Recently, intensive efforts are dedicated to convert and store the solar energy in a single device. Herein, dye-synthesized solar cell technology is combined with lithium-ion materials to investigate light-assisted battery charging. In particular we report the direct photo-oxidation of lithium iron phosphate nanocrystals in the presence of a dye as a hybrid photo-cathode in a two-electrode system, with lithium metal as anode and lithium hexafluorophosphate in carbonate-based electrolyte; a configuration corresponding to lithium ion battery charging. Dye-sensitization generates electron–hole pairs with the holes aiding the delithiation of lithium iron phosphate at the cathode and electrons utilized in the formation of a solid electrolyte interface at the anode via oxygen reduction. Lithium iron phosphate acts effectively as a reversible redox agent for the regeneration of the dye. Our findings provide possibilities in advancing the design principles for photo-rechargeable lithium ion batteries.

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The novel rectification–insertion mechanism for the polymerization of polar norbornenes: making alternating copolymers from a single monomer.

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Thermosetting materials (thermosets) are widely used organic materials derived from 3D-network forming monomers. Achieving high glass transition temperature (T g ) thermosets is often a challenging task due to the complexity of designing efficiently and cheaply monomers which are rigid enough to prevent molecular motions within the thermoset. We report here a very simple route to prepare epoxy thermosets with T g as high as 350 °C, based on insertion polynorbornenes. The epoxy monomer (PNBE(epoxy)) is prepared by the epoxidation of poly(5-vinylnorbornene) obtained by catalytic insertion polymerization of 5-vinylnorbornene. PNBE(epoxy) can be cross-linked with simple biosourced compounds. Alternatively, polar insertion polynorbornene can also be used as cross-linker in the formulation of an epoxy resin, once again resulting in epoxy resins with T g higher than 300 °C and devoid of degradation at this temperature. Thus, this study clearly demonstrates the viability of catalytic polymerization to access epoxy thermosets with ultrahigh T g .