In the advent of next‐generation smart windows, materials play a multifunctional role, providing not only a pleasant environment for humans but also energy‐efficient buildings and transportation. To this ends, smart windows tend to integrate multiple functions with the purpose of controlling external or sunlight input, self‐power functionality, and display functionality. Among the several chromogenic mechanisms, electrochromic methods are fast and simple to control. Here, the recent electrochromic research on the integration of different functionalities is reviewed. Efforts toward the combination of functionalities have led to synergetic and technical breakthroughs over the years. These include development of new electrochromic polymers by main chain, as well as, side chain engineering, morphology and assembly control, and nanostructurization. In this context, electrochemical principles for smart windows offer easier integration of functionalities due to the integrative principles in common working mechanisms for color, energy, and information carrier controls. Some examples of multifunction devices are electrochromic capacitive windows, self‐powered smart windows, and electrochromic‐luminescent windows. Herein, discussed are the electrochromism from polymers and the electrochemically driven smart windows with two or more functionalities, which give rise to an innovative material with cooperative functions, featuring energy storage, energy generation, or light emission.
Fluorescent nanoparticles built from aggregation-induced emission-active organic molecules (AIE-FONs) have emerged as powerful tools in life science research for in vivo bioimaging of organs, biosensing, and therapy. However, the practical use of such biotracers has been hindered owing to the difficulty of designing bright nanoparticles with controlled dimensions (typically below 200 nm), narrow size dispersity and long shelf stability. In this article, we present a very simple yet effective approach to produce monodisperse sub-200 nm AIE fluorescent organic solid dispersions with excellent redispersibility and colloidal stability in aqueous medium by combination of nanoprecipitation and freeze-drying procedures. By selecting polymer additives that simultaneously act as stabilizers, promoters of amorphous-crystalline transition, and functionalization/cross-linking platforms, we demonstrate a straightforward access to stable nanocrystalline FONs that exhibit significantly higher brightness than their amorphous precursors and constitute efficient probes for in vivo imaging of the normal and tumor vasculature. FONs design principles reported here are universal, applicable to a range of fluorophores with different chemical structures and crystallization abilities, and are suitable for high-throughput production and manufacturing of functional imaging probes.
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