Molecular design of interfacial layers based on conjugated polythiophenes for polymer and hybrid solar cells

In the past two decades, bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices have emerged as attractive candidates for solar energy conversion due to their lightweight design and potential for low‐cost, high‐throughput, solution‐phase processability. Interfacial engineering is a proven efficient approach to achieve OPV devices with high power conversion efficiencies. This mini‐review provides an overview of the key structural considerations necessary when undertaking the molecular design of conjugated polyelectrolytes, for application as interfacial layers (ILs). The different roles of ILs are outlined, together with the advantages and disadvantages of competing classes of IL materials. Particular emphasis is placed on the design and synthesis of water‐soluble polythiophene‐based IL materials and the influence of their structural characteristics on their performance as a promising class of IL material. Finally, the challenges and opportunities for polythiophenes as IL materials for OPV devices and other solution‐processed solar cell technologies (e.g. perovskite solar cells) are discussed. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry     

Book review

Tropical Librarianship W. J. Plumbe The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Matuchen, N.J. and London, 1987     

PMO managers' self-determined participation in a purposeful virtual community-of-practice

Communities-of-practice (CoPs) have received significant attention within a variety of literatures but we remain largely ignorant of the potential of purposefully-created CoPs in global organisations. In this context, the challenge is likely to be convincing ‘masters’ (Wenger, 1998) on the merits of joining the conversation on practice at a distance, thus making the willingness for exchange a key to the quality and longevity of the community. We posed the question “Why would busy, dispersed, knowledgeable professionals want to join and participate in a deliberately-organised CoP?” Our 2-year collaborative action study allowed us to observe the CoP and its membership at close range. We conclude that autonomy, competence and belonging underscore participation, co-production and diffusion of innovative problem-solving and practice beyond the CoP. The study will inform organisations contemplating similar interventions and also serves as a basis for further investigation and theory building on organized CoPs by the research community.     

Use of conditional probability networks for environmental monitoring

Causal or conditional probability networks (CPNs) are shown to provide a natural framework for combining a time sequence of classified satellite images with other maps for environmental monitoring. The key features of CPNs are described by way of application to an example involving the monitoring of salinization of farmland over time using satellite images and an ancillary dataset derived from a digital terrain model. It is shown that CPNs can be used to improve mapping accuracies by incorporating knowledge about the spatial and temporal variation of the map classes of interest. The methods provide a practical solution to the challenging problem of mapping and monitoring salt in farmland. The representation and propagation of uncertainty within this framework is discussed, as well as the spatial and temporal prediction of images and maps.     

Researchers on the pier: Academics’ use of a local internet gateway

This paper describes the establishment of an Internet gateway local to the University of Sussex, firstly as a Gopher and more recently as a World Wide Web server. There follows an account of a project currently underway to assess the practical value of Internet resources to research and the consequential training and support requirements. This assessment is planned to determine the value of a local gateway to academic researchers at Sussex and the roles specific to a local gateway that such comprehensive resources as Yahoo and BUBL cannot fulfil. The project is using an interview‐based methodology to gain an understanding of researchers’ views of Internet resource provision, and these interviews are being analysed with the help of the NUD*IST qualitative data analysis software package. The account is of research in progress, and hence does not conclude with the set of pragmatic policy proposals that forms its key objective. Instead, some indication is given of the broad early findings of the project     

Managing uncertainty and discontinuous condition numbers in geometric computation

We consider operations on subdivision surfaces under the strict robustness requirement that these floating-point computations return an object with the same topological form as the true solution. The problems involved may however be ill-conditioned, and defined in terms of uncertain data, and even supplementary interval arithmetic may not ensure robustness. Trapping mechanisms are therefore proposed to resolve this difficulty.     

Playing on a holo-stage: towards the interaction between real and virtual performers

This paper presents a number of ongoing projects that will be valuable to the development of technologies for digital theatre and performance. This paper describes an EU ACTS project called RESOLV which develops an integrated system to capture real 3D environments using laser and video. Current research on motion tracking, statistical behaviour modelling and simulation is presented, and possible applications, both for visual augmentation and audio generation, are discussed. The projects presented were not originally designed in the domain of theatre and performance, however their results and output seem to be well suited to be applied in this area.     

Layer-by-layer assembly of long-afterglow self-supporting thin films with dual-stimuli-responsive phosphorescence and antiforgery applications

The assembly of thin films (TFs) having long-lasting luminescence can be expected to play an important role in the development of new-generation smart sensors,anti-counterfeiting materials,and information-encryption systems.However,such films are limited compared with their powder and solution counterparts.In this study,by exploiting the self-organization of phosphors in the two-dimensional (2D) galleries between clay nanosheets,we developed a method for the ordered assembly of long-afterglow TFs by utilizing a hydrogen-bonding layer-by-layer (LBL) process.Compared with the pristine powder,the TFs exhibit high polarization and up-conversion room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP),as well as enhanced quantum yields and luminescence lifetimes,allowing them to be used as room-temperature phosphorescent sensors for humidity and oxygen.Moreover,modified day-based hybrids with multicolor RTP can serve as anti-counterfeiting marks and triple-mode 2D barcode displays.We anticipate that the LBL assembly process can be extended to the fabrication of other inorganic-organic room-temperature phosphorescent hybrids with smart luminescent sensor and antiforgery applications.