Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Kathleen M. Snook, Leo B. Zasada, Dina Chehada, Dianne J. Xiao
Summary: The morphology of electrically conductive metal-organic frameworks greatly influences their performance in energy storage and electrochemical sensing. This study reveals how partial ligand oxidation influences the morphology of Cu-3(HHTP)(2), a 2D conductive metal-organic framework, and highlights the impact of ligand oxidation on the nucleation and growth of such frameworks.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Renhua Deng, Xi Mao, Samuel Pearce, Jia Tian, Yifan Zhang, Ian Manners
Summary: Low dispersity 2D platelet micelles with controllable surface patterns were prepared by seeded-growth/living crystallization driven self-assembly method. The morphology of the micelles can be controlled by adjusting various parameters such as the proportion of the corona block, the crystallization rate ratio, and the polymer structure.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Kaikai Liu, Yujie Luo, Yongbin Jin, Tianxiao Liu, Yuming Liang, Liu Yang, Peiquan Song, Zhiyong Liu, Chengbo Tian, Liqiang Xie, Zhanhua Wei
Summary: Moisture treatment plays an important role in promoting the mass transportation of organic salts, improving the quality of perovskites, and achieving a champion device efficiency approaching 24%.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Wenshuai Wu, Simon Chun Kiat Goh, Gaozhe Cai, Shilun Feng, Boran Zhang
Summary: We developed a digital GUS assay using a microfluidic chip to rapidly identify and quantify Escherichia coli (E. coli). This method demonstrates high specificity and feasibility, and has the potential for on-site E. coli analysis, diagnosis of infections, antimicrobial susceptibility testing, and warning of fecal pollution in water.
ANALYTICA CHIMICA ACTA
(2024)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Liang Chai, Yiqun Wang, Zirui Jia, Zhixin Liu, Shiyi Zhou, Qinchuan He, Haiying Du, Guanglei Wu
Summary: The micromorphology of absorbent materials significantly impacts microwave absorption performance, and using hierarchically structured HDNCO can improve impedance matching and absorption performance. The Ostwald ripening process alters the structure and morphology of HDNCO, leading to enhanced absorption properties. This study provides important guidance for the structural design of high-performance microwave absorbers.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
(2022)
Article
Materials Science, Ceramics
Bo Ren, Jingjing Liu, Jia-Min Wu, Ting Wang, Chuanbao Liu, Haiyang Chen, Bin Li, Junhong Chen
Summary: In this study, a gelation network-triggered morphology-regulation strategy was employed by incorporating boehmite sol into andalusite suspension to stabilize the foam framework, resulting in porous ceramics with homogeneous bubble structure and good performance. This approach significantly expands the design philosophy of high performance porous ceramics.
JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN CERAMIC SOCIETY
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Nan He, Yongfang Yang, Haonan Wang, Fan Li, Bo Jiang, Dawei Tang, Lin Li
Summary: Emerging solar interfacial evaporation is the most promising solution to the freshwater crisis. However, the challenge lies in the conflict between resisting salt accumulation and maintaining high evaporation performance. This study proposes an ion-transfer engineering using a Janus ion-selective hydrogel, which enables effective salt removal and reduces heat loss. The experimental results show a record-high evaporation rate of 6.86 kg m(-2) h(-1) in 15 wt% brine, indicating great potential for future salt-resistant evaporators.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Feifan Lang, Daljit C. N. G. Singh, Abhishek B. Rao, Catherine Romer, James S. Wright, Rebecca Smith, Harry Adams, Lee Brammer
Summary: This article reports the synthesis and crystal structures of a family of silver(I)-perfluorocarboxylatequinoxaline coordination polymers. Through solid-state heating reaction, new crystal structures were obtained under certain conditions. One of the crystal materials shows a remarkably high dielectric constant.
