chirality transfer from the transition-metal complex cation to the lead halide framework is developed.

Rebuilding Peripheral F, Cl, Br Footprints on Acceptors Enables Binary Organic Photovoltaic Efficiency Exceeding 19.7 .

Given homomorphic fluorine (F), chlorine (Cl) and bromine (Br) atoms are featured with gradually enlarged polarizability/atomic radius but decreased electronegativity, the rational screen of halogen species and locations on small molecular acceptors (SMAs) is quite essential for acquiring desirable molecular packing to boost efficiency of organic solar cells (OSCs). Herein, three isomeric SMAs (CH-F, CH-C and CH-B) are constructed by delicately rebuilding peripheral F, Cl, Br footprints on both central and end units. Such a re-permutation of peripheral halogens could not only maintain the structural symmetry of SMAs to the maximum, but also acquire extra asymmetric benefits of enhanced dipole moment and intramolecular charge transfer, etc.