Rong-Lin Zhong

The stability and nonlinear optical properties: Encapsulation of an excess electron compound LiCN⋯Li within boron nitride nanotubes

Excess electron compounds have been proposed to be novel candidates of high-performance nonlinear optical (NLO) materials because of their large static first hyperpolarizabilities (β0). To enhance the stability of an unstable excess electron compound (LiCN⋯Li) with an extremely large β0 value (310196 a.u.), we designed a boron nitride nanotube (BNNT) as a protective shield molecule to encapsulate it (in theory). The stability of LiCN⋯Li was enhanced: the vertical ionization potentials (VIP) of LiCN⋯Li increased after encapsulating. Therefore, by comparison with LiCN⋯Li, the encapsulated complexes are more difficult to oxidize. Significantly, the BNNT encapsulated LiCN⋯Li complex exhibits a considerable β0 value (10645 a.u.), which is significantly (almost 380 times) larger than 28 a.u. of BNNT. Our further investigations into the intrinsic hyperpolarizabilites (βint) of these compounds show that there are clearly dependencies of the NLO response on the transition energy. Furthermore, it is easy to encapsulate LiCN⋯Li from the B-rich edge rather than N-rich edge of BNNT due to the lower energy barrier, which makes our calculations more useful to experimentalists who may try to synthesize these compounds. Knowledge of the encapsulation process of LiCN⋯Li within BNNT provides a new strategy for the design and synthesis of stable high-performance NLO materials.

Boron/Nitrogen Substitution of the Central Carbon Atoms of the Biphenalenyl Diradical π Dimer: A Novel 2e–12c Bond and Large NLO Responses

On the basis of the famous staggered biphenalenyl diradical π dimer 1, the eclipsed biphenalenyl (1a), with no centrosymmetry, was obtained by rotating a layer of 1 by 60° around its central axis. Furthermore, the central carbon atoms of 1 and 1a were substituted by boron and nitrogen atoms to form 2 and 2a with a novel 2e-12c bond. We found that the novel 2e-12c bond is formed by the electron pair of the occupied orbital of the phenalenyl monomer substituted by the nitrogen atom and the unoccupied orbital of the phenalenyl monomer substituted by the boron atom. As a result of the novel 2e-12c bond, 2 and 2a exhibit a fascinating interlayer charge-transfer transition character, which results in a significant difference in the dipole moments (Δμ) between the ground state and the crucial excited state. The values of Δμ for 2 and 2a are 6.4315 and 6.9253 Debye, clearly larger than the values of 0 and 0.0015 Debye for 1 and 1a. Significantly, the boron/nitrogen substitution effect can greatly enhance the first hyperpolarizabilities (β(0) ) of 2 and 2a with a novel 2e-12c bond compared with 1 and 1a with a traditional 2e-12c bond: 0 and 19 a.u. for 1 and 1a are much lower than 3516 and 12272 a.u. for 2 and 2a. Furthermore, the interaction energies (E(int) )of 2 and 2a are larger than those of 1 and 1a, which could be considered as a signature of reliability for the newly designed dimers. Our present work will be beneficial for further theoretical and experimental studies on the properties of molecules with the novel 2e-12c bond.

The Excess Electron in a Boron Nitride Nanotube: Pyramidal NBO Charge Distribution and Remarkable First Hyperpolarizability

The unusual properties of species with excess electrons have attracted a lot of interest in recent years due to their wide applications in many promising fields. In this work, we find that the excess electron could be effectively bound by the B atoms of boron nitride nanotube (BNNT), which is inverted pyramidally distributed from B-rich edge to N-rich edge. Further, Li@B-BNNT and Li@N-BNNT are designed by doping the Li atom to the two edges of BNNT, respectively. Because of the interaction between the Li atom and BNNT, the 2s valence electron of Li becomes a loosely bound excess electron. Interestingly, the distribution of the excess electron in Li@N-BNNT is more diffuse and pyramidal from B-rich edge to N-rich edge, which is fascinating compared with Li@B-BNNT. Correspondingly, the transition energy of Li@N-BNNT is 0.99 eV, which is obviously smaller than 2.65 eV of Li@B-BNNT. As a result, the first hyperpolarizability (3.40×10(4) a.u.) of Li@N-BNNT is dramatically larger (25 times) than 1.35×10(3) a.u. of Li@B-BNNT. Significantly, we find that the pyramidal distribution of the excess electron is the key factor to determine the first hyperpolarizability, which reveals useful information for scientists to develop new electro-optic applications of BNNTs.

