Two new carboxylate silver(I) complexes, namely [Ag2(C4H6O4N)]NO3·H2O or [Ag2(HIDA)]NO3·H2O with IDA = iminodiacetate (1) and Ag6(C6H6O6N)2 or Ag6(NTA)2 with NTA = nitrilotriacetate (2) are synthesized and characterized by X‐ray powder diffraction, thermal analysis and infrared spectroscopy. Rietveld refinement reveals [Ag2(HIDA)]NO3·H2O to form a 2D coordination polymer while Ag6(NTA)2 forms a 3D network, both featuring short Ag(d10)–Ag(d10) contacts. The resulting complexes are suitable precursors for the printing of silver structures at low temperature, in particular for micro and submicrometer patterns obtained via nanoimprint lithography. The patterns reveal low specific resistivity (ρ ≈ 10–7 Ω m) and good transmittance (> 50 %) in the visible range enabling applications in optoelectronic devices.

Methylammonium bismuth iodide (CH3NH3)(3)Bi2I9 (MBI) is a promising hybrid organic-inorganic material for photo-voltaic applications. A complete photodetector with a fast response time, in the order of 150 ms, was fabricated using MBI crystals grown via anti-solvent diffusion crystallization. Analyzing single crystals under varying illumination intensities clearly revealed an illumination dependant carrier density providing good photodetector performance. While band structure calculations predict a band gap of 1.4 eV, a more complex transport mechanism is revealed by Hall measurements, indicating the presence of states within the band gap close to the Fermi energy, possibly originating from crystallographic defects or internal redox processes. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are widely used in research and are established in the industry. The building block nature of organic compounds enables a vast variety of materials. On top of that, there exist many strategies to improve the light outcoupling of OLEDs making a direct comparison of outcoupling technologies difficult. Here, a novel approach is introduced for the evaluation of light outcoupling structures. The new defined efficiency of light outcoupling structures (ELOS) clearly determines the effectiveness of the light outcoupling structure by weighting the experimental efficiency enhancement over the theoretical outcoupling gain. It neither depends on cavity design nor on the chosen organic material. The methodology is illustrated for red phosphorescent OLEDs comprising internal and external light outcoupling structures. Assumptions and further uses are discussed with respect to experimental and theoretical handling. In addition, the ELOS is calculated for various outcoupling techniques from literature to demonstrate the universality. Finally, most suitable reference OLEDs are discussed for application of light outcoupling structures. The presented approach enables new possibilities for studying light outcoupling structures and improves their comparability in a highly material-driven research field.

Transparent platinum electrodes are prepared using nanoimprint lithography of a newly developed molecular platinum complex. Thermal decomposition at moderate temperature of this complex gives rise to elemental platinum line and grid pattern with linewidths down to 40 nm. These electrodes exhibit transmittances of 90% and resistances below 100 Omega. Thus, for the first time, highly transparent electrodes are prepared by a direct soft lithographical printing process.

Nanoimprint lithography is proposed as a highly versatile method for the production of nanostructured supercapacitors (micro-supercapacitors, MSC). Liquid sucrose- and lignin-precursor printing produces patterns with high quality and a line width down to 500 nm. The liquid-carbon-precursor NIL-printing approach enables nitrogen doping to achieve an increased supercapacitor performance for aqueous electrolytes (Li2SO4). The lines are interconverted into nanoporous carbon materials (d ≈ 1 nm) with high specific surface area (>1000 m2 g-1) to form stable structures reaching specific resistivities as low as ρ = 3.5 × 10-5 Ωm and capacitances up to 7 F cm-3.

Pure SrZnSO powder is successfully prepared from repeated reactions at 1050°C followed by a water sonication treatment. The final product has a light green color. Crystallites are optically transparent and crystal structure investigations reveal that SrZnSO crystallizes in a non-centrosymmetric, polar, hexagonal space group (P63mc, a=3.90442(6)Å and c=11.6192(2)Å) and is isostructural to CaZnSO. The crystal structure of SrZnSO has polar layers in the ab plane of S-vertex-sharing ZnS3O tetrahedra that are separated by Sr ions: the complete structure can be written as Sr[∞2ZnS3/3O1/1]. Heat capacity measurements reveal that the room-temperature structure of SrZnSO persists down to 2K. From optic data, a band-gap of about 3.1eV is estimated and further absorption bands indicate defects in the anion lattice. Calculations based on atom fractional coordinates suggest that SrZnSO is less polar than CaZnSO.

The crystal structure of a new bismuth-based light-absorbing material for the application in solar cells was determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction for the first time. (CH3NH3)3(Bi2I9) (MBI) is a promising alternative to recently rapidly progressing hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites due to the higher tolerance against water and low toxicity. Single crystal X-ray diffraction provides detailed structural information as an essential prerequisite to gain a fundamental understanding of structure property relationships, while powder diffraction studies demonstrate a high degree of crystallinity in thin films.

Porous polymers were prepared by cyclotrimerization reaction in molten p-toluenesulfonic acid. Their properties could be tailored by functionalization of the aromatic diacetyl monomers. Thus, a range of homo- and copolymers based on hydrogen-, amine-, or nitro-functionalized 4,4′-diacetylbiphenyl derivatives and 1,4-diacetylbenzene was synthesized. The pores size could be tuned from mainly microporous to hierarchical micro- and mesoporous or even hierarchical micro- and macroporous. BET surface areas up to 720 m2/g and total pore volumes up to 1.76 cm3/g were achieved. The formation of different pore types was related to the solvent–monomer/polymer interactions, which is shown by 15N solid state MAS NMR spectroscopy and SEM. Other physical properties such as surface polarity and thermal stability were influenced by the different monomers as well.

The synthesis and characterization of a new molecular silver precursor is reported. The presented complex [Ag(DioxoNic)2]NO3 (DioxoNic=(2,2-Dimethyl-1,3-dioxolan-4-yl)methyl nicotinate) can be obtained by the reaction of silver(I) nitrate and (2,2-Dimethyl-1,3-dioxolan-4-yl)methyl nicotinate in ethanol. The product crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P21/c (No. 14). Concentrated ethanolic solutions allow the fabrication of thin films via dip coating. Using UV-irradiation and subsequent moderate temperature treatment compact films of elemental silver can be obtained. The resulting silver films show excellent electrical properties with sheet resistances down to 0.7 Ω/sq at a film thickness of 25 nm corresponding to a specific electrical resistance of 1.75×10−8 Ωm very close to the value of bulk silver. For the potential application in optoelectronic devices, the complex was tested as an ink in a soft printing process for the preparation of patterned silver films.