Our results indicate that a well-designed simple post-processing process can boost the efficiency of thermoelectric power generators made of conjugated polymer thin films.

This paper describes a sequential doping/dedoping method for the enhancement of thermoelectric properties of organic semiconductor that also permits the fabrication of transparent and flexible thermoelectric nanofilms. This method allows a precise control of oxidation level without deterioration of the film surface defects.

Uniform microspheres using a fluidic device: A simple fluidic device is demonstrated to produce uniform microspheres with sizes ranging from 30 to 250 µm (see image). A tapping method with a concave glass is also developed to crystallize these microspheres into close‐packed lattices. These techniques provide a powerful strategy for the scalable and continuous production of microspheres, as well as their crystalline lattices.

We have demonstrated that unsubstituted thiophene can be polymerized by Fe3+‐catalyzed oxidative polymerization inside nanosized thiophene monomer droplets, that is, nanoreactors, dispersed in aqueous medium, which can be performed under acidic solution conditions with anionic surfactant. Besides, we proposed a synthetic mechanism for the formation of the unsubstituted polythiophene nanoparticles in aqueous medium. This facile method includes a FeCl3/H2O2 (catalyst/oxidant) combination system, which guarantees a high conversion (ca. 99%) of thiophene monomers with only a trace of FeCl3. The average particle size was about 30 nm, within a narrow particle‐size distribution (PDI = 1.15), which resulted in a good dispersion state of the unsubstituted polythiophene nanoparticles. Hansen solubility parameters were introduced to interpret the dispersion state of the polythiophene nanoparticles with various organic solvents. The UV–Visible absorption and photoluminescence (PL) spectrum were measured to investigate the light emitting properties of the prepared unsubstituted polythiophene nanoparticle emulsions. According to non‐normalized PL analysis, the reduced total PL intensity of the polythiophene nanoparticle emulsions can be rationalized by self‐absorption in a wavelength range less than 500 nm. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 2097–2107, 2008

Block copolymers are made up of blocks of different polymerized monomers. Among the block copolymers, amphiphilic block copolymers can self-assemble to form nano-sized vehicles, such as micelles, nanoparticles, polymersomes, in aqueous or non-aqueous media. This review describes the synthesis, formation, and major applications of amphiphilic block copolymer and corresponding vehicles in order to provide an overview of the current features of functionalized block copolymers for drug delivery applications.

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Microcapsules containing fragrant oil (Foral oil) were synthesized via the in situ polymerization method using melamine-formaldehyde (M-F) as a wall material. The encapsulation efficiency and other physical properties were analysed with varying formaldehyde/melamine (F/M) mole ratio and pH of emulsion medium. The pH of the reaction medium was varied from 5.0-6.0 and the F/M molar ratio, 2.3 - 5.5. Microcapsules containing fragrant oil were synthesized successfully and their particle sizes ranged from 12-15 micro m. Encapsulation efficiency of fragrant oil varied from 67-81%. It was found that both pH and F/M molar ratio have an effect on the separation of M-F prepolymer, consequently the morphology of the surface of the microcapsule was changed as well as encapsulation efficiency. The encapsulation mechanism, focusing on the liquid-liquid phase separation of methylolmelamines and formation of M-F precursor particle, was described to explain the surface morphology and encapsulation efficiency.

A synthetic methodology based on microfluidics has been developed to fabricate monodisperse polymer Janus particles by UV-directed phase separation.