Using density functional theory coupled with Boltzmann transport equation with relaxation time approximation, we investigate the electronic structure and predict the charge mobility for a new carbon allotrope, the graphdiyne for both the sheet and nanoribbons. It is shown that the graphdiyne sheet is a semiconductor with a band gap of 0.46 eV. The calculated in-plane intrinsic electron mobility can reach the order of 10(5) cm(2)/(V s) at room temperature, while the hole mobility is about an order of magnitude lower.

Band gap engineering of atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) materials is the key to their applications in nanoelectronics, optoelectronics, and photonics. Here, for the first time, we demonstrate that in the 2D system, by alloying two materials with different band gaps (MoS2 and WS2), tunable band gap can be obtained in the 2D alloys (Mo(1-x)W(x)S(2) monolayers, x = 0-1). Atomic-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy has revealed random arrangement of Mo and W atoms in the Mo(1-x)W(x)S(2) monolayer alloys. Photoluminescence characterization has shown tunable band gap emission continuously tuned from 1.82 eV (reached at x = 0.20) to 1.99 eV (reached at x = 1). Further, density functional theory calculations have been carried out to understand the composition-dependent electronic structures of Mo(1-x)W(x)S(2) monolayer alloys.

We summarize our recent progresses in developing first-principles methods for predicting the intrinsic charge mobility in carbon and organic nanomaterials, within the framework of Boltzmann transport theory and relaxation time approximation. The electron-phonon couplings are described by Bardeen and Shockley's deformation potential theory, namely delocalized electrons scattered by longitudinal acoustic phonons as modeled by uniform lattice dilation. We have applied such methodology to calculating the charge carrier mobilities of graphene and graphdiyne, both sheets and nanoribbons, as well as closely packed organic crystals. The intrinsic charge carrier mobilities for graphene sheet and naphthalene are calculated to be 3 × 10(5) and ∼60 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) respectively at room temperature, in reasonable agreement with previous studies. We also present some new theoretical results for the recently discovered organic electronic materials, diacene-fused thienothiophenes, for which the charge carrier mobilities are predicted to be around 100 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1).

We show here that the carrier mobility in the novel sp-sp(2) hybridization planar 6,6,12-graphyne sheet should be even larger than that in the graphene sheet. Both graphyne and graphene exhibit a Dirac cone structure near the Fermi surface. However, due to the sp-sp(2) hybridization forming the triple bonds in graphyne, the electron-phonon scattering is reduced compared with that of graphene. The carrier mobility is calculated at the first-principles level by using the Boltzmann transport equation coupled with the deformation potential theory. The intrinsic mobility of the 6,6,12-graphyne is 4.29 × 10(5) cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) for holes and 5.41 × 10(5) cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) for electrons at room temperature, which is found to be larger than that of graphene (∼ 3 × 10(5) cm(2) V(-1) s(-1)).

Tuning carrier concentration via chemical doping is the most successful strategy to optimize the thermoelectric figure of merit. Nevertheless, how the dopants affect charge transport is not completely understood. Here we unravel the doping effects by explicitly including the scattering of charge carriers with dopants on thermoelectric properties of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), PEDOT, which is a p-type thermoelectric material with the highest figure of merit reported. We corroborate that the PEDOT exhibits a distinct transition from the aromatic to quinoid-like structure of backbone, and a semiconductor-to-metal transition with an increase in the level of doping. We identify a close-to-unity charge transfer from PEDOT to the dopant, and find that the ionized impurity scattering dominates over the acoustic phonon scattering in the doped PEDOT. By incorporating both scattering mechanisms, the doped PEDOT exhibits mobility, Seebeck coefficient and power factors in very good agreement with the experimental data, and the lightly doped PEDOT exhibits thermoelectric properties superior to the heavily doped one. We reveal that the thermoelectric transport is highly anisotropic in ordered crystals, and suggest to utilize large power factors in the direction of polymer backbone and low lattice thermal conductivity in the stacking and lamellar directions, which is viable in chain-oriented amorphous nanofibers.

Quantitative understanding of the photophysical processes is essential for developing novel thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials. Taking as an example 1,2,3,5-tetrakis­(carbazol-9-yl)-4,6-dicyanobenzene, a typical TADF-active molecule, we calculated the interconversion and decay rates of the lowest excited singlet and triplet states at different temperatures as well as the prompt and delayed fluorescence efficiencies at 300 K at the first-principles level. Our results can reproduce well the experimentally available data. It is found that the reverse intersystem crossing rate (k RISC) is sharply increased by 3 orders of magnitude, while the other rates increase slightly or remain unchanged when the temperature rises from 77 to 300 K. Importantly, k RISC reaches up to 1.23 × 106 s–1 and can compete with the radiative and nonradiative decay rates of S1 (1.11 × 107 and 2.37 × 105 s–1) at 300 K, leading to an occurrence of delayed fluorescence. In addition, our calculations indicate that it is the freely rotational motions of the carbazolyl between two cyano groups that are responsible for the interconversion between S1 and T1. The large torsional barriers of other three adjacent carbazolyl groups block the nonradiative decay channels of S1 → S0, leading to strong fluorescence. This work would provide useful insight into the molecular design of high-efficiency TADF emitters.

An approach is developed for the four-electron oxidation of water to provide dioxygen that involves the juxtaposition of two Ru(II) centers such that a metal-bound water molecule might interact with one or both of the metals. The key element in this approach is an appropriate bridging ligand that will hold the metal assembly intact through the full redox cycle. Various synthetic approaches to such ligands are described with the ultimate preparation of four closely related bis-tridentate polypyridine-type systems in which the bridging and distal portions of the ligand are varied. All of these ligands self-assemble with two Ru(II) centers bridged by a Cl ion in the equatorial plane and four axial monodentate substituted pyridines or N-methylimidazoles to form the well-organized catalyst complexes. These complexes are characterized by their distinctive (1)H NMR spectra as well as an X-ray structure of one representative species. The photophysical and electrochemical features of these complexes are consistent with electronegativity and delocalization effects in the equatorial and axial ligands. Of the 14 complexes studied, all but 2, which each contain four axial N-methylimidazole ligands, catalyze the decomposition of water in the presence of excess Ce(IV) as a sacrificial oxidant at pH = 1. Both the rates of oxygen evolution and the catalyst turnover numbers (TNs) are measured. For the active catalysts, the relative rates vary from 1 to 51 and the TNs measure from 80 to 689. Various analytical methods for making these measurements are discussed, and it is found that there is an approximately linear relationship between the rate and TN. Future work will involve optimization of these systems and studies aimed at a better understanding of the mechanism.

In general, optical emission in the solid-state is red-shifted with respect to the solution phase. A series of recently synthesized compounds exhibits aggregation induced blue-shifted emission (AIBSE) phenomena. By employing a polarizable continuum model (PCM) and a hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) approach, we investigate the excited-state electronic structures of some typical AIE-active molecules both in solvents and in aggregates at the time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) level. It is found that the AIBSE phenomena originate from the smaller reorganization energy in aggregates than in the solution phase, as evidenced through the restricted structural relaxation, planarization in the excited state, and freezing of low-frequency out-of-plane twists in the transition state.