Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Xitao Liu, Zhenyue Wu, Tong Guan, Haidong Jiang, Peiqing Long, Xiaoqi Li, Chengmin Ji, Shuang Chen, Zhihua Sun, Junhua Luo
Summary: Most known electrocaloric materials exhibit poor cooling performance near room temperature, limiting their applications. The emerging family of hybrid perovskite ferroelectrics shows superior performance, offering an ideal platform for achieving room temperature solid-state refrigeration with large electrocaloric effects.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Yusuf Abdullahi Hassan, Lei Chen, Xinwei Geng, Zheye Jiang, Fan Zhang, Shibin Luo, Hailong Hu
Summary: The study found that ferroelectric polymer nanocomposites composed of boron nitrate fibers (BNf) + BCZT@BaTiO3(f) + PVDF have superior cooling power and energy storage density, with a cooling power density of 162.2 W/cm(3) and energy storage density of 33.4 J/cm(3).
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2021)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Abhisikta Barman, Subhashree Chatterjee, Canlin Ou, Yau Yau Tse, Niladri Banerjee, Sohini Kar-Narayan, Anuja Datta, Devajyoti Mukherjee
Summary: A large electrocaloric effect is achieved through a strain-engineered Ba0.85Ca0.15Ti0.9Zr0.1O3 (BCZT) thin film heterostructure, demonstrating a broad second-order phase transition and unprecedented adiabatic temperature change of up to 13.5 K at 430 K in the BCZT/LSMO heterostructure. These effects have the potential to enhance relative cooling powers.
Article
Polymer Science
Liqi Kang, Donglin Han, Liang Hong, Lirong Zheng, Xiaoshi Qian
Summary: The development of efficient cooling technologies, especially electrocaloric materials, is crucial for addressing global warming. Understanding the underlying mechanisms of electrocaloric effects is necessary for advancing their development. Previous studies estimated the maximum temperature change using a polarization model, but it is more relevant to assess the electrocaloric effect under continuously changing electric fields to simulate real-world conditions.
Article
Physics, Applied
Chi Hou Lei, Yunya Liu
Summary: This study establishes the correlations between local electrocaloric responses and domains in ferroelectric crystals and investigates the local electrocaloric responses in different domain structures. The results reveal the characteristics of local electrocaloric responses in different domain walls and show good agreement between simulations and experimental measurements. Furthermore, increasing domain wall density can multiplicatively enhance the macroscopic average electrocaloric response in ferroelectrics.
APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Xin Chen, Wenyi Zhu, Alexander S. Rattner, Q. M. Zhang
Summary: Caloric cooling technologies, particularly those based on the electrocaloric (EC) effect, have the potential to be environmentally friendly and more efficient than current refrigeration systems. A self-actuated EC polymer heat pump is proposed, utilizing recent discoveries of giant EC and electromechanical responses in P(VDF-TrFE-CFE-FA) relaxor tetrapolymers. This concept enables highly efficient and compact EC heat pumps by autonomously achieving a large displacement between the heating and cooling cycles of the EC films.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICS-ENERGY
(2023)
Review
Chemistry, Physical
Liang Deng, Guangming Chen
Summary: In recent years, research on thermoelectric materials based on conjugated polymers has grown exponentially due to their advantages and potential applications. This review discusses the importance of oriented microstructure in governing polymer performance and reviews recent progress in orienting conjugated polymers for thermoelectric applications, as well as discussing the underlying mechanisms and future prospects.
Review
Chemistry, Physical
Yuan Meng, Junhong Pu, Qibing Peitz
Summary: Electrocaloric cooling technology has gained attention as an environmentally friendly and efficient alternative in the cooling community. However, the limited adiabatic temperature change of materials poses a challenge. Recent efforts have focused on designing electrocaloric cooling devices based on active heat regeneration and cascading approaches, showing promising results.
