Polymer chemistry articles within Nature Materials

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  • News & Views |

    The slow turn-on speed in accumulation-mode organic electrochemical transistors is explained by asymmetric ion transport in switching kinetics.

    • Hang Yu
    •  & Jenny Nelson

  • Article |

    The turn-off time is generally faster than the turn-on time in accumulation mode organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs), but the mechanism is less understood. Here the authors find different transient behaviours of turn-on and turn-off in accumulation mode OECTs, and ion transport is the limiting factor of device kinetics.

    • Jiajie Guo
    • , Shinya E. Chen
    •  & David S. Ginger

  • News & Views |

    Pentagonal polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS)-based giant atoms self-assemble into Frank–Kasper phases that have not been previously observed in soft-matter systems.

    • Pengyu Chen
    •  & Kevin D. Dorfman

  • Research Briefing |

    Polymers made by click chemistry with spirocyclic building blocks form membranes that separate the components of crude oil based on molecular size and type, potentially using far less energy than distillation. Key enablers of this separation are moderate levels of polymer dynamic motion and frustrated chain packing.

  • Article |

    Simultaneously highly elastic and deformable gels that maintain their mechanical properties have remained elusive. Here, using in situ polymerization confined within nanochannels, the authors prepare hysteresis-free gels insensitive to crack propagation.

    • Weizheng Li
    • , Xiaoliang Wang
    •  & Feng Yan

  • Article |

    Solid polymer electrolytes are crucial for the development of lithium batteries, but their lower ionic conductivity compared with liquid/ceramics at room temperature limits their practical use. Precise positioning of designed repeating units in alternating polymer sequences now allows the Li+ conductivity to be tuned by up to three orders of magnitude.

    • Shantao Han
    • , Peng Wen
    •  & Mao Chen

  • News & Views |

    A two-dimensional conjugated polymer is synthesized that demonstrates low electron effective masses and high mobility. These properties show that this material could act as a viable alternative to silicon-based semiconductors.

    • Shu Seki
    •  & Zhuowei Li

  • Article |

    Understanding charge-compensating interactions and ionic dynamics in organic mixed conductors can be challenging. Operando NMR spectroscopy is now used to quantify cation and water movement during doping/dedoping in mixed conductor films.

    • Dongxun Lyu
    • , Yanting Jin
    •  & Clare P. Grey

  • Editorial |

    Click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry have finally been recognized with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

  • Perspective |

    Molecular weaving is the entanglement of one-dimensional flexible molecules into higher-dimensional networks. This Perspective provides an overview of the progress so far, and discusses the future challenges and potentials of this field.

    • Zhi-Hui Zhang
    • , Björn J. Andreassen
    •  & Liang Zhang

  • Article |

    A broad range of characterization techniques is used to understand the dominant electron conduction in various p-type doped π-conjugated polymers, which show p-type and n-type thermoelectric power factors depending on the dopant concentration.

    • Zhiming Liang
    • , Hyun Ho Choi
    •  & Kenneth R. Graham

  • News & Views |

    First-principles calculations predicted electronic topological properties for 2D honeycomb–kagome polymers, which have been now confirmed experimentally thanks to improvements in on-surface synthesis.

    • Yu Jing
    •  & Thomas Heine

  • News & Views |

    Nanovoids in organic semiconductors can serve as hosts for water inclusions that lead to trapping of electrons and holes.

    • David J. Yaron
    •  & Tomasz Kowalewski

  • Article |

    A monomer molecular dopant with high electron affinity is shown to accept up to two electrons from conjugated polymers with low ionization efficiency and then generate free charge carriers with an efficiency of up to 170%.

    • David Kiefer
    • , Renee Kroon
    •  & Christian Müller

  • News & Views |

    Microporous membranes were designed from the loose packing of two-dimensional polymer chains — a breakthrough giving both ultrahigh permeability and good selectivity for gas separations.

