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The complex interactions of historical, geological and climatic events on plant evolution have been an important research focus for many years. However, the role of desert formation and expansion in shaping the genetic structures and demographic histories of plants occurring in arid areas has not been well explored. In the present study, we investigated the phylogeography of Arnebia szechenyi, a desert herb showing a near-circular distribution surrounding the Tengger Desert in Northwest China. We measured genetic diversity of populations using three maternally inherited chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) fragments and seven bi-paternally inherited nuclear DNA (nDNA) loci that were sequenced from individuals collected from 16 natural populations across its range and modelled current and historical potential habitats of the species. Our data indicated a considerably high level of genetic variation within A. szechenyi and noteworthy asymmetry in historical migration from the east to the west. Moreover, two nuclear genetic groups of populations were revealed, corresponding to the two geographic regions separated by the Tengger Desert. However, analysis of cpDNA data did not show significant geographic structure. The most plausible explanation for the discrepancy between our findings based on cpDNA and nDNA data is that A. szechenyi populations experienced long periods of geographic isolation followed by range expansion, which would have promoted generalized recombination of the nuclear genome. Our findings further highlight the important role that the Tengger Desert, together with the Helan Mountains, has played in the evolution of desert plants and the preservation of biodiversity in arid Northwest China., Highlights • nDNA and cpDNA revealed the phylogeography of Arnebia szechenyi. • nDNA revealed two asymmetric gene flow genetic groups separated by the Tengger Desert. There was an however, the cpDNA results did not show that. • The discrepancy between cpDNA and nDNA is that long periods of geographic isolation followed by range expansion may have promoted generalized recombination of the nuclear genome. • The Tengger Desert and the Helan Mountains have played important roles in the evolution of Arnebia szechenyi.

Scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) is a powerful tool for mapping surface reactivity. Electrochemical mapping of electrocatalytic processes at the nanoscale is, however, challenging because the surface of a nanoelectrode tip is easily fouled by impurities and/or deactivated by products and intermediates of innersphere surface reactions. To overcome this difficulty, we introduce new types of SECM nanotips based on bimolecular electron transfer between the dissolved electroactive species and a redox mediator attached to the surface of a carbon nanoelectrode. A tris(2,2'-bipyridine)ruthenium complex, Ru(bpy)3, that undergoes reversible oxidation/reduction reactions at both positive and negative potentials was used to prepare the SECM nanoprobes for mapping a wide range of electrocatalytic processes through oxidation of H2, reduction of O2, and both oxidation and reduction of H2O2 at the tip. In addition to high-resolution reactivity mapping and localized kinetic measurements, chemically modified nanoelectrodes can serve as nanosensors for a number of important analytes such as reactive oxygen and nitrogen species and neurotransmitters.

White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV) is the most harmful and pathogenic infectious agent in shrimp aquaculture. Vp28, a protein used to protect hosts against this virus, has successfully been expressed in nine hosts since 2004; however, to date, it has not been used commercially. We constructed transgenic Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 expressing vp28 and enhanced green fluorescent protein (egfp) genes simultaneously to enable the easy detection of vp28 expression. GFP has been expressed in cyanobacteria previously and was used in this study to construct transgenic cyanobacteria that can easily be detected. The optimal growth conditions for the transgenic cyanobacteria were determined using a liquid-phase oxygen electrode. At the optimum light intensity, the net photosynthetic rate of the transgenic cyanobacteria increased by 12.6% compared with that of the wild-type. Furthermore, Synechococcus sp. PCC 7942 harboring vp28 and vp28-egfp were fed to shrimp in order to protect them against WSSV infection. The cumulative survival rate of the groups fed with transgenic cyanobacteria was 75%.