CHEMISTRY-A EUROPEAN JOURNAL
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Veronica Montes-Garcia, Paolo Samori
Summary: This article summarizes the recent research progress on Janus 2D materials, focusing on the unique properties and potential applications brought about by decorating both sides of the surfaces.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Ziyi Miao, Cindy Y. Zheng, George C. Schatz, Byeongdu Lee, Chad A. Mirkin
Summary: The study focuses on assembling nanoparticles of different shapes using DNA on substrates and investigating their reorganization into two-dimensional crystalline films under thermal conditions. Two new low-density 2D structures were reported, including a honeycomb lattice based on octahedral nanoparticles.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Daniel Corzo, Tonghui Wang, Murali Gedda, Emre Yengel, Jafar Khan, Ruipeng Li, Muhammad Rizwan Niazi, Zhengjie Huang, Taesoo Kim, Derya Baran, Dali Sun, Frederic Laquai, Thomas D. Anthopoulos, Aram Amassian
Summary: This article presents a universal cosolvent evaporation strategy for the fabrication of metal halide perovskite single crystals and arrays at room temperature. The strategy controls the drying process of droplets to produce consistent single crystals of various types of perovskites. It works with commonly used precursors and solvents, enabling large-scale production of single crystal arrays. The approach also demonstrates the fabrication of perovskite photodetector devices on chips.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Hoai T. B. Pham, Ji Yong Choi, Shaofeng Huang, Xubo Wang, Adam Claman, Michael Stodolka, Sadegh Yazdi, Sandeep Sharma, Wei Zhang, Jihye Park
Summary: The development of 2D electrically conductive metal-organic frameworks (EC-MOFs) has expanded the applications of MOFs. This study presents a new EC-MOF with a large surface area, high electrical conductivity, and tunable particle size. The framework also utilizes functional groups to host heterometal ions, providing new opportunities for expanding the library of EC-MOFs and exploring electronic applications.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Chenxu Han, Yao Wang, Jiabei Yuan, Jianguo Sun, Xuliang Zhang, Claudio Cazorla, Xianxin Wu, Ziang Wu, Junwei Shi, Junjun Guo, Hehe Huang, Long Hu, Xinfeng Liu, Han Young Woo, Jianyu Yuan, Wanli Ma
Summary: In this study, polyelectrolyte P3CT-BA was used to improve the lifetime and fabrication efficiency of Ruddlesden-Popper phase 2D perovskite solar cells (PSCs). By tuning the properties of P3CT-BA, the contact between perovskite and hole-transport layer was improved, leading to high-efficiency and large-area 2D perovskite minimodules.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2022)
Article
Physics, Applied
Peter A. Hegarty, Lukas M. Eng, Michael Ruesing
Summary: Second harmonic (SH) microscopy is a powerful tool for studying crystalline systems, including ferroelectrics and their domain walls. This study demonstrates the generation of SH signals in bulk media and the inhibition of the Cerenkov mechanism using anomalous dispersion. The relative strength of the Cerenkov compared to other SH contrast mechanisms in domain walls can be quantitatively estimated.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Chao Luo, Guanhaojie Zheng, Feng Gao, Xianjin Wang, Yao Zhao, Xingyu Gao, Qing Zhao
Summary: In this study, highly oriented 2D perovskite seeds were introduced to optimize the growth kinetics of 3D perovskite, resulting in a high-quality mixed-dimensional perovskite film with superior PCE and FF.
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Xavier Chevalier, Cindy Gomes Correia, Gwenaelle Pound-Lana, Philippe Bezard, Matthieu Serege, Camille Petit-Etienne, Guillaume Gay, Gilles Cunge, Benjamin Cabannes-Boue, Celia Nicolet, Christophe Navarro, Ian Cayrefourcq, Marcus Mueller, Georges Hadziioannou, Ilias Iliopoulos, Guillaume Fleury, Marc Zelsmann
Summary: This study introduces a novel top-coat material that can mechanically confine the BCP layer through cross-linking reactions, suppressing dewetting while promoting perpendicular orientation, addressing critical issues in DSA. Selection of areas of interest directly on the TC layer and lithography steps can generate locally controlled BCP patterns and nanostructured BCP multilayers.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2021)
Article
Biophysics
Y. G. Smirnova, M. Mueller
Summary: Molecular simulations show that strong membrane curvature significantly increases the thermodynamic stability of the hourglass-shaped connection between vesicles, while the reduction of the barrier to stalk formation is due to the lower dehydration free energy required for highly curved vesicles compared to apposing, planar membranes.
