Recent progress on high-performance polymer electrets based on CYTOP, novel charging methods using soft X-ray and vacuum UV, and development of MEMS energy harvesters are discussed. With the parylene high-aspect-ratio nonlinear springs and high-performance polymer electrets, we have successfully developed a MEMS electret generator for energy harvesting applications. With an acceleration of 1 G,...

To optimize the performance of polymer solar cells, various techniques have been developed and reported from various research fields. The introduction of processing additives in the polymer : PCBM bulkheterojunction solution is one of the efficient strategies used to improve the cell performance. Although numerous solvents have been presented as processing additives, an appropriate processing a...

Ubiquitous, low power consumption and high bandwidth density communication will require passive athermal optical filters for WDM transceivers in Si-CMOS architecture. Two silicon-polymer composite structures, deposited using initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD), poly(perfluorodecyl acrylate) (pPFDA) and poly(perfluorodecyl acrylate-co-divinyl benzene) p(PFDA-co-DVB), are analyzed as candi...

Enhancing the output power of a nanogenerator is essential in applications as a sustainable power source for wireless sensors and microelectronics. We report here a novel approach that greatly enhances piezoelectric power generation by introducing a p-type polymer layer on a piezoelectric semiconducting thin film. Holes at the film surface greatly reduce the piezoelectric potential screening ef...

We reviewed recent advances in high-performance organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) based on organic semiconductor/insulator polymer blends. Fundamental aspects of phase separation in binary blends are discussed with special attention to phase-separated microstructures. Strategies for constructing semiconductor, semiconductor/dielectric, or semiconductor/passivation layers in OFETs by blen...

A redox exchange mechanism between potassium perruthenate (KRuO4) and the functional groups of selected polymers is used here to induce RuO2 into and onto conductive polymer nanowires by simply soaking the polymer nanowire arrays in KRuO4 solution. Conductive polymer nanowire arrays of polypyrrole (PPY) and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) were studied in this work. SEM and TEM results ...

The contact between the polymer active layer and the electrode is one the most critical interfaces in polymer solar cells. In this article, we report the progress of interface engineering in polymer solar cell research, where the multiple functions of the interfacial materials will be discussed. The vertical composition profile in polymer:fullerene blends is an emerging topic, and the interlaye...

Morphology of conjugated polymers is a critical factor that significantly affects intrinsic charge transport characteristics and in turn performance of polymer-based devices. Morphological defects including misaligned crystalline grains and grain boundaries significantly impede efficient charge hopping between transport sites, resulting in degradation of device performance. Therefore, one impor...

We demonstrate a polymer non-field-effect transistor in a vertical architecture with an Al grid embedded in a polymer sandwiched between another two electrodes. The Al grid containing high density of self-assembled submicron openings is fabricated by a non-lithography method. This device modulates the space-charge-limited current of a unipolar polymer diode with the Al grid. The operating volta...

recent tendencies in concrete technology have been towards to high- performance concrete with a low water-cement ratio. however, high performance concretes have some problems. one of the problems is early-age cracking due to autogenous shrinkage. this study presents the results of an experimental investigation carried out to evaluate the autogenous shrinkage of high-strength concrete. accordin...