Chenxu Wang

Dual purposed ZnO tetrapods promote photopolymerization of methacrylates and provide surface roughness for superhydrophobicity. Large area photochemical fabrication of hybrid coating is demonstrated for liquid/liquid separation applications.

A facile synthetic method is developed to afford cyclodextrin-derived polymer networks that exhibit high selectivity in capturing certain organic compounds in water.

Electrochemical stability and state delocalization critically impact the functions and practical applications of electronically active polymers.

Aromatic porous polymer networks (PPNs) are promising candidate materials for organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN) membranes, in which molecular-sieving selectivity, high permeability, and chemical/structural stability can be integrated. In this work, aromatic PPN membranes p-PPN, m-PPN and tri-PPN are fabricated by in situ aldol triple condensation cross-linking. These membranes demonstrate high stability, permeability and sharp selectivity in OSN, thanks to the aromatic nature of the backbone, high surface area (up to 1235 m² g⁻¹), and narrowly distributed pore sizes. They possess a high organic solvent permeability so that a good permeance is achieved despite a thickness of over 100 μm. The molecular weight cut-off and molecular weight retention onset of these membranes are ∼600 g mol⁻¹ and 350 g mol⁻¹, respectively, making it possible to efficiently separate molecules from a complex mixture composed of compounds with only marginally different molecular weights. As a result of the highly stable nature of the aromatic backbones, these PPN membranes show retained structural integrity and OSN performance in the presence of either a strong acid or strong base for over 50 h. The extraordinary stability integrated with excellent permeability and selectivity renders these PPN membranes promising candidates for challenging OSN applications under extreme conditions.

The construction of coplanar conjugated ladder polymers featuring alternating donor–acceptor units has been achieved in high efficiency using ring-closing olefin metathesis.

A highly efficient aldol triple condensation method was developed for scalable synthesis and solution processing of conjugated porous polymer networks.

Well‐defined, fused‐ring aromatic oligomers represent promising candidates for the fundamental understanding and application of advanced carbon‐rich materials, though bottom‐up synthesis and structure–property correlation of these compounds remain challenging. In this work, an efficient synthetic route was employed to construct extended benzo[k]tetraphene‐derived oligomers with up to 13 fused rings. The molecular and electronic structures of these compounds were clearly elucidated. Precise correlation of molecular sizes and crystallization dynamics was established, thus demonstrating the pivotal balance between intermolecular interaction and molecular mobility for optimized processing of highly ordered solids of these extended conjugated molecules.

Well‐defined, fused‐ring aromatic oligomers represent promising candidates for the fundamental understanding and application of advanced carbon‐rich materials, though bottom‐up synthesis and structure–property correlation of these compounds remain challenging. In this work, an efficient synthetic route was employed to construct extended benzo[k]tetraphene‐derived oligomers with up to 13 fused rings. The molecular and electronic structures of these compounds were clearly elucidated. Precise correlation of molecular sizes and crystallization dynamics was established, thus demonstrating the pivotal balance between intermolecular interaction and molecular mobility for optimized processing of highly ordered solids of these extended conjugated molecules.