In this paper, we apply two fully-discrete local discontinuous Galerkin (LDG) methods to the compressible wormhole propagation. We will prove the stability and error estimates of the schemes. Traditional LDG methods use the diffusion term to control of convection term to obtain the stability for some linear equations. However, the variables in wormhole propagation are coupled together and the whole system is highly nonlinear. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to obtain the stability for fully-discrete LDG methods. To fix this gap, we introduce a new auxiliary variable including both the convection and diffusion terms. Moreover, we also construct a special time integration for the porosity, leading to physically relevant numerical approximations and controllable growth rate of the porosity. With a reasonable growth rate, it is possible to handle the time level mismatch in the first-order fully discrete scheme and obtain the stability of the scheme. For the whole system, we will prove that under weak temporal-spatial conditions, the optimal error estimates for the pressure, velocity, porosity and concentration under different norms can be obtained. Numerical experiments are also given to verify the theoretical results.

Vanadium-oxide-based catalysts have recently been found very promising for the catalytic dehydrogenation of propane. In this work, self-consistent density functional theory calculations have been performed to examine how the electronic structure of the V2O3(0001) surface is modified by single-atom doping and how the catalytic properties can be tailored to propane dehydrogenation. The structural stability of single-atom-doped V2O3(0001) surfaces is assessed by comparing the adsorption energies of single atoms with the cohesive energies of bulk metals. A weak Lewis acid-base interaction is found to occur on the pristine surface, which can be strengthened and weakened by substitution of single atoms for V and O, respectively. On these two types of oxide surfaces, single atoms act as promoters and active sites. The first dehydrogenation step is identified as the rate-limiting step by microkinetic analysis. On all the single-atom-doped surfaces, the activation energy for water formation is higher than that for hydrogen recombination, implying that reduction of the oxide surfaces is difficult to take place during the course of the reaction. If a compromise between the catalytic activity and catalyst selectivity is made, Mn1-V2O3 is suggested to be a good candidate as the catalyst for propane dehydrogenation.

Energetic copper(II) compound was synthesized based on 3,5-dinitrobenzoic acid (HDNBA) and imidazole (IMI), and characterized by elemental analysis and FTIR characterization. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that [Cu(IMI)2(DNBA)2] (1) belongs to monoclinic, pertains to P21/c space group, β= 96.195(2) and Dc= 1.742 g cm–3. Cu(II) ion was coordinated to a plane tetragon, by two oxygen atoms and two nitrogen atoms from different DNBA ions and IMI ligands, which of them present typical monodentate coordination mode. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was applied to assess the thermal decomposition behavior of 1. The non-isothermal kinetics parameters were calculated by the Kissinger’s method, Ozawa’s method and Starink’s method, respectively. Impact sensitivity and friction Sensitivity were also determined by standard method. In the end, the catalytic effects on the decomposition of ammonium perchlorate (AP), HMX and RDX of 1 were studied by DSC. All results supported the potential applications of the energetic complex 1 as additive of solid rocket propellant.

The prerequisite for the exploration and exploitation of natural gas hydrate (NGH) is ensuring that the hydrate sample does not decompose during the sampling process. In order to solve this problem, the hole-bottom freezing sampling technique (HBFS) method was proposed, which uses a cold-alcohol to reduce the temperature of the hydrate sample and prevent its decomposition. However, the low heat exchange between the cold-alcohol and the hydrate sample results in a large loss of energy, and the sample cannot be frozen to the required temperature due to the size limitations of the sampler. In this study, three different heat transfer modes were used to increase the energy efficiency, namely heat conduction (cold-alcohol), phase change heat transfer (liquid nitrogen), phase change convection (alcohol-dry ice mixture). The test results show that the freezing efficiency of the alcohol and dry-ice mixture is 11.38%, which is the highest. The alcohol-dry ice mixture can cool the average temperature of the sample from approximately -17.81 to -23.37 °C, in which the hydrate sample does not decompose rapidly under normal pressure. The alcohol–dry ice mixture is more suitable as a coolant for the HBFS.

