Search

BackgroundChimeric antigen receptor - T (CAR-T) cell therapy has shown remarkable efficacy in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (R/R MM). However, a subset of patients still experienced progression or relapse, and the predictors of prognosis are little known. We analyzed the inflammatory markers before CAR-T cell infusion, to clarify their correlation with survival and toxicity.MethodsThis study involved 109 R/R MM patients who received CAR-T therapy between June 2017 and July 2021. Inflammatory markers, including ferritin, c-reactive protein (CRP), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) before CAR-T cell infusion were detected and then categorized by quartiles. Adverse events and clinical outcomes were compared between patients with upper quartile of inflammatory markers and patients with lower three quartiles of inflammatory markers. An inflammatory prognostic index (InPI) based on these three inflammatory markers was developed in this study. Patients were divided into 3 groups according to the InPI score, progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were compared among the groups. In addition, we explored the correlation between cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and pre-infusion inflammatory markers.ResultsWe found that the pre-infusion high ferritin (hazard ratio [HR], 3.382; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.667 to 6.863; P = .0007), high CRP (HR, 2.043; 95% CI, 1.019 to 4.097; P = .044), and high IL-6 (HR, 3.298; 95% CI, 1.598 to 6.808; P = .0013) were significantly associated with inferior OS. The formula of the InPI score was based on the HR value of these 3 variables. Three risk groups were formed: (good, 0 to 0.5 point; intermediate, 1 to 1.5 points; poor, 2 to 2.5 points). Median OS for patients with good, intermediate, and poor InPI was not reached, 24 months, and 4 months, respectively, and median PFS was 19.1 months, 12.3 months, and 2.9 months, respectively. In the cox proportional hazards model, poor InPI remained an independent prognostic factor for PFS and OS. Pre-infusion ferritin was negatively associated with CAR T-cell expansion normalized to baseline tumor burden. Spearman correlation analysis showed that pre-infusion ferritin and IL-6 levels positively correlated with the grade of CRS (P = .0369 and P = .0117, respectively). The incidence of severe CRS was higher in patients with high IL-6 compared with patients with low IL-6 (26% vs. 9%, P = .0405). Pre-infusion ferritin, CRP and IL-6 were positively correlated with each peak values within the first month after infusion.ConclusionsOur results suggest that patients with elevated inflammation markers before CAR-T cell infusion are more likely to have poor prognosis.

Gout is a chronic metabolic disease that seriously affects human health. It is also a major challenge facing the world, which has brought a heavy burden to patients and society. Hyperuricemia (HUA) is the most important risk factor for gout. In recent years, with the improvement of living standards and the change of dietary habits, the incidence of gout in the world has increased dramatically, and gradually tends to be younger. An increasing number of studies have shown that gene mutations may play an important role in the development of HUA and gout. Therefore, we reviewed the existing literature and summarized the susceptibility genes and research status of HUA and gout, in order to provide reference for the early diagnosis, individualized treatment and the development of new targeted drugs of HUA and gout.

In this study, an effective and simple approach for optimizing the performance of both cathode and anode interlayers in OSCs is demonstrated using 4-heptyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl (7CB) to dope a classic cathode (ZnO and SnO2) or an anode interlayer [poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS)]. Because of the enhanced light absorption, improved physical contact between a photoactive layer and an interlayer, and increased carrier recombination, all of the devices based on a 7CB-doped interlayer show increased short-circuit current density (Jsc), fill factor (FF), and power conversion efficiency (PCE) compared to the corresponding undoped interlayer, regardless it is the anode interlayer or the cathode interlayer, which is a rare phenomenon in the interlayer modification field.

Hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, and low platelet count (HELLP) syndrome is a life-threatening pregnancy complication. Though there are several medications widely used to treat HELLP syndrome, delivery is the only efficient treatment. The goal of the present study was to investigate the effects of platelet-derived growth factor-D (PDGF-D), a newly identified PDGF, in a rat model of HELLP syndrome which was accomplished by sFlt-1 and sEng injection. The expression levels of PDGF-D in pregnant women diagnosed with HELLP syndrome was determined. A HELLP rat model was established and the PDGF-D expression level in the plasma and the placenta tissue was evaluated. To evaluate the effects of PDGF-D in HELLP syndrome model, siPDGF-D was injected into the rats and the HELLP syndrome-related parameters were measured. The levels of inflammatory cytokines and PDGF-D were determined by ELISA. The oxidative stress activities in the plasma were also determined. Furthermore, the expression of PDGF-D/PDGFR-β/nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) p65 in placenta tissues was evaluated by Western blotting. Compared to the normal pregnant (NP) group, the levels of PDGF-D were augmented regardless of species. Knockdown of PDGF-D can result in the alleviation of HELLP syndrome development and progression in the HELLP rat model. Importantly, as a result of PDGF-D knockdown, the serum levels of inflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress activities were modulated, and the phosphorylation of PDGFR-β and NF-κB p65 in placenta tissue was inhibited. Taking together, our findings indicate that targeting PDGF-D could be used as a novel strategy to treat patients with HELLP syndrome.

Stability is one of the most important challenges facing material research for organic solar cells (OSC) on their path to further commercialization. In the high-performance material system PM6:Y6 studied here, we investigate degradation mechanisms of inverted photovoltaic devices. We have identified two distinct degradation pathways: one requires the presence of both illumination and oxygen and features a short-circuit current reduction, the other one is induced thermally and marked by severe losses of open-circuit voltage and fill factor. We focus our investigation on the thermally accelerated degradation. Our findings show that bulk material properties and interfaces remain remarkably stable, however, aging-induced defect state formation in the active layer remains the primary cause of thermal degradation. The increased trap density leads to higher non-radiative recombination, which limits the open-circuit voltage and lowers the charge carrier mobility in the photoactive layer. Furthermore, we find the trap-induced transport resistance to be the major reason for the drop in fill factor. Our results suggest that device lifetimes could be significantly increased by marginally suppressing trap formation, leading to a bright future for OSC.

In this paper, the dual-stator axial-field flux-switching permanent magnet (DSAFFSPM) motors with E- and U-core stator modular segments, as well as different stator/rotor-pole combinations are compared. The operation performance of the DSAFFSPM machines are explored by using the MMF-permeance model method. A more comprehensive theoretical analysis, no more limited to numerical calculation, is presented. This reveals directly the relations between the operation performance and design parameters of the machine. The performance comparisons between the E-shaped and U-shaped teeth DSAFFSPM machines are given, including the effects of the structural parameters on the electromagnetic torque, different stator/rotor-pole combinations on the winding factor and gear ratio, the differences of the average torque and the torque density and the efficiency in the 12/10 U-core and 6/10 E-core topology. These are the basis of the DSAFFSPM machine design and optimization. Finally, the experiments on the two prototype, 6/10 E-core and 12/10 U-core DSAFFSPM machines are carried out. The results show that the average torque of the 12/10 U-core prototype is higher than that of the 6/10 E-core prototype, while the torque density and the efficiency of 6/10 E-core DSAFFSPM machines are much higher.

Hybrid axial field flux-switching permanent magnet (HAFFSPM) machine exhibits a high-cogging torque due to its doubly salient structure and flux focusing effect. In consideration of the armature and field windings are both equipped in the HAFFSPM machine, a cogging torque reduction method by the harmonic field current injection is proposed in this study. Initially, the mathematical model of the HAFFSPM machine is analysed. Moreover, the theoretical principle of the proposed method is investigated based on the analytical model of the machine. The amplitude and phase angle of the injected current are calculated according to the harmonic component of the cogging torque. The feasibility of the proposed method is analysed and validated by both the finite-element analysis method and experiments on the prototype. Finally, the comparison between the proposed method and several topology optimisation methods of the HAFFSPM machine is given to indicate the priority of the harmonic field current injection method on cogging torque reduction.

