Organic materials have gained considerable attention for electrochromic (EC) applications owing to improved EC performance and good processability. As a class of well-recognized organic EC materials, viologens have received persistent attention due to the structural versatility and property tunability, and are major active EC components for most of the marketed EC devices. Over the past two decades, extensive efforts have been made to design and synthesize different types of viologen-based materials with enhanced EC properties. This review summarizes chemical structures, preparation and EC properties of various latest viologen-based electrochromes, including small viologen derivatives, main-chain viologen-based polymers, conjugated polymers with viologen side-chains and viologen-based organic/inorganic composites. The performance enhancement mechanisms are concisely discussed. The current marketed viologens-based electrochromic devices (ECDs) are briefly introduced and an outlook on the challenges and future exploration directions for viologen-based materials and their ECDs are also proposed.
The past few decades have witnessed considerable progress of conducting polymer-based organic thermoelectric materials due to their significant advantages over the traditional inorganic materials. The nanostructure engineering and performance investigation of these conducting polymers for thermoelectric applications have received considerable interest but have not been well documented. This review gives an outline of the synthesis of various one-dimensional (1D) structured conducting polymers as well as the strategies for hybridization with other nanomaterials or polymers. The thermoelectric performance enhancement of these materials in association with the unique morphologies and structures are discussed. Finally, perspectives and suggestions for the future research based on these interesting nanostructuring methodologies for improvement of thermoelectric materials are also presented.
Lignin is a nontoxic and biocompatible biopolymer with many promising characteristics, including a high tensile strength and antioxidant properties. This natural polymer can be processed through several chemical methods and modified into lignin nanomaterials for potential biomedical applications. This review summarizes the latest developments in nanolignin (NL)-based biomaterials for cancer therapy; various NL applications related to cancer therapy are considered, including drug and gene delivery, biosensing, bioimaging, and tissue engineering. The manuscript also outlines the potential use of these materials to improve the therapeutic potency of chemotherapeutic drugs by decreasing their dose and reducing their adverse effects. Due to its high surface area-to-volume ratio and the easy modification of its chemical components, NL could serve as an appropriate matrix for the binding and controlled release of various pharmaceutical agents. Moreover, the challenges in the utilization of NL-based materials for cancer therapy are discussed, along with the prospects of advances in such nanomaterials for medical research applications.
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