Evaluation of Camouflage Coloration of Polyamide-6,6 Fabric by Comparing Simultaneous Spectrum in Visible and Near-Infrared Region for Defense Applications

Polyamide-6,6 (PA-6,6) knitted fabric was coated with a complex combination of liquid-phase oxidized carbon black pigment (CBP) as light absorber and mono-sulfonated telon violet 3R (TVR) as acid dyes. Nitric acid (NA) moiety was used as liquid-phase oxidation of CBP and hydrophilic transformation of CBP-TVR. Thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and N, N-dimethylformamide (DMF) were formulated as cross-linker between composite mixture (CM) and PA-6,6 fabric. Six different CMs were coded for coating of PA-6, 6 fabric such as TPU-DMF, CBP-TPU-DMF, TVR-TPU-DMF, CBP-TVR-TPU-DMF, NA-TVR-TPU-DMF, NA-CBP-TVR-TPU-DMF. Structural, chromatic, and spectral reflection of CM coated PA-6,6 fabric was investigated by scanning electron microscopy, color measurement spectrophotometer, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. CBP formulated PA-6,6 fabric was significantly remarked as maximum light absorber in both visible and near-infrared spectrum without allowing other parameters of treated PA-6,6 fabric. Therefore, minimum light reflection principle of CBP was indicated as camouflage material for camouflage textile coloration/finishing/patterning of simultaneous spectrum probe in visible and near-infrared spectrum. PA-6,6 fabric is very common fabrication for defense clothing, weapon, and vehicle netting against every combat background. This approach of simultaneous spectrum probe may be extended for concealment of target signature against high-performance defense surveillance.

High-Performance UV-Vis Light Induces Radical Photopolymerization Using Novel 2-Aminobenzothiazole-Based Photosensitizers

The popularity of using the photopolymerization reactions in various areas of science and technique is constantly gaining importance. Light-induced photopolymerization is the basic process for the production of various polymeric materials. The key role in the polymerization reaction is the photoinitiator. The huge demand for radical and cationic initiators results from the dynamic development of the medical sector, and the optoelectronic, paints, coatings, varnishes and adhesives industries. For this reason, we dealt with the subject of designing new, highly-efficient radical photoinitiators. This paper describes novel photoinitiating systems operating in UV-Vis light for radical polymerization of acrylates. The proposed photoinitiators are composed of squaraine (SQ) as a light absorber and various diphenyliodonium (Iod) salts as co-initiators. The kinetic parameters of radical polymerization of trimethylolpropane triacrylate (TMPTA), such as the degree of double bonds conversion (C%), the rate of photopolymerization (Rp), as well as the photoinitiation index (Ip) were calculated. It was found that 2-aminobenzothiazole derivatives in the presence of iodonium salts effectively initiated the polymerization of TMPTA. The rates of polymerization were at about 2 × 10−2 s−1 and the degree of conversion of acrylate groups from 10% to 36% were observed. The values of the photoinitiating indexes for the most optimal initiator concentration, i.e., 5 × 10−3 M were in the range from 1 × 10−3 s−2 even to above 9 × 10−3 s−2. The photoinitiating efficiency of new radical initiators depends on the concentration and chemical structure of used photoinitiator. The role of squaraine-based photoinitiating systems as effective dyeing photoinitiators for radical polymerization is highlighted in this article.

PbS1−xSex-Quantum-Dot@MWCNT/P3HT Nanocomposites with Tunable Photoelectric Conversion Performance

The photoelectric performance of quantum dots (QDs)-based nanocomposites is closely related to the optical properties of QDs, which play a critical role in the optical absorption and separation/transfer of charge carriers. Herein, we report a nanocomposite composed of light absorber PbS1−xSex quantum dots (QDs), electron-conducting multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and hole-conducting poly-3-hexylthiophene (P3HT) with tunable photoelectric conversion performance. In addition to using the quantization effect, we proposed solid-solution PbS1−xSex QDs (x = 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1) for band gap engineering. In particular, we successfully synthesized relatively small (~5.3 nm) and uniform QDs via the hot-injection method by using PbCl2, S/Se powder and environmentally friendly oleylamine (OLA) as the precursors and/or solvent. By increasing the content of Se, the band gap of PbS1−xSex QDs decreased along with the decrease in the conduction band and valence band edges. The suitable energy level alignment enabled the efficient transfer of photoinduced charge carriers, and hence a much higher photoelectric conversion performance of the PbS1−xSex-QD@MWCNT/P3HT nanocomposites than the individual QDs, P3HT, and binary PbS1−xSex-QD@MWCNT, as well as the best performance, was achieved over PbS0.75Se0.25-QD@MWCNT/P3HT.

A Triad Photoanode for Visible Light-Driven Water Oxidation via Immobilization of Molecular Polyoxometalate on Polymeric Carbon Nitride

Due to their availability, low cost, non-toxicity and tunability, polymeric carbon nitrides (CNx) represent one of the most attractive materials classes for the development of fully sustainable photo(electro)catalytic systems for solar-driven water splitting. However, the development of CNx-based photoanodes for visible light-driven water oxidation to dioxygen is rather challenging, particularly due to issues related to photoelectrode stability and effective coupling of the light absorber with water oxidation catalysts. Herein, a triadic photoanode comprising a porous TiO2 electron collector scaffold sensitized by CNx coupled to a molecular cobalt polyoxometalate (CoPOM = [Co4(H2O)2(PW9O34)2]10─) catalyst is reported. Complete water oxidation to dioxygen under visible (λ > 420 nm) light irradiation is demonstrated, with photocurrents down to relatively low bias potentials (0.2 V vs. RHE). Furthermore, polyethyleneimine (PEI), a cationic polymer is shown to act as an effective and non-sacrificial electrostatic linker for immobilization of the anionic CoPOM onto the negatively charged surface of CNx. The optimized deposition of CoPOM using the PEI linker translates directly into improved efficiency of the transfer of photogenerated holes to water molecules and to enhanced oxygen evolution. This work thus provides important design rules for effective immobilization of POM-based catalysts into soft-matter photoelectrocatalytic architectures for light-driven water oxidation.

Silicon: quantum dot photovoltage triodes

Silicon is widespread in modern electronics, but its electronic bandgap prevents the detection of infrared radiation at wavelengths above 1,100 nanometers, which limits its applications in multiple fields such as night vision, health monitoring and space navigation systems. It is therefore of interest to integrate silicon with infrared-sensitive materials to broaden its detection wavelength. Here we demonstrate a photovoltage triode that can use silicon as the emitter but is also sensitive to infrared spectra owing to the heterointegrated quantum dot light absorber. The photovoltage generated at the quantum dot base region, attracting holes from silicon, leads to high responsivity (exceeding 410 A·W−1 with Vbias of −1.5 V), and a widely self-tunable spectral response. Our device has the maximal specific detectivity (4.73 × 1013 Jones with Vbias of −0.4 V) at 1,550 nm among the infrared sensitized silicon detectors, which opens a new path towards infrared and visible imaging in one chip with silicon technology compatibility.