Lead sulphide (PbS) nanocrystals (NCs) are promising materials for low-cost, high-performance optoelectronic devices. So far, PbS NCs have to be first synthesized with long-alkyl chain organic surface ligands and then be ligand-exchanged with shorter ligands (two-steps) to enable charge transport. However, the initial synthesis of insulated PbS NCs show no necessity and the ligand-exchange process is tedious and extravagant. Herein, we have developed a direct one-step, scalable synthetic method for iodide capped PbS (PbS-I) NC inks. The estimated cost for PbS-I NC inks is decreased to less than 6 $·g−1, compared with 16 $·g−1 for conventional methods. Furthermore, based on these PbS-I NCs, photodetector devices show a high detectivity of 1.4 × 1011 Jones and solar cells show an air-stable power conversion efficiency (PCE) up to 10%. This scalable and low-cost direct preparation of high-quality PbS-I NC inks may pave a path for the future commercialization of NC based optoelectronics.

The development of advanced thermal transport materials is a global challenge. Two-dimensional nanomaterials have been demonstrated as promising candidates for thermal management applications. Here, we report a boron nitride (BN) nanosheet/polymer composite film with excellent flexibility and toughness prepared by vacuum-assisted filtration. The mechanical performance of the composite film is highly flexible and robust. It is noteworthy that the film exhibits highly anisotropic properties, with superior in-plane thermal conductivity of around 200 W m K and extremely low through-plane thermal conductivity of 1.0 W m K, making this material an excellent candidate for thermal management in electronics. Importantly, the composite film shows fire-resistant properties. The newly developed unconventional flexible, tough, and refractory BN films are also promising for heat dissipation in a variety of applications.

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Colloidal quantum dot (CQD) solar cells processed from pre-exchanged lead sulfide (PbS) inks have received great attention in the development of scalable and stable photovoltaic devices. However, the current hole-transporting material (HTM) 1,2-ethanedithiol-treated PbS (PbS-EDT) CQDs have several drawbacks in terms of commercialization, including the need for oxidation and multilayer fabrication. Conjugated polymers are an alternative HTM with adjustable properties. Here we propose a series of conjugated polymers (PBDB-T, PBDB-T­(Si), PBDB-T­(S), PBDB-T­(F)) for PbS CQD solar cells as HTMs. Through polymer side-chain engineering, we optimize the model polymer PBDB-T to tune the energy levels, increase hole mobility, improve solid-state ordering, and increase free carrier density. CQD solar cells based on modified polymer PBDB-T­(F) exhibit a best power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 11.2%, which outperforms the devices based on conventional PbS-EDT HTM (10.6%) and is currently the highest PCE for PbS solar cells based on organic HTMs.

Super compatible functional boron nitride (FBN) nanosheets and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) composite films are well fabricated by facile aqueous vacuum filtering.