We designed 0D, 1D, and 2D supramolecular assemblies made of diaryliodonium salts (functioning as double σ-hole donors) and carboxylates (as σ-hole acceptors). The association was based on two charge-supported halogen bonds (XB), which occurred between I^III sites of the iodonium cations and the carboxylate anions. The sequential introduction of the carboxylic groups in the aryl ring of the benzoic acid added a dimension to the 0D supramolecular organization of the benzoate, which furnished 1D-chained and 2D-layered structures when terephthalate and trimesate anions, correspondingly, were applied as XB acceptors. The structure-directing XB were studied using DFT calculations under periodic boundary conditions and were followed by the one-electron-potential analysis and the Bader atoms-in-molecules topological analysis of electron density. These theoretical methods confirmed the existence of the XB and verified the philicities of the interaction partners in the designed solid-state structures.

Here, we describe and assess a method for reusing specific food waste to make hydrogels, which can be employed to improve the efficacy of agrochemicals and water. It represents an approach for tackling current challenges, such as food waste, water management, and pesticide optimization. Depending on the formulation, the hydrogels were created by crosslinking pectin and starch with CaCl₂ or sodium trimetaphosphate. FTIR and SEM were employed to investigate the methylation degree of the extracted pectin, as well as the surface morphology and interior structure of the hydrogels. The swelling behavior and water retention in sandy soil have been investigated. In addition to the hydrogels’ potential to control and reduce pesticide loss, the herbicide Picloram is a model compound. The results show that the hydrogels have important swelling, up to 300%, and a capacity to retain water, preserve, and increase the water content in sandy soil up to 12 days. Picloram experiments show that hydrogels can limit herbicide mobility for up to 30 days under controlled conditions. The conversion of food wastes to highly valuable materials is a promising approach to optimize the water consumption and the loss of agrochemicals regarding sustainable agriculture.

Flexible electronics have sparked significant interest in the development of electrically conductive polymer-based composite materials. While efforts are being made to fabricate these composites through laser integration techniques, a versatile methodology applicable to a broad range of thermoplastic polymers remains elusive. Moreover, the underlying mechanisms driving the formation of such composites are not thoroughly understood. Addressing this knowledge gap, our research focuses on the core processes determining the integration of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) with polymers to engineer coatings that are not only flexible and robust but also exhibit electrical conductivity. Notably, we have identified a particular range of laser power densities (between 0.8 and 1.83 kW/cm²), which enables obtaining graphene polymer composite coatings for a large set of thermoplastic polymers. These laser parameters are primarily defined by the thermal properties of the polymers as confirmed by thermal analysis as well as numerical simulations. Scanning electron microscopy with elemental analysis and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed that conductivity can be achieved by two mechanisms—rGO integration and polymer carbonization. Additionally, high-speed videos allowed us to capture the graphene oxide (GO) modification and melt pool formation during laser processing. The cross-sectional analysis of the laser-processed samples showed that the convective flows are present in the polymer substrate explaining the observed behavior. Moreover, the practical application of our research is exemplified through the successful assembly of a conductive wristband for wearable devices. Our study not only fills a critical knowledge gap but also offers a tangible illustration of the potential impact of laser-induced rGO-polymer integration in materials science and engineering applications.

The proposed review represents the systematic analysis of modern methods and approaches for the characterization and structural evaluation of fluorinated polymers that have found a wide application as materials for chemical processing, chemically resistant components and coatings, pharmaceutical and electrical packaging, biomedical equipment, etc. The chemical composition of the polymers (fluorine content, its distribution inside the fluorinated materials, chemical bonds, presence of oxygen-containing groups) substantially influences on the operation properties (chemical resistance, adhesive, cohesive, optical, dielectrical, thermal, barrier, gas permeation) of the final polymeric products. Hence, it was of particularly importanсe to bond the emergence of specific features with the presence of fluorine in the chemical structure of polymer by means of related analytical techniques. Namely, we focused on spectral (IR, UV-VIS, NMR, XPS, EPR), chemical (elemental analysis), Secondary-ion mass spectroscopic (SIMS) and microscopic (AFM, SEM-EDX) methods emphasizing their general consideration and limitations as well as application for the in-depth characterization.

In this study, we develop fully-laser-made electrochemical “drop-sensors”, including all three electrodes as in conventional screen-printed electrodes. Our approach is based on the laser processing of graphene oxide (GO) and silver nanoparticle films on a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate to produce electrically conductive and robust free-form composites. The system contains laser-reduced graphene as working and counter electrodes, while laser-integrated silver serves as the reference electrode. We systematically investigate the structural, electrical, and electrochemical properties of these electrodes, showing that our optimized laser processing allows creating electrodes with a near-record low sheet resistance of 29 ± 2 Ω sq ^-1 . We successfully demonstrated the practical implementation of the sensor for caffeine detection in a 200 μL drop with a sensitivity of 17 ± 3 μA mM ^-1 highlighting its efficiency in a small-volume analysis. Remarkably, this laser processing approach enabled devices that retained their sensing performance even after undergoing 1000 bending cycles. These findings have significant implications for the development of flexible, sensitive, and robust devices in various applications, ranging from healthcare monitoring to environmental sensing, highlighting the transformative potential of laser-based sensor fabrication technology.

Operator method and cumulant expansion are used for nonperturbative calculation of the partition function and the free energy in quantum statistics. It is shown for Boltzmann diatomic molecular gas with some model intermolecular potentials that the zeroth order approximation of the proposed method interpolates the thermodynamic values with rather good accuracy in the entire range of both the Hamiltonian parameters and temperature. The systematic procedure for calculation of the corrections to the zeroth order approximation is also considered.