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Chao Zhang, Zhanming Dou, Shizhi Zeng, Kanghua Li, Fangfang Zeng, Wenrong Xiao, Shiyong Qiu, Guifen Fan, Shenglin Jiang, Wei Luo, Qiuyun Fu, Guangzu Zhang
Summary: This study introduces low-radius Li+ into BaZr0.2Ti0.8O3 (BZT) through ion substitution engineering, leading to a change in internal lattice stress and a significant enhancement of the ferroelectric properties in BZT ceramics. Under the conditions of 333 K and 70 kV cm-1, the adiabatic temperature change of 5.7 mol% Li2CO3-doped BZT is 1.37 K, which is higher than that of pure BZT ceramics (0.61 K). Therefore, this work provides a simple but effective approach to design high-performance electrocaloric materials for next-generation refrigeration.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Shibnath Samanta, Gopinathan Anoop, WooJun Seol, Seong Min Park, HyunJin Joh, Je Oh Choi, Dante Ahn, Sanjith Unithrattil, Hoon Kim, Jiwon Yeom, Seungbum Hong, Ji Young Jo
Summary: In this study, the performance and reliability of solution-processed Y:HfO2 thin films in electrocaloric effect (ECE) were investigated. The results showed that the Y:HfO2 thin films exhibited a large and reliable ECE response, making them suitable for on-chip microelectronic cooling devices.
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY A
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Ye Yuan, Buwei Sun, Mengyao Guo, Ming Wu, Yangfei Gao, Xiaopei Zhu, Haonan Sun, Jiantuo Zhao, Yongbin Liu, Jinghui Gao, Qida Liu, Xiaojie Lou
Summary: The electrocaloric effect in dielectric materials has been studied in alkaline-earth doped PbZrO3 thin films using a sol-gel method. It was found that Ca2+ and Sr2+ expand the antiferroelectric phase region while Ba2+ reduces it. The Pb0.9Sr0.1ZrO3 thin film exhibits an enhanced negative ECE, while the Pb0.9Ba0.1ZrO3 thin film shows a decreased negative ECE compared to the pristine PbZrO3 thin films.
JOURNAL OF ALLOYS AND COMPOUNDS
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Multidisciplinary
Xilong Kang, Shuhai Jia, Jun Peng, Hongqiang Yu, Xing Zhou
Summary: This research successfully achieved efficient electrocaloric cooling through the composite of ferroelectric materials and manufactured a high-performance EC cooling device. Compared with traditional fan cooling, EC cooling showed better performance in practical applications.
COMPOSITES PART B-ENGINEERING
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Jie Wu, Gaochao Zhao, Chengbing Pan, Kun Tao, Jie Yang, Xuebin Zhu, Peng Tong, Lihua Yin, Wenhai Song, Yuping Sun
Summary: We investigated the effect of A-site disorder on the properties of lead-free Ba1-x-ySrxCayTiO3 perovskites and found that decreasing A-site disorder leads to reduced tetragonal distortion, ferroelectric transition temperature, and the temperature of the maximum electrocaloric effect. By optimizing the A-site disorder, the highest adiabatic temperature change can be achieved.
JOURNAL OF ALLOYS AND COMPOUNDS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Lipeng Zhu, Xiangjun Meng, Jianye Zhu, Ye Zhao, Yong Li, Xihong Hao
Summary: By forming relaxor ferroelectric and constructing multilayer ceramic capacitor, enhanced room temperature ECE was achieved in lead-free material, showing promising potential for solid-state cooling applications.
JOURNAL OF ALLOYS AND COMPOUNDS
(2022)
Article
Materials Science, Ceramics
Yogendra Singh, Satyendra Singh
Summary: This study investigates the electrocaloric effect and energy storage response in lead-free (1-x)K0.5Na0.5NbO3-xBaTiO3 (KNN-xBT) ferroelectric solid solution ceramics. The results demonstrate that the materials exhibit significant electrocaloric effect, responsivity, and recoverable energy density, suggesting their potential applications in eco-friendly refrigeration technology and energy storage devices.
CERAMICS INTERNATIONAL
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Xiaojiao Yuan, Cong Wang, Lorenzo Vallan, Anh Thy Bui, Gediminas Jonusauskas, Nathan D. McClenaghan, Chloe Grazon, Sabrina Lacomme, Cyril Brochon, Hynd Remita, Georges Hadziioannou, Eric Cloutet
Summary: Organic donor-acceptor-donor (D-A-D) polymers or small molecules are extensively examined in organic solar cells for their favorable properties. However, the study of conjugated small molecules with D-A-D structures as photocatalytically active materials is limited. This research demonstrates that the photocatalytic activity can be influenced by tuning the donor and acceptor units. In particular, the EBE trimer exhibits the best photophysical, chemical, and photocatalytic properties compared to other D-A-D combinations. The results suggest that organic small molecules with D-A-D structures offer new potential for efficient solar-to-chemical energy conversion.