    • Yan Yin
    •  & Michael D. Guiver

  • Article |

    Polymer membranes were formed from the inefficient packing of 2D polymer chains in a 3D amorphous solid, forming small and large micropores that enable high gas selectivity and permeability. This strategy may be applied to other polymers.

    • Ian Rose
    • , C. Grazia Bezzu
    •  & Neil B. McKeown

  • News & Views |

    Exploring the minute mechanical deformations induced by electrical bias at the interface with electrolytes allows the identification of local crystallinity and distinguishing adsorption and intercalation of ions in electroactive polymers.

    • Xavier Crispin
    •  & Sergei V. Kalinin

  • Article |

    A generalized charge-transport model is reported that is able to describe the thermopower–conductivity relation at various temperatures in several semiconducting polymers, suggesting a rethinking of conduction mechanisms in these materials.

    • Stephen Dongmin Kang
    •  & G. Jeffrey Snyder

  • Letter |

    The design of large-pore proton conductors with well-defined high-order structures is challenging. Proton conduction in a crystalline covalent organic framework 2–4 orders of magnitude higher than microporous polymers is now demonstrated.

    • Hong Xu
    • , Shanshan Tao
    •  & Donglin Jiang

  • News & Views |

    Macroscopic deformation can induce chirality in initially achiral nanoparticle composites, and reversibly modulate their chiroptical properties.

    • Daeyeon Lee
    •  & Sang Eon Han

  • News & Views |

    Porous solids comprising a self-entangled coiled polymer fibre or metal wire reversibly increase their volume when either stretched or compressed in an axial direction, possibly providing a new type of mechanical behaviour for tuning functional properties.

    • Ray H. Baughman
    •  & Alexandre F. Fonseca

  • News & Views |

    A supramolecular polymer that is stable in the acidic environment of the stomach but dissolves in the neutral-pH environment of the intestines prolongs the safe retention of gastric devices.

    • Vitaliy V. Khutoryanskiy

  • News & Views |

    Solid-state organic materials that convert low-power visible light into higher-energy radiation have been synthesized using metal–organic frameworks. This approach could be used to make polymers that increase the efficiency of photovoltaic devices.

    • Yoan C. Simon
    •  & Christoph Weder

  • News & Views |

    Inspired by the chemistry of adhesive proteins in mussels, hydrogels can now be made to self-heal in water without the aid of metal chelates.

    • Jonathan J. Wilker

  • Article |

    Enzymes involved in copper metabolism and residing within bacterial outer layers are used to polymerize monomers bound to the bacterial cell surface. The composition of the polymers is affected by templating processes and hence the polymers are specific binding agents for the bacteria on which they are grown.

    • E. Peter Magennis
    • , Francisco Fernandez-Trillo
    •  & Cameron Alexander

  • News & Views |

    Conjugated polymers with high electrical conductivity and high thermopower are now demonstrated. The electronic structure of these materials is that of a semi-metal, a previously unreported state for organic conductors.

    • Michael Chabinyc

  • News & Views |

    Poorly ordered films of conjugated polymers that show high charge mobility recently challenged the idea that disorder is detrimental for electrical conduction. Systematic studies now reveal that long polymeric chains can bridge small crystalline domains thus supporting charge transport on length scales relevant for device operation.

    • Vitaly Podzorov

  • Article |

    The recent demonstration that highly disordered polymer films can transport charges as effectively as polycrystalline semiconductors has called into question the relationship between structural order and mobility in organic materials. It is now shown that, in high-molecular-weight polymers, efficient charge transport is allowed due to a network of interconnected aggregates that are characterized by short-range order.

    • Rodrigo Noriega
    • , Jonathan Rivnay
    •  & Alberto Salleo

  • News & Views |

    Excitation of organic donor–acceptor systems with high-energy light can produce hot charge-transfer states that are delocalized across the heterojunction and readily dissociate. Two studies now reveal the dynamics of this process and pave the way towards unravelling the details of the molecular landscape that favours fast photocarrier generation.

    • Carlos Silva

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