In this work, open carbon nanopipettes (CNPs) with radius between 50 and 600 nm were used to control translocation of different-sized vesicles through the pipette orifice followed by nanoelectrochemical analysis. Vesicle impact electrochemical cytometry (VIEC) was used to determine the number of catecholamine molecules expelled from single vesicles onto an inner-wall carbon surface, where the duration of transmitter release was quantified and correlated to the vesicle size all in the same nanotip. This in turn allowed us to both size and count molecules for vesicles in a living cell. Here, small and sharp open CNPs were employed to carry out intracellular VIEC with minimal invasion and high sensitivity. Our findings with VIEC reveal that the vesicular content increases with vesicle size. The release kinetics of vesicular transmitters and dense core size have the same relation with the vesicle size, implying that the vesicular dense core size determines the speed of each release event. This direct correlation unravels one of the complexities of exocytosis.

In this work, the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) parameters (g-factors and A-constants) of the tetragonal VO2+ centers in LiHSO4 single crystals are theoretically investigated by the high-order perturbation formulae for these parameters based on two-spin–orbit-parameter model. Since the spin–orbit coupling coefficient of the ligand O2− is close to that of the central ion V4+ for the present system with strong covalence, the contributions to the EPR parameters from the ligand p- and s-orbitals as well as the spin–orbit coupling coefficient of the O2− ligand should be considered. The requirements of the crystal-field parameters are determined from the optical spectrum. The calculated results show good agreement with the experimental values. The signs of A-constants are ascertained in the discussion.

In this paper, Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact (TOPCon) silicon solar cells with the industrial area (244.32 cm2) are fabricated on N-type silicon substrates. Both the ultra-thin tunnel oxide layer and phosphorus doped polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon) thin film are prepared by the LPCVD system. The wrap-around of polysilicon is observed on the surface of borosilicate glass (BSG). The polysilicon wrap-around can form a leakage current path, thus degrades the shunt resistance of solar cells, and leads to the degradation of solar cell efficiency. Different methods are adopted to treat the polysilicon wrap-around and improve shunt resistance of solar cells. The experimental results indicate that a chemical etching method can effectively solve the problem of polysilicon wrap-around and improve the performance of solar cells. Finally, a conversion efficiency of 22.81% has been achieved by our bifacial TOPCon solar cells, with Voc of 702.6 mV, Jsc of 39.78 mA/cm2 and FF of 81.62%.

Based on the data of 849 rural households in the Loess Plateau of China, this paper uses exploratory factor analysis to study farmers’ participation in collective action from the aspects of information, participation, organization and effect of action. Through Bootstrap mediation effect test, this paper investigates the direct and indirect impacts of land transfer area and period on the soil and water conservation measures of farmers, respectively. The results show that the area of land transfer directly affects the use of terraced fields, plastic film and afforestation, but not the use of water-saving irrigation techniques. The transfer period has a significant direct impact on the adoption of the four measures mentioned above. Although the mediating effect of collective action in the process of land transfer area affecting the use of terraced fields, afforestation and water-saving irrigation techniques is significant, it is not significant on the use of plastic film. The mediating effect of collective action in the process of land transfer period affecting the use of terraced fields and water-saving irrigation techniques is significant, while it is not significant on the use of plastic film and afforestation.

To meet the requirements of wearable and portable electronics, flexible and light-weight on-chip micro-supercapacitors (MSCs) have attracted tremendous attention due to the good mechanical and electrochemical performances as well as easy on-chip integration with flexible functional electronic devices. In this review, the recent progresses of flexible on-chip micro-supercapacitors are summarized. Typical strategies toward flexible on-chip MSCs were first discussed, followed with the highlight of multifunctional on-chip MSCs including stretchable MSCs, self-healable MSCs, electrochromic MSCs and thermoreversible self-protection MSCs. Following these parts, wearable electronic systems integrated with flexible on-chip MSCs were discussed in detail. Finally, the challenges and future research emphasis on the flexible on-chip MSCs are put forward.