Summary All-small-molecule organic solar cells (SM-OSCs) with a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 15.88% (certified 15.5%) are demonstrated by employing 4TIC as the additional non-fullerene acceptor (NFA) to construct ternary SM-OSCs. 4TIC is a highly crystalline acceptor with a similar molecular structure as 6TIC, the host NFA in the binary blend. The addition of 4TIC not only significantly enhances the crystallinity of the blend film but also maintains the desired face-on orientation in the proper multi-length scale morphology to improve both charge extraction and recombination in devices. As a result, the PCE of the ZnP-TBO: 6TIC-based SM-OSCs increases from 12.11% to 14.73% after the addition of 4TIC. For ZnP-TSEH: 6TIC-based SM-OSCs, the PCE increases from 13.54% to 15.88% (certified 15.5%) after the addition of 4TIC. The 15.88% efficiency is the best result for SM-OSCs reported to date.

In this work, a novel ionic liquid (IL) is demonstrated as an interface modification layer in photovoltaic devices to improve power conversion efficiency (PCE) in inverted organic solar cell (i-OSCs). As a result, the PTB7-Th:PC71BM-based devices using ZnO/IL as ETL layer exhibited over 15% PCE increment with enhanced short-circuit current density (Jsc) and fill factor (FF), compared with pure ZnO appliance in ETL. The ZnO layer modified with IL has a better electron extraction capability and lower work function, both of which contribute to better device performance.

Combining with deep learning technology, this paper proposes a method of farmland pest recognition based on target detection algorithm, which realizes the automatic recognition of farmland pest and improves the recognition accuracy. First of all, a labeled farm pest database is established; then uses Faster R-CNN algorithm, the model uses the improved Inception network for testing; finally, the proposed target detection model is trained and tested on the farm pest database, with the average precision up to 90.54%.

A high-temperature annealing process (>250 °C) is always needed to obtain high-quality α-CsPbI2Br perovskite films, which makes it a challenge in the manufacture and application of flexible photovoltaic devices. In this work, a vacuum-controlled growth (VCG) method that can effectively control the crystallization of perovskite and provide high-quality films with larger grain size and low defect density at a lower temperature is demonstrated. Besides, a facile introduction of polyethyleneimine ethoxylated (PEIE) interlayer improves the charge extraction and suppresses the carrier recombination. Therefore, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of an all-inorganic CsPbI2Br perovskite solar cell (PSC) reaches 12.32%. The unencapsulated PSCs with VCG treatment and PEIE modification show outstanding stabilities while retaining over 95% of the initial PCE after being stored in a N2 glovebox for 1000 h. This low-temperature crystallization method and cheap interlayer introduction can drive the development of future commercialization of all-inorganic perovskite solar cells.

The cellulase cocktail of marine Aspergillus niger exhibited salt-tolerant and thermostable properties, which is of great potential in industrial application. In order to excavate the single tolerant cellulase components from complex cellulase cocktail, constitutive homologous expression was employed for direct obtainment of the endoglucanase (AnEGL). Enzymatic property study revealed that AnEGL exhibited a property of salt tolerance and a strong thermostability in high salinity environment. Significantly, its activity increased to 129% and the half-life at 65 °C increased to 27.7-fold with the presence of 4.5 M NaCl. Molecular dynamics simulation revealed that Na+ and Cl− could form salt bridges with charged residues, and then influenced the activity of loops and the stability of substrate binding pocket, which accounted for the salt tolerance and thermostability. Further, site-specific mutagenesis study proved that the residues Asp95 and Asp99 in the pocket were of great concern for the tolerant properties. The salt-tolerant and thermostable AnEGL was of great value in lignocellulosic utilization and the conjectural mechanisms were of referential significance for other tolerant enzymes. Graphical Abstract

