@article{fontecha_mahn_bochinski_clarke_2022, title={Tracking the complete degradation lifecycle of poly(ethyl cyanoacrylate): From induced photoluminescence to nitrogen-doped nano-graphene precursor residue}, volume={195}, ISSN={["1873-2321"]}, DOI={10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2021.109772}, abstractNote={Poly(ethyl cyanoacrylate) (PECA) is a commercial polymer which degrades easily at temperatures between 150 - 200 °C via an unzipping reaction where volatile monomer is produced. In this report, the complete moderate-temperature degradation lifecycle is delineated, which also includes formation of a carbonaceous by-product where the ester side groups are lost and ring formation between the backbone and cyano side group occurs. Degradation-induced photoluminescence is observed at an intermediate point where the remaining PECA (or re-polymerized oligomers) has sp3 carbons but sp2-carbon-containing clusters of the by-product that will ultimately form aromatic structures are also present. This observation supports the hypothesis that degradation-induced photoluminescence in polymers, which has been observed widely, is connected to the formation of such sp2 containing clusters, and that this process is relatively independent of the original polymer chemistry, as PECA dominantly degrades through a mechanism distinctly different than the thermo-oxidative cascade associated with many thermoplastic materials. As degradation further advances, a residue of approximately 8% of the original mass is produced which is no longer photoluminescent and can ultimately transform into nitrogen-substituted nano-graphene. Observing the entire lifecycle further solidifies the previously-proposed connection between degradation-induced luminescence in polymers and photoluminescence in hydrogenated amorphous carbon. The low degradation temperature of PECA also provides a bridge between classic polymer degradation and waste-to-graphene strategies that generally involve much more aggressive processing.}, journal={POLYMER DEGRADATION AND STABILITY}, author={Fontecha, Daniela and Mahn, Chelsea and Bochinski, Jason R. and Clarke, Laura I}, year={2022}, month={Jan} }
 @article{tezuka_umemoto_takeda_takahashi_ebe_enomoto_rodbuntum_nohara_fontecha_asakura_et al._2020, title={Effects of alkylamine chain length on perovskite nanocrystals after washing and perovskite light-emitting diodes}, volume={59}, ISSN={["1347-4065"]}, DOI={10.7567/1347-4065/ab4ecd}, abstractNote={Organic–inorganic hybrid lead halide perovskite nanocrystals (PeNCs) have received great attention as a light source for perovskite LEDs (PeLEDs) owing to the superior optical properties. However, PeNCs typically use octylamine (OAm) as capping ligands which have insulating properties. Exploring a desirable short alkylamine instead of OAm is required for the improvement of PeLEDs. Here, as one of the strategies to solve this issue, the effects of alkylamine chain length for optical properties of PeNCs and PeLED characteristics are investigated. Pentylamine is an optimal short alkylamine and precipitate luminescent PeNCs with high PLQY values of 90%. Importantly, pentylamine maintains a relatively high PLQY of 48% after spin-coating, due to the durability pentylamine has to ethyl acetate as a washing solvent. PeNCs capped with pentylamine also demonstrate an external quantum efficiency of over 1% with luminance of over 2000 cd cm−2, indicating that pentylamine has the potential to overcome the insulator properties of PeNC thin film.}, journal={JAPANESE JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS}, author={Tezuka, Yuki and Umemoto, Kazuki and Takeda, Masaki and Takahashi, Yoshihito and Ebe, Hinako and Enomoto, Junya and Rodbuntum, Sasiphapa and Nohara, Tomohiro and Fontecha, Daniela and Asakura, Satoshi and et al.}, year={2020}, month={Mar} }
 @article{wu_reens_langen_shagam_fontecha_ye_2018, title={Enhancing radical molecular beams by skimmer cooling}, volume={20}, ISSN={["1463-9084"]}, DOI={10.1039/c8cp00962g}, abstractNote={A supersonic beam source has been a key component in many experiments that rely on high molecular densities and cold temperatures. In this work, skimmer cooling is shown to enable significant gains in density for a supersonic beam with entrained species such as hydroxyl radicals.}, number={17}, journal={PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY CHEMICAL PHYSICS}, author={Wu, Hao and Reens, David and Langen, Tim and Shagam, Yuval and Fontecha, Daniela and Ye, Jun}, year={2018}, month={May}, pages={11615–11621} }