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Micah Barker, Tommaso Nicolini, Yasmina Al Yaman, Damien Thuau, Olga Siscan, Sasikumar Ramachandran, Eric Cloutet, Cyril Brochon, Lee J. Richter, Olivier J. Dautel, Georges Hadziioannou, Natalie Stingelin
Summary: A model mixed-conducting polymer blended with an amphiphilic block-copolymer shows significantly enhanced electro-chemical doping kinetics, resulting in faster electrochemical transistors with high transduction. This approach is robust, reproducible, and readily adaptable to other mixed conductors without exhaustive chemical modification.
MATERIALS HORIZONS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Cyril Routier, Lorenzo Vallan, Yohann Daguerre, Marta Juvany, Emin Istif, Daniele Mantione, Cyril Brochon, Georges Hadziioannou, Asa Strand, Torgny N. Nasholm, Eric Cloutet, Eleni Pavlopoulou, Eleni Stavrinidou
Summary: Increasing plants' photosynthetic efficiency is crucial for meeting the growing food demands of the population. In this study, we developed polyethyleneimine-based nanoparticles that can capture CO2 and enhance the carboxylation reaction in photosynthesis. These nanoparticles can be introduced to plants via leaf infiltration and do not have any toxic effects. Our results contribute to the development of a nanomaterials-based CO2-concentrating mechanism in plants that can potentially increase photosynthetic efficiency and overall CO2 storage.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Andrew Strang, Victoria Quiros-Cordero, Pascal Gregoire, Sara Pla, Fernando Fernandez-Lazaro, Angela Sastre-Santos, Carlos Silva-Acuna, Paul N. Stavrinou, Natalie Stingelin
Summary: This paper presents planar microcavities that are fully processed from solution, consisting of polymer-based distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) and a perylene diimide derivative (b-PDI-1) film. Strong light-matter coupling is achieved in these structures, as demonstrated by the energy-dispersion relation in reflectance and the group delay of transmitted light. The controllable production of the entire microcavity stack and the ability to precisely manipulate the refractive index of the inorganic/organic hybrid layers make it possible to design and produce microcavities with a wide spectral range of optical modes.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Xiaojiao Yuan, Neus Sunyer-Pons, Aleix Terrado, Jose Luis Leon, Georges Hadziioannou, Eric Cloutet, Katherine Villa
Summary: Small molecule organic semiconductors (SMOSs) are a new class of photocatalysts with visible light absorption, tunable bandgap, good dispersion, and solubility. This study presents a 3D-printed hierarchical porous structure based on an organic conjugated trimer, EBE, which allows for the recovery and reusability of SMOSs. The 3D-printed EBE photocatalyst exhibits a longer lifetime and higher photocatalytic activity compared to the powder-state EBE.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Florian Le Goupil, Victor Salvado, Valere Rothan, Thomas Vidil, Guillaume Fleury, Henri Cramail, Etienne Grau
Summary: Fast, low-cost, and efficient energy storage is needed to balance intermittent sustainable energy sources. High-power capacitors made with organic polymers, such as bio-based PHUs, offer a green and scalable solution. These PHUs have high permittivity, high breakdown strength, and low dielectric losses, resulting in comparable energy storage performance to petrochemical materials and high discharge efficiency.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Konstantinos Kallitsis, Anna-Maria Pappa, Zixuan Lu, Alberto Alvarez-Fernandez, Ioanna Charalambous, Sina Schack, Walther C. Traberg, Quentin Thiburce, Karan Bali, Graham Christie, Stefan Guldin, Susan Daniel, Alberto Salleo, Roisin M. Owens
Summary: This study presents a versatile method to modify the surface chemistry of conducting polymers, aiming to bridge the chemical gap between bioelectronic devices and biological systems. The surface of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) is modified to enhance the formation of cell-derived supported lipid bilayers (SLBs). The functionalized devices show improved electronic output and demonstrate the potential of this approach in membrane-on-a-chip systems.
