Advanced Analysis Center

ABSTRACT Self‐assembled monolayers (SAMs) have emerged as promising hole‐transporting layers (HTLs) for organic photovoltaics (OPVs). However, their practical application is often hindered by inherent aggregation issues and the difficulty of forming uniform thin films over large areas. To overcome these limitations, we developed a novel interfacial modification process using nicotinic hydrazide (NH) designed to eliminate residual SAM aggregates. We demonstrate that NH effectively eliminates the aggregated 2PACz by forming an energetically favorable complex with the phosphonic acid groups, yielding an uniform and aggregate‐free SAM layer. Comprehensive characterization confirms that this treatment enhances film quality and surface wettability, thereby improving the HTL/active layer interfacial contact. Integrating this optimized SAM into OPV devices leads to significantly improved efficiency of 15.38% using a blade‐coated 1 cm 2 active area, primarily due to improved charge extraction and reduced trap‐assisted recombination, which enhance both open‐circuit voltage and fill factor. Furthermore, the superior uniformity and reproducibility of NH‐treated HTL facilitates successful large‐area fabrication. As a result, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of OPV modules are enhanced from 14.07% to 15.02%, and the resulting perovskite‐organic tandem module achieves a PCE of 19.89% at 16.41 cm 2 active area, demonstrating a robust pathway for high‐performance scalable photovoltaics.

Plant residues contribute to the nitrogen cycle in terrestrial ecosystems, as they are recognized as a nutrient source for soil microorganisms. However, the contribution of the microbial community in the phyllosphere of plant residues, such as senescent leaves, itself in the nitrogen cycle remains unclear. In agricultural lands, crop residues contribute to global emissions of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O), which is an intermediate product of several microbial pathways including nitrification and denitrification. We examined direct N2O emissions from aboveground cabbage leaf residues via denitrification by indigenous microbial communities inhabiting the phyllosphere of the residue. We conducted a variety of experiments, ranging from field experiments to multi-omics analyses. We found that cabbage leaves accumulated nitrate from 3.0 to 11.3 NO3–-N mg g–1 leaf dry weight by application of chemical fertilizers and/or cow manure compost. Leaf senescence triggered N2O emissions (8.62–415.35 μg N2O–N m–2 h–1), and denitrifiers from five genera were isolated from the senescent leaves. A representative denitrifier, Agrobacterium sp. 6Ca8 utilized leaf nitrate as an electron acceptor and carbon sources such as glucose, succinate, and pyroglutamate as electron donors to produce N2O. Strain 6Ca8 co-expressed genes for denitrification and aerobic respiration, as well as genes for central metabolic pathways, providing key precursors essential for ATP production and cellular biosynthesis. Our findings elucidate the role of the residual plant phyllosphere as a microbial hotspot of N2O emissions in agricultural fields. This is the study demonstrating denitrifiying bacteria present on leaves and their functions as drivers of N2O production. Furthermore, we demonstrate that denitrification, which is known as an anaerobic process, can occur by utilizing nutrients released from senescent leaves, even on the leaf surface surrounded by air. Our study expands the ecological niche of denitrification from belowground soil to aboveground plants in terrestrial ecosystems.

Rechargeable Li metal batteries offer high energy density due to the high capacity and low reduction potential of Li metal anodes, but their practical application is hindered by dendritic growth that induces significant volume expansion, low Coulombic efficiency (CE), and safety risks. To address these challenges, we rationally designed an electrolyte based on a systematic investigation of the effect of anion‐rich environments on interfacial stability. To specifically probe the role of anions, we employed a concentrated electrolyte system. Lithium bis(fluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiFSI) was selected as the lithium salt in combination with diethyl ether (DEE), a monodentate ether that reduces steric hindrance and promotes simplified solvation behavior. The optimized 6 m LiFSI‐DEE electrolyte enabled Li symmetric and Li/Cu cells to cycle stably for over 1200 h at 0.5 mA c m −2 and 1 mAh cm −2 , demonstrating superior interfacial stability, a benefit that extended to Li/LFP full cells and Cu/LFP anode‐less cells, both of which showed significantly improved cycling performance. The 6 m electrolyte promotes anion decomposition, forming a LiF‐rich solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) that stabilizes the interface. In addition, the interfacial morphological evolution was directly visualized by operando optical microscopy and SEM, confirming a more uniform and compact Li deposition. These results highlight that anion concentration effectively modulates the Li + solvation environment and SEI chemistry, providing a robust design strategy for next‐generation Li metal battery electrolytes.

Stacked Graphene Films The diagram illustrates the use of a pellicle made from a multilayer composite film, composed of layer-by-layer stacked graphene, for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. This graphene-based pellicle offers excellent optical transparency, mechanical strength, and thermal stability, ensuring superior protection for the photomask during EUV exposure and minimizing degradation or contamination. More information can be found in the Research Article by Yun Sung Woo, Byung Hee Hong, and co-workers (10.1002/adfm.202518685).