Role of Excess Electrons in Nonlinear Optical Response

The excess electron is a kind of special anion with dispersivity, loosely bounding and with other fascinating features, which plays a pivotal role (promote to about 10(6) times in (H2O)3{e}) in the large first hyperpolarizabilities (β0) of dipole-bound electron clusters. This discovery opens a new perspective on the design of novel nonlinear optical (NLO) molecular materials for electro-optic device application. Significantly, doping alkali metal atoms in suitable complexants was proposed as an effective approach to obtain electride and alkalide molecules with excess electron and large NLO responses. The first hyperpolarizability is related to the characteristics of complexants and the excess electron binding states. Subsequently, a series of new strategies for enhancing NLO response and electronic stability of electride and alkalide molecules are exhibited by using various complexants. These strategies include not only the behaviors of pushed and pulled electron, size, shape, and number of coordination sites of complexants but also the number and spin state of excess electrons in these unusual NLO molecules.

Quantum chemical design of nonlinear optical materials by sp2-hybridized carbon nanomaterials: issues and opportunities

Nonlinear optical (NLO) materials are the smartest materials of the era, and have the ability to generate new electromagnetic fields with changed frequencies, phases, and other physical properties. Recently, many cutting edge research reports have been focused on NLO materials especially on those which are composed of sp2 hybridized carbon nanostructures. As the carbon nanostructures are composed of abundant π-electrons and have significant delocalization, these are potential candidates for modern NLO materials. Generally, sp2 hybridized carbon nanostructures can be divided into zero-dimensional fullerenes, one-dimensional nanotubes and two-dimensional graphene nanoribbons and quantum dots etc. These dimensionally different carbon nanomaterials are promising candidates for a wide range of applications in next-generation nanotechnologies. In present feature article, we first briefly explain a theoretical structure–NLO property relationship based on perturbation theory and then elucidate the crucial factors to control the NLO responses. We put together the different random investigations of sp2 hybridized carbon nanostructures for NLO application by highlighting the importance of their several structural designs to tune NLO amplitudes. Furthermore, we make a comparative and updated analysis of the NLO properties of dimensionally different sp2 hybridized carbon nanomaterials i.e. fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, and graphene nanoribbons and quantum dots. Finally, we make a brief discussion about different aspects and opportunities to use the sp2 hybridized carbon nanomaterials as high performance NLO materials of the future. This review is a focused perspective based on different updated quantum chemical investigations about fullerenes, nanotubes and graphene nanoribbons and quantum dots for their possible use in nonlinear optical applications.

Iridium(III) complexes adopting 1,2-diphenyl-1H-benzoimidazole ligands for highly efficient organic light-emitting diodes with low efficiency roll-off and non-doped feature

Two novel iridium(III) complexes (pbi)2Ir(mtpy) (1) and (pbi)2Ir(pbim) (2) adopting 1,2-diphenyl-1H-benzoimidazole (Hpbi) as cyclometalated ligands were successfully synthesized and characterized. Strong emissions at 501 and 536 nm with high photoluminescence quantum yields of 48% and 91% in CH2Cl2 at 298 K were obtained for 1 and 2, respectively. The quantum chemical calculations and the photophysical properties indicated that the dominant 3MLCT (metal-to-ligand charge-transfer) state mixed with 3LLCT (ligand-to-ligand charge-transfer) and 3LC (ligand-centered 3π–π*) characters contributed to their phosphorescence emissions. Doped organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) based on 1 and 2 showed a peak current efficiency of 45.0 cd A−1 and power efficiency of 47.9 lm W−1 accompanied by very low efficiency roll-off values. In their non-doped OLEDs, high efficiencies of 24.4 cd A−1 and 26.3 lm W−1 were achieved as well. These appealing results reveal that complexes 1 and 2 open interesting perspectives for the development of high-performance OLEDs in the future.

