Understanding weakly coordinating anions: tetrakis(pentafluorophenyl)borate paired with inorganic and organic cations

Revealing the Electrophilic-Attack Doping Mechanism for Efficient and Universal p-Doping of Organic Semiconductors

Doping is of great importance to tailor the electrical properties of semiconductors. However, the present doping methodologies for organic semiconductors (OSCs) are either inefficient or can only apply to some OSCs conditionally, seriously limiting their general applications. Herein, a novel p-doping mechanism is revealed by investigating the interactions between the dopant trityl tetrakis(pentafluorophenyl) borate (TrTPFB) and poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT). It is found that electrophilic attack of the trityl cations on thiophenes results in the formation of tritylated thiophenium ions, which subsequently induce electron transfer from neighboring P3HT chains to realize p-doping. This unique p-doping mechanism enables TrTPFB to p-dope various OSCs including those with high ionization energy (IE ≈ 5.8 eV). Moreover, this doping mechanism endows TrTPFB with strong doping capability, leading to doping efficiency of over 80% in P3HT. The discovery and elucidation of this novel doping mechanism not only points out that strong electrophiles are a class of efficient p-dopants for OSCs, but also provides new opportunities toward highly efficient doping of various OSCs.

Electrosynthesis of Biocompatible Free-Standing PEDOT Thin Films at a Polarized Liquid|Liquid Interface

Conducting polymers (CPs) find applications in energy conversion and storage, sensors, and biomedical technologies once processed into thin films. Hydrophobic CPs, like poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), typically require surfactant additives, such as poly(styrenesulfonate) (PSS), to aid their aqueous processability as thin films. However, excess PSS diminishes CP electrochemical performance, biocompatibility, and device stability. Here, we report the electrosynthesis of PEDOT thin films at a polarized liquid|liquid interface, a method nonreliant on conductive solid substrates that produces free-standing, additive-free, biocompatible, easily transferrable, and scalable 2D PEDOT thin films of any shape or size in a single step at ambient conditions. Electrochemical control of thin film nucleation and growth at the polarized liquid|liquid interface allows control over the morphology, transitioning from 2D (flat on both sides with a thickness of <50 nm) to “Janus” 3D (with flat and rough sides, each showing distinct physical properties, and a thickness of >850 nm) films. The PEDOT thin films were p-doped (approaching the theoretical limit), showed high π–π conjugation, were processed directly as thin films without insulating PSS and were thus highly conductive without post-processing. This work demonstrates that interfacial electrosynthesis directly produces PEDOT thin films with distinctive molecular architectures inaccessible in bulk solution or at solid electrode–electrolyte interfaces and emergent properties that facilitate technological advances. In this regard, we demonstrate the PEDOT thin film’s superior biocompatibility as scaffolds for cellular growth, opening immediate applications in organic electrochemical transistor (OECT) devices for monitoring cell behavior over extended time periods, bioscaffolds, and medical devices, without needing physiologically unstable and poorly biocompatible PSS.

Potentiometric Signal Transduction for Selective Determination of 1-(3-Chlorophenyl)piperazine “Legal Ecstasy” Through Biomimetic Interaction Mechanism

1-(3-chlorophenyl)piperazine (mCPP) is a wide spread new psychoactive substance produces stimulant and hallucinogenic effects similar to those sought from ecstasy. Hence, in the recent years, mCPP has been introduced by the organized crime through the darknet as a part of the illicit ecstasy market with a variable complex profile of pharmacologically active substances that pose problematic risk patterns among people who take these seized products. Accordingly, the design of selective sensors for the determination of mCPP is a very important demand. In this respect, a supramolecular architecture; [Na(15-crown-5)][BPh4] from the assembly of 15-crown-5 and sodium tetraphenylboron has been utilized as an ionophore, for the first time in the selective recognition of mCPP in conjunction with potassium tetrakis(p-chlorophenyl)borate and dioctylphthalate through polymeric membrane ion sensors. The ionophore exhibited a strong binding affinity that resulted in a high sensitivity with a slope closed to the ideal Nernstian value; 58.9 ± 0.43 mV/decade, a larger dynamic range from 10−6 to 10−2 M, a lower limit of detection down to 5.0 × 10−7 M and a fast response time of 5 s. Very important also is it was afforded excellent selectivity towards mCPP over psychoactive substances of major concern, providing a potentially useful system for the determination of mCPP in the illicit market. On comparison with the natural β-cyclodextrin as an ionophore, it exhibited more sensitivity and selectivity estimated to be the superior.

Influence of the anion on the properties of ionic liquid mixtures: a molecular dynamics study

Big anions enhance the non-polar network in IL mixtures, while smaller ones win the competition for the imidazolium cation.