Owing to the enormous contributions of many researchers, the power conversion efficiencies of organic solar cells (OSCs) now exceed 19%. In this review (e280), a photophysicist's views of charge generation in OSCs including exciton diffusion, charge transfer at donor:acceptor interface, and long-range charge dissociation as well as future research directions for realizing further improvements are discussed.

Abundant topological architectures are the basis of polymeric diversification. In this article (e206), Yan and co-workers couple the covalent polymer and supramolecular polymer in a single system to realize an intrinsical macromolecular metamorphosis from grafted polymer to crosslinked network. The transformation elicited a shift from stiff but brittle material to a strong yet tough one.

Toward future commercial applications of organic solar cells (OSCs), organic photovoltaic materials that enable high efficiency, stability, and low cost should be developed. In article number e281, Sun and co-workers comprehensively summarize works about noncovalently fused-ring electron acceptors with low-cost and good stability from molecular design, efficiency optimization to material cost analysis.

In the evolution of AIE-based drug and gene delivery systems, the light-up AIEgens start in real-time monitoring of the delivery processes and evaluation of therapeutic responses of drug/gene; The delicate structural design of AIEgens to form high-level carriers remarkably enhances the drug/gene delivery efficiency; Further, endowed with multifunctionalities, AIEgens are synergized in multimodality therapy to achieve augmented therapeutic efficiency(e282).

Herein, a photophysicist's views on charge generation in organic solar cells is discussed. Recent steady-state and time-resolved spectroscopic studies regarding the exciton diffusion to donor:acceptor interfaces, charge transfer at the donor:acceptor interface, and long-range spatial dissociation of charge transfer states are highlighted. Based on these findings, future research directions are discussed.

This review summarizes various optical properties of gold nanoclusters that consist of Au₁₃ motifs. The structural evolution from Au₁₃ to Au₂₅, Au₃₇, and Au₆₀ is illustrated with increasing number of the Au₁₃ building blocks. The review on the photo-physics of Au₁₃ family provides a comprehensive understanding of Au₁₃-assembled nanoclusters, which is helpful for boosting their potential applications in the future.

Noncovalently fused-ring electron acceptors (NFREAs) have attracted much attention because of the advantage of simple structure, facile synthesis, and low cost, which have great potential for commercial applications in organic solar cells. This review presents the recent development of NFREAs for organic solar cells and focuses on the effect of their chemical structure on the molecule conformation, aggregation, and packing structure.

The aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens) propel the development of drug and gene delivery systems. The lit-up AIEgens first serve for real-time monitoring of the delivery processes and evaluation of therapeutic responses of drug/gene. The delicate design of AIEgens to form high-level structural carrier remarkably enhances the delivery efficiency. Further, endowed with multi-properties and functionalities, AIEgens are synergized with the delivered drug/gene for multimodality therapy.

The construction of organic fluorescence and room temperature phosphorescence materials by using ion−π interactions including anion−π interactions and cation−π interactions is presented in this minireview. The applications of these ion−π type organic luminescent materials in bioimaging, imaging-guided anticancer, and antibacterial treatment are also summarized. The perspective and challenges for constructing ion−π type organic luminescent materials are discussed.

Bio-inspired functional coacervates have diverse functions. Natural and synthetic coacervates are a new class of materials that have great potential for various biomedical applications, including medical adhesives, drug delivery, and tissue engineering.

Carbon dots (CDs) has excellent photoluminescence properties. Aggregation plays an important role in both the formation of CDs and their fluorescence, yet is seldom studied in detail. This review aims to fill this knowledge gap. We first discuss how aggregation leads to the formation of different types of CDs, and the impact on morphology, luminescence, and applications.

The diagram illustrates the four possible outcomes upon mixing two immiscible droplets, which are dictated by the interfacial tension between the two droplets and between the droplets and the solvent phase. Generalizations of this principle can be used to understand biocondensate organization and its connection with the interactions among the molecular components.

We report a thermo-responsive topological metamorphosis in covalent-and-supramolecular polymer (CSP) architectures wherein supramolecular graft polymer (SGP) transforms into supramolecular polymer network (SPN) based on collaborative dynamic covalent bond chemistry and host−guest chemistry. The transformation elicited a shift from stiff but brittle material to a strong yet tough one.

Hollow polymer particles are widely used in various industries as coatings and cosmetics. Herein, we successfully fabricated hollow polymer particles from poly(vinyl cinnamate) (PVC) particles through interfacial photocrosslinking. Furthermore, we systematically studied the effects of solid contents of parent particles, photoirradiation time, photoirradiation power, and polymer chain length on shell thickness of hollow PVC particles fabricated by interfacial photocrosslinking.

The aggregation of gas-phase Cu and Au atoms into Cu–Au nanoparticles with non-equilibrium structures and compositions is studied using molecular dynamics. Density functional calculations reveal the significant effect of the structure of the obtained realistic models of Cu–Au nanoparticles on their CO and O binding properties as well as their CO oxidation activity.

Investigation of how the AIE molecules and functionalized AIE nanoparticle impact protein stability, protein homeostasis in cells, biodistribution, and biocompatibility in animal model.

Submicron SSZ-13 zeolite membranes in high continuity were synthesized from dual-templated surface gels. The templates directed and regulated the crystallization of the SSZ-13 zeolite, and the surface gel determined the thickness of the membrane. The synthesized membranes possessed good hydrogen separation performances in terms of permeance and separation factor for H2/C2H6 and H2/C3H8 mixtures.

Six nonconjugated carbonyl-based aliphatic polymers with different heteroatoms and steric hindrances are synthesized and demonstrated with clusteroluminescence (CL). The results suggest that the additional heteroatoms will weaken the CL, but introducing the rigidification and crystallization effects can effectively improve the CL efficiency.

Using the co-assembly of polar molecular brushes and nonpolar oligomeric ligands, molecular brush surfactants (MBSs) form and assemble in situ at the DMF–octane interface via electrostatic interaction/hydrogen bonding. The binding energy of MBS to the interface is sufficiently high to support the compression, then to structure liquids. With MBSs as emulsifiers, different types of emulsions can be easily prepared, opening a new pathway to stabilize all-oil constructs.