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Magnetic porous microspheres are widely used in modern wastewater treatment technology due to their simple and quick dye adsorption and separation functions. In this article, we prepared porous polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) microspheres by the seed-swelling method, followed by in situ formation of iron oxide (Fe3O4) nanoparticles within the pore. Then, we used diazo-resin (DR) to encapsulate the porous magnetic microspheres and achieve PMMA@Fe3O4@DR magnetic material. We studied the different properties of magnetic microspheres by different dye adsorption experiments before and after the encapsulation and demonstrated that the PMMA@Fe3O4@DR microspheres can be successfully used as a reusable absorbent for fast and easy removal of anionic and aromatic dyes from wastewater and can maintain excellent magnetic and adsorption properties in harsh environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indium tin oxide (ITO) is a transparent conductive material which is extensively used in organic solar cells (OSCs) as electrodes. In inverted OSCs, ITO is usually employed as a cathode, which should be modified by cathode buffer layers (CBLs) to achieve better contact with the active layers. In this paper, an amine group functionalized fullerene derivative (DMAPA-C60) is used as a CBL to modify the transparent cathode ITO in inverted OSCs based on PTB7 as a donor and PC71BM as an acceptor. Compared with traditional ZnO CBL, DMAPA-C60 exhibited comparable transmittance. OSCs based on DMAPA-C60 show much better device performance compared with their ZnO counterparts (power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) improved from 6.24 to 7.43%). This is mainly because a better contact between the DMAPA-C60 modified ITO and the active layer is formed, which leads to better electron transport and collection. Nanoscale morphologies also demonstrate that the surface of DMAPA-C60-modified ITO is plainer than the ZnO counterparts, which also leads to the better device performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humidity-sensitive poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) inverse opals with micropatterns of 2 µm wide anti-swell-broken grooves were prepared using polystyrene (PS) colloidal crystals as templates and colloidal lithography. Monodisperse PS colloids were deposited in an ordered manner onto glass slides using a double-substrate vertical deposition method to form colloidal crystal templates. Poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) with photoinitiator was infiltrated into the interspaces of the colloidal crystals and photo-crosslinked by UV irradiation through a photomask. After removal the PS templates and unexposed PEGDA by tetrahydrofuran (THF), PEG hydrogel micropatterns with three-dimensional ordered porous structures were obtained. The band gaps of the PS colloidal crystals and corresponding PEG hydrogel inverse opals were measured by UV-VIS reflection spectrometer, calculated by Bragg law and simulated by Band SOLVE. The obtained PEG hydrogel inverse opal micropatterns can be used as sensors for humidity sensing due to absorption and desorption of moisture in the band gap structures. The sensor had a very reliable performance after repeated humidity sensing, and could be mass produced facilely with very low cost. The photopatterned anti-swell-broken grooves play an important role in the reliability of the sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]