ABSTRACT X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) in ferrites (MFe 2 O 4 ; M is divalent transition metal (TM) ion) materials is capable to differentiate between chemical states with the help of intensive investigation of Fe 2p, and M 2p spectra, particularly through splitting into their components, detecting chemical shifts, and shake‐up satellites. Therefore, it could shed light on the behavior of Fe 2+ /Fe 3+ , M 2+ /M 3+ , and even partially filled site occupancies. The binding energy of ions is influenced by several factors, such as average ligand electronegativity, metal‐to‐charge transfer, initial state effect, screening effect and relaxation effect that elucidate the role of the surrounding of ions to be probed. Hence, identification of cations in different surroundings is another feature of XPS. Thus, detailed deconvolution of Fe and other metal core‐level spectra of ferrites can provide insights into the cation inversion, an important factor that directly governs the performance of ferrite‐based devices in spintronics, catalysis, and energy storage. Hence, XPS is not just an analytical tool that can bring the oxidation states into consideration, but a quantitative probe that can clarify cation‐inversion profiles and site occupancy. Thus, this review article summarizes the extensive XPS studies on ferrites, focusing mainly on spinel ferrite systems and doped ferrites.

Bulk‐type all‐solid‐Li batteries based on inorganic solid electrolytes (SEs) are considered promising candidates for next‐generation energy storage systems for their potential to overcome the limitations of current lithium‐ion batteries, such as safety concerns, narrow operating temperature. Following the intensive efforts to search for affordable sulfide SEs, recently, chloride SEs are in the spotlight for their better high‐voltage stability and potentially lower cost than the sulfide counterparts. However, many chloride SEs exhibiting appreciable ionic conductivity adopt rare‐earth metals, which arises the motivation to search for new chloride SEs based on earth‐abundant minerals. Herein, Li 6−x Fe 1−x Al x Cl 8 (0 ≤ × ≤ 0.8) SEs exhibiting significantly improved ionic conductivity of 3.9 × 10 −5 S cm −1 at 25°C for Li 5.5 Fe 0.5 Al 0.5 Cl 8 compared to Li 6 FeCl 8 (3.1 × 10 −6 S cm −1 ) are reported. The formation of a metastable spinel‐like phase was observed for Li 5.5 Fe 0.5 Al 0.5 Cl 8 prepared by mechanical ball‐milling. Furthermore, its electrochemical properties as a catholyte were examined, coupled with a LiFePO 4 cathode active material.

As artificial intelligence advances rapidly, demand for node scaling and improved device performance is increasing in semiconductors. This necessitates a systematic analysis of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) technology developments. This study introduces a hierarchical framework based on large language models (LLM) and applies it to 6,859 EUV-related papers published from 2015 to 2024. The framework combines clustering, summarization, evaluation, selection, and a decision stage guided by an LLM-based AI agent to build a hierarchical tree, and it then analyzes the hierarchy step by step to track emerging trends in the field. Emerging trends in EUV research include algorithmic metrology and overlay modeling, illumination engineering with pupil mapping, and advances in multi-beam mask writing along with the supplier ecosystem. This hierarchical framework is expected to not only determine the future direction of EUV technology but also broadly apply LLM-based methods to identify various emerging trends.

Abstract Graphene is a promising material for next‐generation extreme ultraviolet (EUV) pellicles due to its excellent optical transparency, mechanical, and thermal stability under intense EUV radiation. However, challenges remain in precisely controlling its thickness at large scales and preventing hydrogen radical‐induced degradation. In this study, a multilayer graphene composite with protective capping layers, enabling nanometer‐scale thickness control is devloped. A 10‐layer, 5 nm thick graphene film achieves ≈92% transparency and an effective Young's modulus of 220 GPa. When integrated into a free‐standing molybdenum (Mo)/graphene/silicon nitride (SiN) composite, the Young's modulus increases by 29%, and the fracture load improves by 840% compared to a single‐layer SiN membrane. Molecular dynamics simulations confirm that the enhanced mechanical strength mainly results from graphene's intrinsic properties. Additionally, a full‐size pellicle with five graphene layers and a 100 nm SiN layer are fabricated, which maintains over 90% EUV transparency on a 7 nm SiN substrate. These results suggest that multilayer graphene membranes can overcome current EUV pellicle limitations and support the broader commercialization of EUV lithography in the near future.

Fast charging of commercial lithium-ion batteries severely compromises long-term cycle durability, particularly in cells using high mass-loading thick electrodes. Such performance decay originates from interfacial kinetic limitations in the graphite anode as follows: (i) a sluggish Li+ desolvation at the electrolyte-graphite interface, (ii) a hindered Li+ diffusion across the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI), and (iii) a restricted Li+ insertion into the graphite, which collectively lead to an undesirable Li plating. Herein, we introduce an ultrathin and uniform MoO2/Mo2C biphasic passivation layer, achieved through a sequential cationic polyelectrolyte-assisted molybdate adsorption approach. The outer MoO2 layer does not only suppress an excessive SEI formation but also stabilizes the electrolyte interface by promoting the formation of Li2O and LiF-rich SEI that are both ionically conductive and chemically robust. The inner Mo2C layer provides a low Li+ adsorption energy (-0.97 eV), a reduced surface diffusion barrier (43 meV), and a high electrical conductivity (∼104 S cm-1), consequently enabling capacitive behavior and fast intercalation kinetics at the edge plane. The biphasic layer-passivated graphite anode delivers a fast-charging capability, reaching the 80% state of charge in just 7.4 min at a current density of 6 C and retaining 78.3% of its initial capacity after 600 fast-charge cycles with a practically viable high areal capacity of 3.2 mAh cm-2. These results represent a notable advancement over previously reported surface-engineered graphite anodes, particularly under industrially demanding conditions including high mass-loading and fast-charging.