Liver inflammation is the main cause of severe liver diseases, including liver fibrosis, steatohepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Cell therapy topics are receiving increasingly more attention. The therapeutic applications of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) have become one of the most discussed issues. While other stem cells have therapeutic effects, they have only one or two clinical applications. MSCs are responsible for repairing a variety of tissue injuries. Moreover, MSCs could be derived from several sources, including adipose tissue. MSCs are usually more abundant and easier to obtain compared to other stem cells.To prove the concept that MSCs have homing ability to the injured tissue and assist in tissue repair, we examined the effects of intravenous injected adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSCs) in a N-nitrosodiethylamine (DEN)-induced liver injury rat model.The significant repairing ability of ADSCs was observed. The levels of fibrosis, apoptosis, and tumorigenesis in the DEN-injured liver tissues all decreased after ADSC treatment. Furthermore, to enhance the therapeutic effects of ADSCs, we pretreated them with L-theanine, which promotes the hepatocyte growth factor secretion of ADSC, and therefore improved the healing effects on injured liver tissue.ADSCs, especially L-theanine-pretreated ADSCs, have anti-inflammation, anti-apoptosis, and anti-tumorigenesis effects on the N-nitrosodiethylamine-induced liver injury rat model.

Additional file 2: Table S1. Primers used in this study. Table S2. Changes of salt bridges within 20 to 50 ns simulation. Table S3. Some thermostable endoglucanases from various microorganisms. Figure S1. NaCl gradient elution to the supernatant of original strain. Figure S2. The positions of the regions near the 90th and 210th residues. Figure S3. The expression of AnEGL and its mutants in E. coli. Figure S4. Changes of salt bridges within 20–50 ns simulation.

Purpose: To explore the effect of different gastrointestinal reconstruction techniques on laparoscopic distal gastrectomy of gastric cancer on the nutritional and anemia status, and quality of life (QoL) of patients. Methods: Eligible patients were randomly divided into three groups (n=36/group): Billroth I anastomosis group, Billroth II combined with Braun anastomosis group, and Roux-en-Y anastomosis group. Related indicators were compared and analyzed. Results: The general data were comparable among the three groups (all P>0.05). Among the surgical-related indicators and postoperative recovery indicators, only the comparison of the operation time was statistically significant (P=0.004). The follow-up time was 5~36 months (average 27.9 months). In terms of nutritional and anemia indicators, only the differences in the levels of prealbumin, hemoglobin and serum ferritin in 24 months after operation showed significant differences (P=0.015, P=0.003, P=0.005, respectively). There were no significant differences in hospital readmission rate, overall survival, and QoL among the three groups (all P>0.05). Conclusions: In laparoscopic gastrectomy for stage II~III distal gastric cancer, Billroth I anastomosis has shorter operation time than Billroth II combined with Braun anastomosis and Roux-en-Y anastomosis and advantages in the improvement of nutritional status and anemia recovery.

Gold nanospheres (Au NSs) and gold nanorods (Au NRs) are traditional noble metal plasmonic nanomaterials. Particularly, Au NRs with tunable longitudinal plasmon resonance from visible to the near infrared (NIR) range were suitable for high efficient photothermal applications due to extended light receiving range. In this work, we synthesized Au NRs and Au NSs of similar volume, and subsequently developed them into Au NR/PVDF and Au NS/PVDF nanofilm, both of which exhibited excellent solar photothermal performance evaluated by solar photothermal experiments. We found that Au NR/PVDF nanofilm showed higher solar photothermal performance than Au NS/PVDF nanofilm. Through detailed analysis, such as morphological characterization, optical measurement, and finite element method (FEM) modeling, we found that the plasmonic coupling effects inside the aggregated Au NRs nanoclusters contributed to the spectral blue-shifts and intensified photothermal performance. As compared to Au NS/PVDF nanofilms, Au NR/PVDF nanofilm exhibited higher efficient light-to-heat conversion rate, because of the extended light receiving range and high absorbance, as the result of strong plasmonic interactions inside nanoclusters, which was further validated by monochromatic laser photothermal experiments and FEM simulations. Our work proved that the Au NRs have huge potential for plasmonic solar photothermal applications, and are envisioned for novel plasmonic applications.