EUROPEAN BIOPHYSICS JOURNAL WITH BIOPHYSICS LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Polymer Science
Yaron Aviv, Esra Altay, Ofer Burg, Marcus Mueller, Javid Rzayev, Roy Shenhar
Summary: The research demonstrates that the nature of the substrate has a significant impact on the self-assembled morphology and surface patterns of bottlebrush block copolymers with different side-chain lengths in films, despite the typical tendency of these polymers to form lamellar structures. By manipulating the substrate chemistry, unique morphologies can be induced in bottlebrush block copolymer films.
Article
Polymer Science
Alireza F. Behbahani, Ludwig Schneider, Anastassia Rissanou, Anthony Chazirakis, Petra Bacova, Pritam Kumar Jana, Wei Li, Manolis Doxastakis, Patrycja Polinska, Craig Burkhart, Marcus Mueller, Vagelis A. Harmandaris
Summary: A hierarchical simulation methodology is proposed for predicting the dynamical and rheological properties of entangled polymer melts, which includes atomistic, moderately coarse-grained (mCG), and highly coarse-grained slip-spring (SLSP) simulations. The methodology matches local structural distributions of the different levels and uses compensating pair potentials to keep static macromolecular properties unaltered.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Steven Gottlieb, Louis Pigard, Yu Kyoung Ryu, Matteo Lorenzoni, Laura Evangelio, Marta Fernandez-Regulez, Colin D. Rawlings, Martin Spieser, Francesc Perez-Murano, Marcus Mueller, Armin W. Knoll
Summary: The study presents a probe-based thermal-imaging technique that can achieve sub-10 nm lateral resolution and sub-10 ms pixel rate. Through investigating microphase-separated PS-b-PMMA block copolymers, the study reveals asymmetry in the heat flux signal and the heat flux ratio between both polymers in different geometries. Comparison with coarse-grained molecular simulations shows enhanced transport along the macromolecular backbone and Kapitza resistance at internal interfaces of the self-assembled structure.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Marcus Mueller
Summary: Using analytical considerations and particle-based simulations, this study investigates the relaxation of a density modulation in a polymer system without nonbonded interactions. The results demonstrate that shallow density modulations, prepared by different processes but with identical amplitudes and wavevectors, exhibit different nonexponential decay behaviors, challenging the assumption that density alone characterizes the polymer system configuration. Analytic descriptions within Linear-Response Theory (LRT) and the Rouse model are provided, showing quantitative agreement with the particle-based simulations.
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS
(2022)
Article
Polymer Science
Cody T. Bezik, Joshua A. Mysona, Ludwig Schneider, Abelardo Ramirez-Hernandez, Marcus Mueller, Juan J. de Pablo
Summary: A new mesophase in binary blends of A-b-(BA')3 miktoarm star block copolymers and A homopolymers has been discovered, consisting of aperiodic discrete domains of A embedded in a continuous matrix of B. Molecular bridging dominates the mechanical behavior of the mesophase, outweighing the influence of microphase segregation. The application of shear leads to a closer structure resembling its speculated discrete nature.
