Design of Polymer Carriers for Optimized Pheromone Release in Sustainable Insect Control Strategies.

Semiochemicals such as pheromones play a major role in communication between insects, influencing their spatial orientation, aggregation, defense, and mating. The rational chemical design of precision pheromone-releasing materials are increased the efficiency of pheromone-based plant protection agents. Decades of research is begun to unravel the complex communication structures regulated by semiochemicals, from the neuronal perception of specific chemical substances to the behavioral responses in hundreds of species, including many devastating pest insects. This article summarizes the most effective uses of semiochemicals in agriculture, the behavioral responses of selected target species, and controlled-release strategies based on formulations such as novel fibrous polymer carriers. This study helps scientists, decision-makers, farmers, and the public understand the importance of appropriate mating disruption techniques that reduce the need for broad-spectrum insecticides and limit their impact on non-target and beneficial insects.

The separation of vibrational coherence from ground- and excited-electronic states in P3HT film.

Concurrence of the vibrational coherence and ultrafast electron transfer has been observed in polymer/fullerene blends. However, it is difficult to experimentally investigate the role that the excited-state vibrational coherence plays during the electron transfer process since vibrational coherence from the ground- and excited-electronic states is usually temporally and spectrally overlapped. Here, we performed 2-dimensional electronic spectroscopy (2D ES) measurements on poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) films. By Fourier transforming the whole 2D ES datasets (S(λ1,T̃2,λ3)) along the population time (T̃2) axis, we develop and propose a protocol capable of separating vibrational coherence from the ground- and excited-electronic states in 3D rephasing and nonrephasing beating maps (S(λ1,ν̃2,λ3)). We found that the vibrational coherence from pure excited electronic states appears at positive frequency (+ν̃2) in the rephasing beating map and at negative frequency (-ν̃2) in the nonrephasing beating map. Furthermore, we also found that vibrational coherence from excited electronic state had a long dephasing time of 244 fs. The long-lived excited-state vibrational coherence indicates that coherence may be involved in the electron transfer process. Our findings not only shed light on the mechanism of ultrafast electron transfer in organic photovoltaics but also are beneficial for the study of the coherence effect on photoexcited dynamics in other systems.

Direct observation of ultrafast long-range charge separation at polymer-fullerene heterojunctions.

In polymeric semiconductors, charge carriers are polarons, which means that the excess charge deforms the molecular structure of the polymer chain that hosts it. This results in distinctive signatures in the vibrational modes of the polymer. Here, we probe polaron photogeneration dynamics at polymer:fullerene heterojunctions by monitoring its time-resolved resonance-Raman spectrum following ultrafast photoexcitation. We conclude that polarons emerge within 300 fs. Surprisingly, further structural evolution on ≲ 50-ps timescales is modest, indicating that the polymer conformation hosting nascent polarons is not significantly different from that near equilibrium. We interpret this as suggestive that charges are free from their mutual Coulomb potential because we would expect rich vibrational dynamics associated with charge-pair relaxation. We address current debates on the photocarrier generation mechanism at molecular heterojunctions, and our work is, to our knowledge, the first direct probe of molecular conformation dynamics during this fundamentally important process in these materials.

Controlling the interaction of light with polymer semiconductors.

In this study, a generally applicable strategy is described to manipulate the optical properties of a wide range of polymer semiconductors in the solid state. Blending these materials with a non-conjugated, polar polymer matrix is found to be the processing key to a drastic change and red-shift of the absorption characteristics.

Poly(3-alkyltellurophene)s are solution-processable polyheterocycles.

The synthesis and characterization of a series of poly(3-alkyltellurophene)s are described. Polymers are prepared by both electrochemical and Kumada catalyst transfer polymerization methods. These polymers have reasonably high molecular weights (M(n) = 5.4-11.3 kDa) and can be processed in a manner analogous to that of their lighter atom analogues. All examples exhibit red-shifted optical absorption, as well as solid-state organization, as evidenced by absorption spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. Overall, the synthesis and characterization of these materials open up a wide range of future studies involving tellurium-based polyheterocycles.