Hybrid sodium-ion capacitors (SICs) bridge the gap between the supercapacitors (SCs) and batteries and have huge potential applications in large-scale energy storage. However, designing appropriate anode materials with fast kinetics behavior as well as long cycle life to match with the cathode electrodes remains a crucial challenge. Herein, Nb2O5 nanotubes and nanowire-to-nanotube homo-junctions were directly grown on the carbon cloth (CC) via a simple hydrothermal process through regulating the pH value of solution. The as-prepared Nb2O5@CC nanotubes displayed a high reversible capacity of 175 mA h g−1 at the current density of 1 A g−1 with the coulombic efficiency of 97% after 1500 cycles. Besides, the SICs fabricated with Nb2O5@CC and activated carbon (AC) electrode materials showed a high energy density of 195 W h kg−1 at 120 W kg−1, a power density of 7328 W kg−1 at 28 W h kg−1 and 80% of the capacitance retention after 5000 cycles. Additionally, the flexible SIC devices can operate normally at various bendable conditions. The Nb2O5@CC nanotubes in this work can be promising electrode materials in flexible and wearable energy storage devices.

Vortex-induced vibration of two tandem circular cylinders with different diameters under low Reynolds number (Re = 200) is investigated numerically by solving the uncompressible two-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations. The arbitrary Lagrange–Euler method is used to simulate the movement of mesh. Effects of diameters and gap ratios are considered. Numerical results show that diameter ratios and gap ratios have little effect on maximum vibration amplitude. Four different vortex shedding modes are detected in this study.

A highly sensitive photoelectrochemical sensor for the determination of ciprofloxacin has been fabricated using a small gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) modified indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode. It oper...

As a primary structure, the sequence plays an important role in the hierarchical self-assembly and the performance of polymers. However, sequence control is a tough challenge, especially for chain polymerization. Herein, toward more diversified sequence structures, two stereoisomeric furan/maleimide adducts, i.e., endo- and exo-isomers were introduced as latent monomers. The endo-latent monomer can be activated under a low temperature, ∼40 °C, while the exo-isomer can only be significantly activated under a high temperature, ∼110 °C. The distinct temperature of maleimide activation (or deprotection) enabled the selective release of maleimide by finely tuning the polymerization temperature. The sequence structures were thus greatly enriched by manipulating the temperature change mode, time of each temperature slot, and feed ratio of co-monomers. Here, a sequence-controlled triblock quadripolymer was unprecedentedly created from the stereoisomeric latent monomers via one-shot feeding of four co-monomers at the beginning. The stereoisomeric latent monomers reinforced the latent monomer strategy and led to greatly diversified sequence structures, offering more models for exploring the structure/property relationship.

We study the implication of $J/\ensuremath{\psi}$ decay into invisible particles for light sterile neutrino and sub-GeV dark matter (DM). The low-energy effective field theories (EFTs) are used for the description of general neutrino interactions and the Dirac fermion DM coupled to charm quark. For $J/\ensuremath{\psi}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\gamma}+\text{invisible}$, we perform the likelihood fits for the individual neutrino and DM operators with distinct Lorentz structures and photon spectra. The limits on the decay branching fractions are obtained for different neutrino or DM scenarios and then converted to the lower bounds on the new energy scales. The most stringent bounds on the energy scale in neutrino and DM EFTs are 12.8 GeV and 11.6 GeV, respectively. The purely invisible decay $J/\ensuremath{\psi}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\text{invisible}$ provides complementary constraints on the effective operators. The relevant bound on the energy scale is above 100 GeV for the dipole operators. We also evaluate the limit on the DM-nucleon scattering cross section converted from $J/\ensuremath{\psi}$ data. The data of $J/\ensuremath{\psi}$ invisible decays are sensitive to the light DM mass range where the DM direct detection experiments cannot probe yet. The future Super Tau Charm Factory after one year run can push the limits down by two orders of magnitude.