Spiral Intramolecular Charge Transfer and Large First Hyperpolarizability in Möbius Cyclacenes: New Insight into the Localized π Electrons

Much effort has been devoted to investigating the unusual properties of the π electrons in Möbius cyclacenes, which are localized in a special region. However, the localized π electrons are a disadvantage for applications in optoelectronics, because intramolecular charge transfer is limited. This raises the question of how the intramolecular charge transfer of a Möbius cyclacene with clearly localized π electrons can be enhanced. To this end, [8]Möbius cyclacene ([8]MC) is used as a conjugated bridge in a donor-π-conjugated bridge-acceptor (D-π-A) system, and NH(2)-6-[8]MC-10-NO(2) exhibits a fascinating spiral charge-transfer transition character that results in a significant difference in dipole moments Δμ between the ground state and the crucial excited state. The Δμ value of 6.832 D for NH(2)-6-[8]MC-10-NO(2) is clearly larger than that of 0.209 D for [8]MC. Correspondingly, the first hyperpolarizability of NH(2)-6-[8]MC-10-NO(2) of 12,467 a.u. is dramatically larger than that of 261 a.u. for [8]MC. Thus, constructing a D-π-A framework is an effective strategy to induce greater spiral intramolecular charge transfer in MC although the π electrons are localized in a special region. This new insight into the properties of π electrons in Möbius cyclacenes may provide valuable information for their applications in optoelectronics.

After the electronic field: structure, bonding, and the first hyperpolarizability of HArF.

In this work, we add different strength of external electric field (Eext) along molecule axis (Z‐axis) to investigate the electric field induced effect on HArF structure. The H‐Ar bond is the shortest at Eext = −189 × 10−4 and the Ar‐F bond show shortest value at Eext = 185 × 10−4 au. Furthermore, the wiberg bond index analyses show that with the variation of HArF structure, the covalent bond H‐Ar shows downtrend (ranging from0.79 to 0.69) and ionic bond Ar‐F shows uptrend (ranging from 0.04 to 0.17). Interestingly, the natural bond orbital analyses show that the charges of F atom range from −0.961 to −0.771 and the charges of H atoms range from 0.402 to 0.246. Due to weakened charge transfer, the first hyperpolarizability (βtot) can be modulated from 4078 to 1087 au. On the other hand, make our results more useful to experimentalists, the frequency‐dependent first hyperpolarizabilities were investigated by the coupled perturbed Hartree‐Fork method. We hope that this work may offer a new idea for application of noble‐gas hydrides.

The encapsulated lithium effect of Li@C60Cl8 remarkably enhances the static first hyperpolarizability

Recently, C60Cl8 (C2v) has been experimentally synthesized (Y.-Z. Tan, et al., Nat. Mater., 2008, 7, 790) by the addition of eight chlorine atoms to C60 (C2v), which is associated with a Stone–Wales transformation of C60 (Ih). In this work, the first hyperpolarizabilities (βtot) of C60 (C2v) and C60Cl8 (C2v) are investigated. After the Stone–Wales transformation and chlorine addition reaction, the βtot values slightly increase from 0 for C60 (Ih) to 60 au for C60 (C2v) and 502 au for C60Cl8 (C2v), respectively. To further enhance the first hyperpolarizability, the endohedral fullerene derivative, Li@C60Cl8, formed by encapsulating a lithium (Li) atom inside the C60Cl8, has been designed. Interestingly, the electron transfer between Li and C60Cl8 leads to an extremely large βtot value of 25 569 au, which is considerably larger (51 times) than the 502 au of C60Cl8. It shows that the encapsulated Li effect plays an important role in enhancing the first hyperpolarizability, so the Li@C60Cl8 can be considered as a candidate for high-performance nonlinear optical materials.

Theoretical investigation on the 2e/12c bond and second hyperpolarizability of azaphenalenyl radical dimers: Strength and effect of dimerization

An increasing number of chemists have focused on the investigations of two-electron/multicenter bond (2e/mc) that was first introduced to describe the structure of radical dimers. In this work, the dimerization of two isoelectronic radicals, triazaphenalenyl (TAP) and hexaazaphenalenyl (HAP) has been investigated in theory. Results show TAP2 is a stable dimer with stronger 2e/12c bond and larger interaction energy, while HAP2 is a less stable dimer with larger diradical character. Interestingly, the ultraviolet-visible absorption spectra suggest that the dimerization induces a longer wavelength absorption in visible area, which is dependent on the strength of dimerization. Significantly, the amplitude of second hyperpolarizability (γ(yyyy)) of HAP2 is 1.36 × 10(6) a.u. that is larger than 7.79 × 10(4) a.u. of TAP2 because of the larger diradical character of HAP2. Therefore, the results indicate that the strength of radical dimerization can be effectively detected by comparing the magnitude of third order non-linear optical response, which is beneficial for further theoretical and experimental studies on the properties of complexes formed by radical dimerization.