A donor–acceptor–donor molecule, AQDBD, showed typical twist intramolecular charge transfer at the excited state and piezochromic property. XRD, DSC and computational researches revealed that the collapse of the crystalline structure upon applying pressure caused the piezochromic phenomenon, while the fluorescence was recovered by heating and solvent fuming.

Solid-state batteries have become a frontrunner in humankind’s pursuit of safe and stable energy storage systems with high energy and power density. Electrolyte materials, currently, seem to be the Achilles’ heel of solid-state batteries due to the slow kinetics and poor interfacial wetting. Combining the merits of solid inorganic electrolytes (SIEs) and solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs), inorganic/polymer hybrid electrolytes (IPHEs) integrate improved ionic conductivity, great interfacial compatibility, wide electrochemical stability window, and high mechanical toughness and flexibility in one material, having become a sought-after pathway to high-performance all-solid-state lithium batteries. Herein, we present a comprehensive overview of recent progress in IPHEs, including the awareness of ion migration fundamentals, advanced architectural design for better electrochemical performance, and a perspective on unconquered challenges and potential research directions. This review is expected to provide a guidance for designing IPHEs for next-generation lithium batteries, with special emphasis on developing high-voltage-tolerance polymer electrolytes to enable higher energy density and three-dimensional (3D) continuous ion transport highways to achieve faster charging and discharging.

The synthesis of a carbazole-derived, well-defined ladder polymer was achieved under thermodynamic control by employing reversible ring-closing olefin metathesis. This unique approach featured mild conditions and excellent efficiency, affording the ladder polymer backbone with minimum levels of unreacted defects. Rigorous NMR analysis on a ¹³C isotope-enriched product revealed that the main-chain contained less than 1% of unreacted precursory vinyl groups. The rigid conformation of the ladder-type backbone was confirmed by photophysical analysis, while the extended rod-like structure was visualized under scanning tunneling microscope. Excellent solubility of this polymer in common organic solvents allowed for feasible processing of thin films using solution-casting techniques. Atomic force microscopy and grazing incident X-ray scattering revealed a uniform and amorphous morphology of these films, in sharp contrast to the polycrystalline thin films of its small molecular counterpart.