MACROMOLECULAR MATERIALS AND ENGINEERING
(2023)
Review
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Zhengxing Peng, Natalie Stingelin, Harald Ade, Jasper J. J. Michels
Summary: In the past 30 years, research in organic electronics has made progress in understanding the relationship between structure, processing, and performance. However, the development of new materials and device fabrication still relies on time-consuming trial-and-error procedures, especially when blends are used. This review provides a concise and accessible overview of the thermodynamic and kinetic principles relevant to processing, active layer morphology, and stability of organic electronic devices based on blends, using illustrative examples from organic photovoltaics.
NATURE REVIEWS MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Florian Le Goupil, Guillaume Payrot, Sokha Khiev, Wiljan Smaal, Georges Hadziioannou
Summary: Flexible temperature sensors printed on flexible substrates using low-cost silver particle ink and screen-printing process allow temperature monitoring in wearable healthcare devices. The sensors achieve high temperature resolution of 10 m degrees C and demonstrate versatility for various applications including in situ heat flux measurements and thermal conductivity measurements on thin polymer films.
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Florent Pawula, Solene Perrot, Georges Hadziioannou, Guillaume Fleury
Summary: Among functional materials, pi-conjugated polymers are attractive for large-scale or wearable applications due to their electronic and soft-matter properties. Poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) based materials are considered as the flagships of polymer electronics because of their tunable doping level for different electronic transport behaviors. Nanopatterning of pi-conjugated polymers, such as PEDOT, is of high interest for future developments in polymer electronics and can be achieved through block copolymer lithography using self-assembled poly(styrene)-block-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PS-b-PMMA) layers as masks. By re-doping the nanotextured PEDOT:Tos layer, doped-PEDOT nanostructures with recovered electronic states can be obtained.
ORGANIC ELECTRONICS
(2023)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Aditi Khirbat, Oded Nahor, Henry Kantrow, Oladipo Bakare, Artem Levitsky, Gitti L. L. Frey, Natalie Stingelin
Summary: Blending allows for the combination of multiple properties in a material system and the creation of new features. However, blending polymers can be challenging due to their low tendency to mix. In this study, we successfully induced a wide range of phase morphologies in blends of the polymer semiconductor P3HT and PVDF, despite their limited miscibility. By manipulating the chain entanglements, we were able to establish a reliable relationship between structure, phase morphology, and properties for materials discovery.
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY C
(2023)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Natalia Pereira Menezes, Tommaso Nicolini, Micah Barker, Andre Augusto Mariano, Cesar Augusto Dartora, Guillaume Wantz, Natalie Stingelin, Mamatimin Abbas, Olivier J. Dautel, Damien Thuau
Summary: Organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) can track biological events with high sensitivity, but stable long-term electrochemical characteristics are needed for practical biosensing applications. This study demonstrates the stability of OECTs using a low swelling mixed conductor, poly[3-(6-hydroxy)hexylthiophene] (P3HHT), soaked in an electrolyte for up to 40 days, and investigates the influence of electrolyte nature on device performance.
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY C
(2023)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Brandon T. DiTullio, Xiao Kuang, Anna M. Osterholm, Augustus W. Lang, Patrick J. Kinlen, Natalie Stingelin, H. Jerry Qi, John R. Reynolds
Summary: Printable feedstocks with tunable and switchable conductivity are of interest for various applications. Combining commodity thermoplastics with conducting polymers presents new opportunities for printed electronics.
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY C
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Zixuan Lu, Chiara Barberio, Ana Fernandez-Villegas, Aimee Withers, Alexandra Wheeler, Konstantinos Kallitsis, Eleonora Martinelli, Achilleas Savva, Becky M. Hess, Anna-Maria Pappa, Gabriele S. Kaminski Schierle, Roisin M. Owens
Summary: This work reports a new system that integrates neuron membranes with organic microelectrode arrays for drug studies targeting neuronal ion channels. The system overcomes the challenges of traditional methods and provides an easy-to-test, rapid, ultra-sensitive, cell-free, and high-throughput platform to monitor dose-dependent ion-channel blocking effects on native neuronal membranes.