Starting with the multiplication of elements in $\mathbb{F}_{q}^2$ which is consistent with that over $\mathbb{F}_{q^2}$, where $q$ is a prime power, via some identification of the two environments, we investigate the $c$-differential uniformity for bivariate functions $F(x,y)=(G(x,y),H(x,y))$. By carefully choosing the functions $G(x,y)$ and $H(x,y)$, we present several constructions of bivariate functions with low $c$-differential uniformity. Many P$c$N and AP$c$N functions can be produced from our constructions., Comment: Low $c$-differential uniformity, perfect and almost perfect $c$-nonlinearity, the bivariate function

The investigation of partially APN functions has attracted a lot of research interest recently. In this paper, we present several new infinite classes of 0-APN power functions over $\mathbb{F}_{2^n}$ by using the multivariate method and resultant elimination, and show that these 0-APN power functions are CCZ-inequivalent to the known ones., Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2210.02207, arXiv:2210.15103 by other authors

The cellulase cocktail of marine Aspergillus niger exhibited halo-tolerant and thermostable properties, which is of great potential in industrial application. In order to excavate the single tolerant cellulase components from complex cellulase cocktail, constitutive homologous expression was employed for direct obtainment of the endoglucanase (AnEGL). Enzymatic property study revealed that AnEGL exhibited a property of halo-tolerance and an outstanding thermostability in high salinity environment. Significantly, its activity increased by 29% and the half-life at 65 °C increased by 26.7-fold with the presence of 4.5 M NaCl. Molecular dynamics simulation revealed that Na+ and Cl－ could form salt bridges with charged residues, and then influenced the activity of loops and the stability of substrate binding pocket, which accounted for the halo-tolerance and thermostability. Further, site-specific mutagenesis study proved that the residues Asp95 and Asp99 in the pocket were of great concern for the tolerant properties. The halo-tolerant and thermostable AnEGL was of great value in lignocellulosic utilization and the conjectural mechanisms were of referential significance for other tolerant enzymes.

Highly efficient all-inorganic CsPbI2Br perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are fabricated by employing a simply solution processed ZnO/SnO2 bilayer electron transport layer (ETL). High iodine content CsPbI2Br film forms on the bilayer ETL surface with regular crystal grain and full coverage, which is benefit from the well crystal matching between perovskite and SnO2. On the other hand, the lower work function of ZnO compared with SnO2 reduces the energy losses (Eloss) in devices. As a result, the all-inorganic CsPbI2Br PSCs based on ZnO/SnO2 bilayer ETL demonstrate high Voc of 1.22 V and improved power conversion efficiency (PCE) to 13.7%.

Wireless capsule endoscope (WCE) has been verified in clinical medicine for many years. However, the detection process needs experienced doctors to read the film manually for a long time. In addition, the cost of the endoscope itself leads to a high cost of WCE detection and overall cycle is long. New research method based on deep learning technology with robustness and high accuracy can reduce the detection cost and benefit the public. According to the characteristics of small intestine lesion, a method focuses on labeling and feature detection which can optimize the process by analyzing small intestine WCE image and experimental comparison. Based on the YOLOv3 detection network, retaining the original basic feature of detection network, an improved one is further optimized and effectively verified. Finally, the redundant images are filtered out by comparing the Hash value of images, presenting the final concise detection results for doctors. Starting from image labeling, the design of deep learning network structure for the image of small intestine digestive tract endoscope is studied, which can effectively improve intelligent detection computer-aided clinical application of WCE, with higher accuracy and lower missing detection rate than manual detection.

