Abstract:Research on block copolymers (BCPs) has played a critical role in the development of polymer chemistry, with numerous pivotal contributions that have advanced our ability to prepare, characterize, theoretically model, and technologically exploit this class of materials in a myriad of ways in the fields of chemistry, physics, material sciences, and biological and medical sciences. The breathtaking progress has been driven by the advancement in experimental techniques enabling the synthesis and characterization of a wide range of block copolymers with tailored composition, architectures, and properties. In this review, we briefly discussed the recent progress in BCP synthesis, followed by a discussion of the fundamentals of self-assembly of BCPs along with their applications.

Due to its significant applications in many relevant fields, light detection in the solar-blind deep-ultraviolet (DUV) wavelength region is a subject of great interest for both scientific and industrial communities. The rapid advances in preparing high-quality ultrawide-bandgap (UWBG) semiconductors have enabled the realization of various high-performance DUV photodetectors (DUVPDs) with different geometries, which provide an avenue for circumventing numerous disadvantages in traditional DUV detectors. This article presents a comprehensive review of the applications of inorganic UWBG semiconductors for solar-blind DUV light detection in the past several decades. Different kinds of DUVPDs, which are based on varied UWBG semiconductors including Ga 2 O 3 , Mg x Zn 1−x O, III-nitride compounds (Al x Ga 1−x N/AlN and BN), diamond, etc., and operate on different working principles, are introduced and discussed systematically. Some emerging techniques to optimize device performance are addressed as well. Finally, the existing techniques are summarized and future challenges are proposed in order to shed light on development in this critical research field.with energy much higher than the semiconductor bandgap. Moreover, due to light absorption by the surface passivation layers, typically Si oxide, quantum efficiency in the DUV range is greatly reduced. The passivation layers are also easily degraded by UV illumination. Finally, for highly sensitive UV photodetection, the detectors need to be cooled to reduce dark current; the cooled detectors, however, behave like cold traps for contaminants which degrade the detectivity.In the past two decades, the emergence of UV photodetectors based on wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductors has opened up an avenue to circumvent the above-mentioned dilemma. The WBG semiconductors such as SiC, GaN, and some group II-V compounds, typically have bandgaps exceeding ≈3.10 eV, enabling room-temperature detectors to possess fast response speed, and offering intrinsic visible-blindness (response cutoff wavelength: ≈400 nm). [14][15][16] Moreover, these semiconductors generally possess significantly higher thermal conductivity than Si, which renders them suitable for operation in harsh environments (e.g., high temperature and high power). The electron velocity of these materials at large electric fields is generally higher than that of common semiconductors, although WBG semiconductors exhibit relatively lower electron and hole mobilities. Compared with the abovementioned conventional WBG semiconductors, ultrawide-bandgap (UWBG) semiconductors, as the next generation of semiconductor materials with bandgaps significantly wider than the 3.4 eV of GaN, are particularly suitable for solar-blind DUV light detection. [17][18][19][20]

The unique properties of ionic liquids (ILs) have made them promising candidates for electrochemical applications. Polymerization of the corresponding ILs results in a new class of materials called polymerized ionic liquids (PolyILs). Though PolyILs offer the possibility to combine the high conductivity of ILs and the high mechanical strength of polymers, their conductivities are typically much lower than that of the corresponding small molecule ILs. In the present work, seven PolyILs were synthesized having degrees of polymerization ranging from 1 to 333, corresponding to molecular weights (MW) from 482 to 160 400 g/mol. Depolarized dynamic light scattering, broadband dielectric spectroscopy, rheology, and differential scanning calorimetry were employed to systematically study the influence of MW on the mechanism of ionic transport and segmental dynamics in these materials. The modified Walden plot analysis reveals that the ion conductivity transforms from being closely coupled with structural relaxation to being strongly decoupled from it as MW increases.

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Fluorinated bottlebrush polymers thin films showed unique surface properties.

Four Ag-based coordination polymers [Ag(Bim)] (1), [Ag2(NIPH)(HBim)] (2), [Ag6(4-NPTA)(Bim)4] (3) and [Ag2(3-NPTA)(bipy)0.5(H2O)] (4) (HBim = 1H-benzimidazole, bipy = 4,4'-bipyridyl, H2NIPH = 5-nitroisophthalic acid, H2NPTA = 3-/4-nitrophthalic acid) have been synthesized by hydrothermal reaction of Ag(i) salts with N-/O-donor ligands. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction indicated that these coordination polymers constructed from mononuclear or polynuclear silver building blocks exhibit three typical structure features from 1-D to 3-D frameworks. These compounds favour a slow release of Ag(+) ions leading to excellent and long-term antimicrobial activities, which is distinguished by their different topological structures, towards both Gram-negative bacteria, Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Gram-positive bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). In addition, these compounds show good thermal stability and light stability under UV-vis and visible light, which are important characteristics for their further application in antibacterial agents.

HighlightA new vegetation index insensitive to adaxial and abaxial leaf surfaces was proposed in this paper to accurately estimate leaf chlorophyll content.

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