Article
Polymer Science
Gaoyuan Wang, Marcus Mueller
Summary: This study investigates the interplay between elasticity and microphase separation in quasi-two-dimensional phantom networks formed by AB diblock copolymers. Computer simulations and phenomenological considerations show that network elasticity has a minor role in the system when the stretching is weak. As the stretching increases, the incompatibility for the order-disorder transition decreases, and a multigrain state with tilted lamellae is observed at intermediate stretching.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
David Steffen, Ludwig Schneider, Marcus Mueller, Joerg Rottler
Summary: This paper investigates the spatiotemporal autocorrelation of shear stress in a supercooled fluid close to the glass transition using molecular dynamics simulations. The results show anisotropic correlations and strongly damped oscillations at non-zero wavevectors. The experimental findings are in good quantitative agreement with a recently developed hydrodynamic theory.
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS
(2022)
Article
Polymer Science
Gaoyuan Wang, Annette Zippelius, Marcus Mueller
Summary: Cross-linking is a versatile strategy to stabilize the structure and control the dynamics of polymers. This study systematically investigates the phase behavior of randomly cross-linked diblock copolymer melts and reveals the significant influence of the preparation state on the phase diagram.
Article
Polymer Science
Pritam Kumar Jana, Petra Bacova, Ludwig Schneider, Hideki Kobayashi, Kai-Uwe Hollborn, Patrycja Polinska, Craig Burkhart, Vagelis A. Harmandaris, Marcus Mueller
Summary: The theological properties of polymer composites depend on the interfacial interactions between solid fillers and a polymer fluid. This study presents a simulation strategy called the wall-spring thermostat, which uses transient bonds to mimic the interactions between the polymer and the solid surface. The density and lifetime of these transient bonds can be adjusted to control the single-chain and collective dynamics of the polymer at the surface. The simulation technique allows for the capture of dynamic heterogeneities at surfaces.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Kai-Uwe Hollborn, Ludwig Schneider, Marcus Muller
Summary: Highly coarse-grained (hCG) linear polymer models, based on dissipative particle dynamics (DPD), allow for studying long time and length scales. This top-down strategy uses relevant interactions, such as molecular connectivity, and coarse-grained invariants, like the mean-squared end-to-end distance, to describe the equilibrium behavior of long, flexible macromolecules. However, describing the dynamics of long, entangled polymers is challenging because hCG models do not enforce the noncrossability of molecular backbones. One technique to mimic entanglements in hCG models is slip-springs, which has shown quantitative agreement with simulations, experiments, and theoretical predictions.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY B
(2022)
Article
Polymer Science
Oliver Dreyer, Gregor Ibbeken, Ludwig Schneider, Niklas Blagojevic, Maryam Radjabian, Volker Abetz, Marcus Mueller
Summary: In this study, the self-assembly of asymmetric diblock copolymers during solvent evaporation was investigated using particle-based Monte Carlo simulations and continuum modeling. The effects of evaporation rate and solvent selectivity on structure formation, particularly the alignment of minority block cylinders, were examined. Comparing the two simulation techniques helped identify general trends with parameter variation and understand the role of single-chain dynamics, fluctuations, and additional model details.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Felix Weissenfeld, Lucia Wesenberg, Masaki Nakahata, Marcus Mueller, Motomu Tanaka
Summary: The interactions between vesicle and substrate were investigated using simulation and experiment. Polyacrylic acid brushes with cysteine side chains were grafted onto planar lipid membranes. The addition of Cd2+ ions compacted the polymer brushes and influenced the adhesion of lipid vesicles. Wetting of the vesicles occurred at [CdCl2] = 0.25 mM. The shape and adhesion of vesicles were quantitatively evaluated, and simulations revealed that wetting sensitivity was dependent on the interaction range.
Article
Polymer Science
Niklas Blagojevic, Marcus Mueller
Summary: Using a particle-based model, a free-energy functional, and a lattice model, this study investigates the structure and motion of a grain boundary between two orthogonal grains in asymmetric block copolymers. The study reveals insights into transitions and correlations in space and time. By characterizing the system using a free-energy functional and calculating the minimum free-energy path, the study identifies a minimal set of transitions. The results are used to parametrize a lattice model and investigate grain-boundary motion by kinetic Monte Carlo simulation.