In order to get the internal parameters of a vortex tube, a large-scale vortex tube was designed and an experimental device was built. A five-hole probe and thermocouples were used to obtain the three-dimensional velocities, the static pressure, static temperature and total temperature distributions inside the vortex tube. Four different cold mass fraction conditions (0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8) were chosen and the impacts on the internal parameters of the vortex tube were discussed. Different from the traditional view, the tangential velocity was considered to be the steady Burgers vortex form. A reverse flow boundary was found, and the location of which was changed at different operation conditions and axial positions. Further, it was found that the lowest static temperature existed near the nozzle outlet, and a new static temperature difference distribution law was firstly proposed experimentally.

Organic solar cells (OSCs) have reached a milestone with 15.6% efficiency through the development of active and interfacial materials. However, anode modifiers in the inverted structure, especially the interface of organic active layer/inorganic MoO3, are important but seldom reported. Herein, to improve this contact, a simple small molecule DPA2T with oligo-oxyethylene chains is reported. It not only shows a good solubility in alcoholic solvents but also an effective π-π stacking in solid-state. Furthermore, the implement of DPA2T in OSCs enhances the fill factor and the short circuit current resulting in an improvement of the overall power conversion efficiency.

This thesis was scanned from the print manuscript for digital preservation and is copyright the author. Researchers can access this thesis by asking their local university, institution or public library to make a request on their behalf. Monash staff and postgraduate students can use the link in the References field.

Incorporating social relations into the recommendation system, i.e. social recommendation, has been widely studied in academic and industrial communities. While many promising results have been achieved, existing methods mostly assume that the social relations can be homogeneously applied to all the items, which is not practical for users' actually diverse preferences. In this paper, we argue that the effect of the social relations should be inhomogeneous, that is, two socially-related users may only share the same preference on some specific items, while for the other products, their preferences can be inconsistent or even contradictory. Inspired by this idea, we build a novel social recommendation model, where the traditional pair-wise "user-user'' relation is extended to the triple relation of "user-item-user''. To well handle such high-order relations, we base our framework on the hypergraph. More specifically, each hyperedge connects a user-user-item triplet, representing that the two users share similar preferences on the item. We develop a Social HyperGraph Convolutional Network (short for SHGCN) to learn from the complex triplet social relations. With the hypergraph convolutional networks, the social relations can be modeled in a more fine-grained manner, which more accurately depicts real users' preferences, and benefits the recommendation performance. Extensive experiments on two real-world datasets demonstrate our model's effectiveness. Studies on data sparsity and hyper-parameter studies further validate our model's rationality. Our codes and dataset are available at https://github.com/ziruizhu/SHGCN.

In this paper, highly efficient Indium-Tin-Oxide (ITO) free organic solar cells (OSCs) are fabricated by employing a light manipulating electrode based on high optical haze textured Al-doped zinc oxide (Textured-AZO) film. The Textured-AZO film is fabricated by a tunable acidic gas etching method with high haze value up to 85% and high total transmittance about 87%, which elongates the optical path length and enhances the light absorption of OSCs. As a result, by employing PBDB-T-2F:IT-4F as the photoactive layer, the device based on the Textured-AZO electrode shows much improved Jsc compared to the device based on the Flat-AZO electrode (22.11 mA cm−2vs. 19.86 mA cm−2), resulting in a promising power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 13.11%. The high PCE is among the best results for ITO-free OSCs reported so far. More significantly, the Textured-AZO based device even shows higher Jsc and PCE than the ITO-based device (PCE = 12.86%, Jsc = 20.93 mA cm−2), indicating a great potential of using Textured-AZO as a transparent conducting electrode in future commercialization of OSCs.

