Photoluminescence (PL) of nonconjugated polymers brings a favorable opportunity for low-cost and nontoxic luminescent materials, while most of them still exhibit relatively weak emission. Strong PL from poly[(maleic anhydride)-alt-(vinyl acetate)] (PMV) from low-cost monomer has been found in organic solvents, yet the necessity of noxious solvents would hinder its practical applications. Herein, through a novel, eco-friendly, and one-step route, PMV-derived PL polymers can be fabricated with the highest quantum yield of 87% among water-soluble nonconjugated PL polymers ever reported. These PMV-derived polymers emit strong blue emission in both solutions and solids, and can be transformed into red-emission agents easily. These PL polymers exhibit application potentials in light-conversion agricultural films. It is assumed that this work not only puts forward a convenient preparation routine for nonconjugated polymers with high PL, but also provides an industrial application possibility for them.

New multicolored AIE photoluminescent polymers were prepared through pH induction and could be applied in white light-emitting diodes.

A novel heteroatoms (N, P, S and Fe) quaternary-doped carbon (HQDC-X, X refers to the pyrolysis temperature) can be fabricated by directly pyrolyzing a gram-negative bacteria, S. oneidensis MR-1 as precursors at 800 °C, 900 °C and 1000 °C under argon atmosphere. These HQDC-X catalysts maintain the cylindrical shape of bacteria after pyrolysis under high temperatures, while heteroatoms including N, P, S and Fe distribute homogeneously on the carbon frameworks. As a result, HQDC-X catalysts exhibit excellent electrocatalytic activity for ORR via a dominant four-electron oxygen reduction pathway in alkaline medium, which is comparable with that of commercial Pt/C. More importantly, HQDC-X catalysts show better tolerance for methanol crossover and CO poisoning effects, long-term durability than commercial Pt/C, which could be promising alternatives to costly Pt-based electrocatalysts for ORR. The method may provide a promising avenue to develop cheap ORR catalysts from inexpensive, scalable and biological recursors.

Sulfur, trace nitrogen and iron codoped, hierarchically porous carbon foams (HPCFs) were fabricated by directly pyrolyzing sulfur-enriched conductive polymer, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiphene)-polystyrenesulfonic acid (PEDOT-PSS) aerogels under argon atmosphere. This simple pyrolysis treatment results in the molecular rearrangement of heteroatom sulfur, adjacent carbons and trace nitrogen/iron from oxidants to form active catalytic sites of HPCFs. At the same time, the high porosity of HPCFs provides the large surface area for the uniform distribution of active sites, and allows rapid oxygen transport and diffusion. As a result, these HPCFs exhibit the enhanced catalytic performances for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) via a direct four-electron reduction pathway in alkaline electrolyte. Besides, they also display a higher stability and better methanol/CO tolerance than the commercial Pt/C catalyst, which makes them promising low cost, non-precious-metal ORR catalysts for practical application in fuel cells and metal-air batteries.

Metal macro-cyclic compounds have drawn considerable attention as alternative catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction. However, the continuous pyrolysis process usually needed for improving the performance of these compounds require an elevated temperature and complicated procedures, thus leading to an unpredictable transformation of the chemical structures and limiting their applications. Herein, we develop a new insight to fabricating hemin-doped poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) with controllable three-dimensional nanostructures via a one-step, tri-phase, self-assembled polymerization routine. We demonstrate that the hemin-induced synergistic effect results in a very high 4-electron oxygen reduction activity, a better stability, and free from methanol crossover effects even in a neutral phosphate buffer solution (PBS).