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Complex multi-element alloys are gaining prominence for structural applications, supplementing steels, and superalloys. Understanding the impact of each element on alloy surfaces due to oxidation is vital in maintaining material integrity. This study investigates oxidation mechanisms in these alloys using a model five-element equiatomic CoCrFeNiMn alloy, in a controlled oxygen environment. The oxidation-induced surface changes correlate with each element's interactive tendencies with the environment, guided by thermodynamics. Initial oxidation stages follow atomic size and redox potential, with the latter becoming dominant over time, causing composition inversion. The study employs in-situ atom probe tomography, transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray absorption near-edge structure techniques to elucidate the oxidation process and surface oxide structure evolution. Our findings deconvolute the mechanism for compositional and structural changes in the oxide film and will pave the way for a predictive design of complex alloys with improved resistance to oxidation under extreme conditions.

Many molecular semiconductors show a pronounced polymorphism; i.e. they can adopt different crystal arrangements depending, e.g., on temperature, pressure, and selected solidification pathways. This renders reliable fabrication of molecular semiconductor devices challenging, as minute changes in processing can lead to numerous structures and, hence, optoelectronic responses. Here, we demonstrate using the example of p-DTS(FBTTh2)2 that spatial confinement at the nanoscale can be exploited to detect specific polymorphs and the conditions under they form. A new polymorph exhibiting a higher charge-carrier mobility compared to previously reported p-DTS(FBTTh2)2 crystal forms is found at elevated temperatures and high degree of confinement, illustrating the benefit of our approach and promising that spatial confinement will find wide-spread application to understand and control polymorph formation in organic semiconductors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices to achieve consistent performance and long operational lifetimes, organic semiconductors must be processed with precise control over their purity, composition, and structure. This is particularly important for high volume solar cell manufacturing where control of materials quality has a direct impact on yield and cost. Ternary-blend OPVs containing two acceptor-donor-acceptor (A-D-A)-type nonfullerene acceptors (NFAs) and a donor have proven to be an effective strategy to improve solar spectral coverage and reduce energy losses beyond that of binary-blend OPVs. Here, we show that the purity of such a ternary is compromised during blending to form a homogeneously mixed bulk heterojunction thin film. We find that the impurities originate from end-capping C=C/C=C exchange reactions of A-D-A-type NFAs, and that their presence influences both device reproducibility and long-term reliability. The end-capping exchange results in generation of up to four impurity constituents with strong dipolar character that interfere with the photoinduced charge transfer process, leading to reduced charge generation efficiency, morphological instabilities, and an increased vulnerability to photodegradation. As a consequence, the OPV efficiency falls to less than 65% of its initial value within 265 h when exposed to up to 10 suns intensity illumination. We propose potential molecular design strategies critical to enhancing the reproducibility as well as reliability of ternary OPVs by avoiding end-capping reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perovskite solar cells (pero-SCs) have undergone a rapid development in the last decade. However, there is still a lack of systematic studies to investigate whether the empirical rules of working lifetime assessment used in silicon solar cells can be applied to pero-SCs. It is commonly believed that pero-SCs show enhanced stability under day/night cycling due to the reported self-healing effect in the dark. 1,2 While we discovered that the degradation of highly efficient FAPbI 3 pero-SCs is in fact much faster under natural day/night cycling mode, questioning the widely accepted approach to estimate the operational lifetime of pero-SCs based on continuous mode testing. We reveal the key factor to be the lattice strain caused by thermal expansion/shrinking of the perovskite during the operation, an effect that gradually relaxes under the continuous-illumination mode but cycles synchronously under the cycling mode. 3,4 The periodic lattice strain under the cycling mode results in deep trap accumulation and chemical degradation during operation, decreasing the ion migration potential and hence the device lifetime. 5 We introduce phenylselenenyl chloride (Ph-Se-Cl) to regulate the perovskite lattice strain during day/night cycling, which achieved the certified efficiency of 26.3% and a 10-time improved T 80 lifetime under the cycling mode after the modification., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)

In this work, we present a facile and scalable hydrolysis-based route for the synthesis of copper-doped TiO 2 particles for highly effective light-activated antiviral and antibacterial applications. The performance of the synthesized Cu-doped TiO 2 particles is then evaluated using solution-phase antimicrobial photodynamic inactivation assays. We demonstrate that the Cu-doped TiO 2 particles can successfully inactivate a wide range of pathogens with exposure to light for 90 min, including bacteria ranging from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (99.9999%, ∼6 log units) to Klebsiella pneumoniae (99.93%, ∼3.3 log units), and viruses including feline calicivirus (99.94%, ∼3.4 log units) and HCoV-229E (99.996%, ∼4.6 log units), with the particles demonstrating excellent robustness toward photobleaching. Furthermore, a spray-coated polymer film, loaded with the synthesized Cu-doped TiO 2 particles achieves inactivation of methicillin-resistant S. aureus up to 99.998% (∼4.8 log units). The presented results provide a clear advance forward in the use of metal-doped TiO 2 for aPDI applications, including the scalable synthesis (kg/day) of well-characterized and robust particles, their facile incorporation into a nontoxic, photostable coating that may be easily and cheaply applied to a multitude of surfaces, and a broad efficacy against drug-resistant Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, as well as against enveloped and nonenveloped viruses., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2024 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)