A high-temperature annealing process (250 °C) is always needed to obtain high-quality α-CsPbI

Advanced functional materials 32(20), 2113080 - (2022). doi:10.1002/adfm.202113080, Given the broad use of nanostructured crystalline titania films, an environmentally friendly and more sustainable synthesis route is highly desirable. Here, a water-based, low-temperature route is presented to synthesize nanostructured foam-like crystalline titania films. A pearl necklace-like nanostructure is introduced as tailored titania morphology via biotemplating with the use of the major bovine whey protein ß-lactoglobulin (ß-lg). It is shown that titania crystallization in a brookite-anatase mixed phase is promoted via spray deposition at a comparatively low temperature of 120 °C. The obtained crystallites have an average grain size of (4.2 ± 0.3) nm. In situ grazing incidence small-angle and wide-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS/GIWAXS) are simultaneously performed to understand the kinetics of film formation and the templating role of ß-lg during spray coating. In the ß-lg:titania biohybrid composites, the crystal growth in semicrystalline titania clusters is sterically directed by the condensing ß-lg biomatrix. Due to using spray coating, the green chemistry approach to titania-based functional films can be scaled up on a large scale, which can potentially be used in photocatalytic processes or systems related to energy application., Published by Wiley-VCH, Weinheim

Suitable work function (WF) of the cathode in polymer solar cells (PSCs) is of essential importance for the efficient electron extraction and collection to boost the power conversion efficiency. Herein, we report a facile and efficient method to tune the surface WF of aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) through building of a definite interfacial dipole, which is realized by the construction of a layered structure of positive and negative ionized species. A cross-linked perylene bisimide (poly-PBI) thin film is deposited onto the AZO surface first, and then it is reduced to the radical anion state (poly-PBI•–) in an electrochemical cell, using tetraoctylammonium (TOA+), a bulky cation, as a counter ion. Owing to the huge volume of TOA+, it is absorbed on the surface of the cross-linked PBI•– thin film through Coulomb force, and thus a definite interface dipole is formed between the two ionized layers. Because of the definite interface dipole, the surface WF of the electrode modified with ionized layers is decr...

In this work, we developed WS2 nanosheets (WS2 NS) doped into PEDOT:PSS (PEDOT:PSS/WS2 NS) as an efficient hole transport layer (HTL) for organic solar cells (OSCs). WS2 NS is obtained by a simple and cost-effective liquid-phase exfoliation (LPE) method. The results show that the PEDOT:PSS:WS2 NS anode interlayer has higher work function, reduced roughness and improved hole mobility. The devices based on PEDOT:PSS:WS2 NS interlayer show enhanced extraction and transportation of holes and improved fill factor and short-circuit current density. Based on PM6:Y6, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) increased from 14.35% to 15.67% after WS2 NS doping.

Non-fullerene polymer solar cells (NF PSCs) have attracted much attention in recent years due to their rapidly increasing power conversion efficiency (PCE). In this work, two highly efficient ternary NF PSCs with FFs over 78% and PCEs up to 13.52% and 12.70% are demonstrated by adding a strongly aggregating polymer P1 into the classic PBDB-T:IT-M and PBDB-T:ITIC non-fullerene blends. The addition of P1 significantly enhances the crystallization of the blend film, while maintaining the desired morphology. The ternary devices show highly improved charge extraction and suppressed charge recombination in comparison to the binary mixture. The PCE of the PBDB-T:ITIC based NF PSC was found to increase from 10.82% to 12.70% and the FF from 71.85% to 78.07% after adding P1. For the PBDB-T:IT-M based NF PSC, the PCE increases from 11.71% to 13.52% and the FF from 72.07% to 77.83%. The high FFs and PCEs are the best results reported for ternary NF PSCs to date.

Advancements in electronic devices have led to increases in mental stress in modern adults, and removing this stress is crucial for mental health. The purpose of this study is to examine the psychophysiological benefits of contact with indoor plants. The effects of transplanting plants (horticultural activity) and work on a mobile phone (control activity) were assessed by blood pressure measurement, electroencephalography (EEG), the semantic differential method (SDM), and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). The SDM data showed that the subjects felt more relaxed, comfortable and natural, and experienced lower anxiety after the transplantation of plants than the control group. Participant’s total alpha and beta wave mean values increased over time during the transplantation task but decreased at the end of the control task. The mean meditation score was significantly higher after transplanting plants. Our study results indicate that contact with plants may minimize mental stress.

Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) are widely used as photocathodes because of their large electrochemically available surface-area density and inherent ability to decouple light absorption from the transport of minority carriers. In order to minimize overpotential for solar-driven hydrogen (H2) production, a combination of an ultrathin molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) layer with SiNWs as photocathode has attracted much attention. Herein, for the first time, this study presents the synthesis of a composite photocathode via direct growth of ultrathin MoS2 nanosheets on SiNWs (referred to as SiNWs/MoS2) by one-step chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Due to the high surface-area density of the arrays of SiNWs, the discontinuous MoS2 nanosheets grown on the SiNWs achieved a much higher density of active sites. Moreover, the coating of MoS2 on the SiNWs was found to protect the photocathode during the photoelectrochemical (PEC) reaction. A high efficiency with photocurrent jsc of 16.5 mA cm−2 (at 0 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode) and an excellent stability over 48 h of PEC operation were achieved under a simulated 1 sun irradiation.

The vapour-liquid equilibrium (VLE) data of four ternary solutions HCOOK + [Emim]Ac /[Emim]Br / [Emim]Cl / [Emim]NO3 + H2O were measured using the boiling method at the temperatures from 305.78 K to 387.08 K, at solute (HCOOK + IL) mass fractions (w) between 0.2 and 0.5. A total of 234 data points (w = 0 included) were obtained and correlated with empirical Antoine-type equations. The absolute average relative deviations (AARD %) between calculated and measured vapour pressures were 0.58%, 0.50%, 0.49%, 0.63%, respectively, which showed good agreement. The comparison of the experimental and standard data and combined uncertainties of the experimental data confirmed good reliability of the experimental method and apparatus. The four ternary solutions with ILs as additives have lower vapour pressure compared to the corresponding binary solutions without ILs. The results showed that the four ternary solutions of HCOOK + [Emim]Ac / [Emim]Br / [Emim]Cl / [Emim]NO3 + H2O can be the alternatives for traditional dehumidification and absorption media. [Emim]Cl has the best ability to reduce the vapour pressure of HCOOK + H2O at the solute (HCOOK + IL) mass fraction of 0.4 and 0.5. The [Emim]Ac has the most effect reducing the vapour pressure of HCOOK + H2O at the solute (HCOOK + IL) mass fraction of 0.3.

We reported here the fabrication of the electrically tunable infrared (IR) reflectors based on the polymer stabilized cholesteric liquid crystal (PSCLC) with negative dielectric anisotropy. A systematic study of the influence of cell gap on the electrically tunable reflection bandwidth was performed. When a direct current (DC) electric field was applied, the reflection bandwidth red shifted in the cells with small cell gap, whereas the bandwidth broadening was observed in the cells with large cell gap. It is therefore reasonable to deduct that the reflection is dictated by the pitch gradient steepness which strongly relies on the cell thickness. The results reveal that for making PSCLC based IR reflector windows with electrically induced bandwidth broadening, a minimal cell gap thickness is required. The resulted IR reflectors possess a short native switching time and long-term operation stability, and are potentially applicable as smart energy saving windows in buildings and automobiles.

A facile and controllable electrochemical polymerization of porous organic polymers (POP) film using carbazolyl triphenylethylene derivative (TPCz) as building block for the applications in polymer solar cells(PSCs) was developed. The POP film is an interlocked network film of poly-TPCz (designated as PTPCz) which has smooth surface morphology and porous nanostructures. The film can increase the work function (W F ) of the anode of PSCs, the contact with the active layer, and enhance hole-extraction process. By using PEDOT:PSS/PTPCz instead of PEDOT:PSS as the anode interlayer, the optimized PSCs shows a 13% enhancement in power conversion efficiency (PCE) which is 8.54%. These results indicate the potential of electrochemical synthesized POP film as efficient interlayer for PSCs.