Themed collection Most popular 2018-2019 materials chemistry articles

As the field of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) continues to grow, the physical stability and mechanical properties of these porous materials has become a topic of great interest.

This perspective article reviews recent progress in rational synthesis of conductive polymer hydrogels utilizing doping principles and their applications in advanced sensor technologies.

Dopants for small molecule-based organic hole-transport layers impact both perovskite solar cells initial performance and long-term stability.

An overview of recent advances in measuring and understanding the exceptionally high and anisotropic H⁺/OH⁻ ion conductivities of representative 2D materials.

This review summarizes recent advances in the design and synthesis of stable MOFs and highlights the relationships between the stability and functional applications.

Integrating automation with artificial intelligence will enable scientists to spend more time identifying important problems and communicating critical insights, accelerating discovery and development of materials for emerging and future technologies.

Difluorenylidene dihydroanthracene with a butterfly-like structure exhibits both aggregation induced emission (AIE) and thermally activated ground-state spin switching properties.

The carbazolophane (Czp) donor unit is introduced to the design pool of donors in TADF emitters.

The development of low-dimensional perovskite micro/nanostructures with high water stability for novel photonic/electronic applications is highly desirable.

Highly crystalline, monodisperse, imine-linked covalent organic framework nanoparticles were obtained under Sc(OTf)₃-catalyzed conditions and enlarged by a slow monomer addition technique that prevents secondary nucleation.

Facile synthesis and bio-applications of a series of AIEgens with widely tunable emissions ranging from violet to near-infrared are reported.

Novel biocompatible NIR-II aggregation-induced emission dots are facilely assembled and used for NIR-II biomedical fluorescence imaging.

A highly thermostable carbonatoperoxovanadate, Cs₃VO(O₂)₂CO₃, exhibits a remarkably strong SHG response of approximately 23.0 times that of KDP, which is the largest among those of the reported NLO carbonate materials.

In this study, we, for the first time, report a high Cu solubility of 11.8% in single crystal SnSe microbelts synthesized via a facile solvothermal route.

This article presents a new strategy to achieve white-light emission from single tetraphenylethylene-substituted pyrenes (TPE-Pys) with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics.

Electrical conductivity is engendered in a pyrene containing hexa-zirconium(IV) metal–organic framework by physically encapsulating fullerenes within MOF cavity.

The surface charge and chemistry of a protein determines its ability to facilitate biomimetic mineralisation.

A new concept of formyl group induced ACQ to AIEE transformation is established in naphthalimide congeners. Also, ultradetection of hydrazine via Schiff base complexation over multiple platforms is presented.

Including defects in a ribbon-shaped nanographene leads to a new combination of optical properties: TPA-based upconversion and CPL.

The first water-soluble NIR AIEgen was synthesized and used for ultrafast wash-free cellular imaging and photodynamic cancer cell ablation.

PDFT1032, a new semiconducting polymer possessing a favorable absorption peak (1032 nm) and outstanding biocompatibility, may be widely applicable in clinical imaging and the surgical treatment of malignancy.

1A series of hyperbranched poly(β-amino ester) polymers have been synthesized via a Michael addition approach for the fabrication of hydrogels for wound healing.

Ni₂P@FePO_x has been synthesized via extraction and selective phosphorization of nickel in NiFe-LDH, and then conversed to a new heterostructure of Ni₂P@NiFe hydroxide (P-NiFe) during water splitting. P-NiFe can act as an efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst for overall water splitting.

The photophysical properties of four new quinoxaline derivatives featuring both AIE and TADF characteristics were controlled to give high EQEs.

Single crystalline zero-dimensional organic metal halide hybrids have been developed.

Helicene-bis-diketopyrrolopyrrole derivatives display strong circular dichroism and red circularly polarized emission originating from exciton coupling chirality.

As societal challenges go, the development of efficient biorefineries as a means of reducing our dependence on petroleum refineries is high on the list.

A double-hierarchical sulfur host has been synthesized in which hierarchical carbon spheres, constructed from building blocks of hollow carbon nanobubbles used for loading sulfur, are sealed by a polar MoS₂ coating that is composed of ultrathin nanosheets (MoS₂@HCS composite).

A type I Ru(II) photosensitizer retained an excellent PDT effect under hypoxia through the formation of highly-oxidative hydroxyl radicals under light irradiation.

The microscopic interfacial structures for a series of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs)/polymer composites consisting of the Zr-based UiO-66 coupled with different polymers are systematically explored by applying a computational methodology that integrates density functional theory calculations and force field-based molecular dynamics simulations.