Themed collection 2016 Journal of Materials Chemistry C Most Accessed Manuscripts

In this Highlight, we review recent developments in colloidal perovskite nanocrystals, including the chemical synthesis, characterization and optoelectronic applications.

The development of graphene and graphene hybrid inks is reviewed, with particular focus on their formulation, properties and applications. Please note this image is selected from Y. Gao, W. Shi, W. Wang, Y. Leng and Y. Zhao, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 2014, 53, 16777.

A review covering recent developments in computational and experimental study in the n-type doping of binary oxide semiconductors for transparent conducting applications.

This review highlights the synthesis and optical properties of carbon quantum dots and their application in metal ion sensing.

Electron-deficient building blocks based on benzothiadiazole and its π-extended, heteroannulated derivatives for constructing high-performance semiconducting polymers are described.

Twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) is an electron transfer process that occurs upon photoexcitation in molecules that usually consist of a donor and acceptor part linked by a single bond.

This review summarizes the recent progress in the field of blue AIEgens, mainly focusing on design strategies to control the intramolecular conjugation effect and to realize blue emission.

A review on the recent developments of boron based shape and stimuli sensitive functional luminescent materials is presented.

Due to their structure features, 10H-phenothiazine-based dyes show high photovoltaic performance and have great potential for future technical applications in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The recent significant scientific progress of the dyes and their DSSCs is reviewed, and the relationship between the molecular structure and the photoelectric conversion properties is especially discussed.

The increasing demand for realizing ultra-fast, compact, and ultra-low power electronics/spintronics has propelled the creation of novel multiferroic heterostructures which enable voltage control of magnetism in an energy efficient way.

Crystal organometal halide perovskites with specific morphologies and unique optoelectronic properties have extended their applications into the whole optoelectronic field.

A triarylboron/phenoxazine hybrid TADF emitter exhibits efficient reverse intersystem crossing and the device achieves a maximum external quantum efficiency of 13.9%.

Based on the first-principles computations we show that the band gaps of monolayer and bilayer PtSe₂ can be tuned over a wide range via strain engineering.

Multi-carbazole encapsulation is demonstrated as a simple strategy for the development of solution-processed TADF emitters. The resulting OLED achieves a high external quantum efficiency of 12.2% for non-doped solution-processed fluorescent OLEDs.

The synthesised electrochromic polymers can exhibit a vegetable-green color at lower applied voltages and a soil-brown color in the oxidized-state, excellent solubility, superhydrophobicity, strong absorption, very fast switching times, and high stability.

A series of TADF emitters composed of pyrimidine/acridine moieties are developed. The optimized device realized its highest power efficiency of 62 lm W⁻¹, a high external quantum efficiency of 25%, and a low turn-on voltage of 2.8 V with light-blue emission.

A TADF material containing a benzoylpyridine core and two meta carbazolyl groups shows externally switchable emission in the solid states and a high external quantum efficiency of 18.4% when used as a blue dopant in OLEDs.

A new triaryl molecule based on a benzene–benzothiadiazole–benzene core has been applied in a WOLED device.

Combining a sterically bulky, electron-deficient cyclometalating C^∧N ligands with an electron rich, highly rigidified N^∧N ligand gives an iridium complex, that achieves extraordinarily bright blue emission (Φ_PL = 90%; λ_max = 459 nm in MeCN) for a cationic iridium complex.

Environment plays a key role in the fine tuning of the energy levels of the charge transfer state with respect to the local donor or acceptor triplet state, which can be used to control the ΔE_ST in TADF molecules.

Borophene shows highly anisotropic metallic behaviour (a) due to anisotropic structure (b). The optical properties of borophene are orientation-dependent (c). This provides opportunities for applications in display technologies, photovoltaics and flexible electronics.

Ab initio high-throughput materials screening of inorganic perovskites yields candidates for applications in photovoltaics, ferroelectrics, magnetoelectrics, and as transparent contacts.

Polycrystalline thin films of rhenium disulfide (ReS₂) and the alloys Mo_1−xRe_xS₂ (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.06) have been deposited by aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposition (AA-CVD) using [Re(μ-SⁱPr)₃(SⁱPr)₆] and [Mo(S₂CNEt₂)₄] at 475 °C.

Alloying of PbO₂ with SnO₂ results in a material with a tuneable band gap, larger electron affinity and smaller electron effective mass, whilst maintaining high levels of optical transparency. These properties are expected to give rise to a more efficient transparent conducting oxide for use in photovoltaic applications.

AgNWs are coated on cotton fibers through a simple method, and conductive cotton sheets are obtained to construct flexible pressure sensors.

Two new solution processable pyrene based electroluminescent organic semiconductors (PY-PH & PY-CA) and their OLED performance reported.

The defect density and relaxation rate in organic–inorganic perovskites dominate the carrier recombination dynamics and thus PL intensity exhibits super-linear increase with increasing excitation.

Two-dimensional ferromagnetic monolayer and few-layer CrSiTe₃ crystals are prepared for the first time from the bulk crystals by a simple mechanical exfoliation method.

Strain sensors with high sensitivity are reported in the thermoplastic polyurethane nanocomposites with ultralow graphene loading.

CTAB micelle morphology changes induced by the addition of Hofmeister salts have been studied by cryo-electron microscopy for the first time. The effect of those changes is correlated to the growth of the rods, providing a new method for the fine-tuning of their dimensions.