Field-effect transistor (FET)-based microelectronics is approaching its size limit due to unacceptable power dissipation and short-channel effects. Molecular quantum dot cellular automata (MQCA) is a promising transistorless paradigm that encodes binary information with bistable charge configurations instead of currents and voltages. However, it still remains a challenge to find appropriate candidate molecules for MQCA operation. Inspired by recent progress in boron radical chemistry, we theoretically predicted a series of new MQCA candidates built from diboryl monoradical anions. The unpaired electron resides mainly on one boron center and can be shifted to the other by an electrostatic stimulus, forming bistable charge configurations required by MQCA. By investigating various bridge units with different substitutions (ortho-, meta-, and para-), we suggested several candidate molecules that have potential MQCA applications.

An elegant synthetic route to a ladder-type di-borate compound 2a was reported based on the reduction, radical-cyclization, and oxidative-dehydrogenation reaction of 1. The existence of the biradical intermediate [1˙˙]2- was supported by both EPR measurements and DFT calculations.

mirrors, [2] electronic paper, [3] spacecraft thermal control, [4] and military camouflage, [5] etc.Generally, there are five functional layers in one electrochromic device (ECD): two conductive layers, one electrochromic layer, one electrolyte layer, and one counter electrode layer (i.e., the ion storage layer). Among those, the electrochromic layer is responsible for the color transformation. The counter electrode layer coordinates the redox reaction of the electrochromic layer, storing the counter ions to achieve the charge balance concurrently. [6,7] Therefore, the counter electrode layer plays an essential role in the optical performance and long-term stability of ECDs. Compared to the mature research on electrochromic materials, [8] counter electrode materials (CEMs) have been largely ignored. Due to the very limited options for CEMs, many reported works just simply use bare tin-doped indium oxide (ITO), without a counter electrode layer, when evaluating electrochromic materials in a device set-up. This is a simple way to construct an ECD, whereas, the redox process of ITO is irreversible, leading to serious degradation in its conductivity and transparency, [9] which makes it unsuitable for the industrial application of ECDs.

The combination of the TICT and AIE properties in a tetraphenylethylene based molecule with D–π–A structure is observed by simply adjusting the viscosity of the solvent.