Tofu has a long history of use and is rich in high-quality plant protein; however, its production process is relatively complicated. The tofu production process includes soybean pretreatment, soaking, grinding, boiling, pulping, pressing, and packing. Every step in this process has an impact on the soy protein and, ultimately, affects the quality of the tofu. Furthermore, soy protein gel is the basis for the formation of soy curd. This review summarizes the series of changes in the composition and structure of soy protein that occur during the processing of tofu (specifically, during the pressing, preservation, and packaging steps) and the effects of soybean varieties, storage conditions, soybean milk pretreatment, and coagulant types on the structure of soybean protein and the quality of tofu. Finally, we highlight the advantages and limitations of current research and provide directions for future research in tofu production. This review is aimed at providing a reference for research into and improvement of the production of tofu.

Core samples to a depth of approximately 50 m and undisturbed soil samples were retrieved from eight locations in the Saga Plain, Japan, to investigate the effects of the depositional environment and post-depositional processes on the engineering properties of Quaternary clays in the Saga Plain. The engineering properties of these soil samples were measured, and the test results showed that the clays in the Saga Plain have a high void ratio, high water content, high compressibility, high sensitivity, and low stiffness. The one-dimensional compression curves plotted above the sedimentation compression line proposed by Burland, and the compression index was high, which indicated that the clays had been cemented to some degree. The clays have high strength sensitivity and high stress sensitivity, indicating that they have strong structures. It was considered that a considerable amount of volcanic ash from the four large volcanic eruptions that occurred during the deposition of these clays settled into the clays, resulting in a certain degree of cementation, which was attributed as the main driver of the strong structure in these clays. Comparisons of the NaCl concentration, pH, and oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) of the clay samples representing the initial depositional environment and the current ground environment showed that salt leaching occurred in the Ariake clay formation, and that the ground environment changed. When the NaCl concentration was less than approximately 2 g/L, the strength sensitivity of the Ariake clay samples with low-activity clay minerals significantly increased due to the decrease in the liquid limit and subsequent significant decrease in the remolded undrained shear strength. Therefore, salt leaching was probably a main cause of the high strength sensitivity of the clays in the Saga Plain. The depositional environment at some locations changed from an alkaline, reducing environment, to an acidic, oxidative environment, with the potential to change into a strongly acidic environment, which could have deteriorated the strength of the cement/lime-treated clays in the Saga Plain.

To satisfy the requirements for various electric systems and energy storage devices with both high energy density and power density as well as long lifespan, sodium-ion capacitors (SICs) consisting of battery anode and supercapacitor cathode, have attracted much attention due to the abundant resources and low cost of sodium source. SICs bridge the gap between the batteries and the supercapacitors, which can be used as competitive candidates for large-scale energy storage. In this review, the battery-type anode materials and the capacitor-type cathode materials are classified and introduced in detail. The advantages of various electrolytes including organic electrolytes, aqueous electrolytes and ion liquid electrolytes are also discussed sequentially. In addition, from the perspective of practical value, the presentations of the SICs at the current situation and the potential application in urban rail are displayed. Finally, the challenge, future research and prospects towards the SICs are put forward.

Given the ubiquity of iodinated disinfection by-products (I-DBPs) in drinking water and their prominent toxicity, it is of vital significance to evaluate I-DBPs toxicity and explore the underlying mechanism. The toxicity of iodoacetic acid (IAA), a typical type of I-DBPs, might be linked with oxidative stress. However, it remains unknown for the response of antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD) in the mouse primary hepatocytes when exposed to IAA and the underlying mechanism. This study explored SOD response to IAA and the underlying mechanisms at the molecular and cellular levels. Under IAA exposure, the observed increase of SOD activity in the hepatocytes was caused by the increase of SOD production via ROS stimulation and the increase of SOD molecular activity. Molecular experiments showed that IAA binds to SOD molecule mainly via electrostatic forces with one binding site around the active site and six binding sites in the surface of protein. The binding interaction leads to the conformational changes of SOD and the disruption of protein aggregates. This work could offer basic data for the comprehensive understanding of the adverse effects of IAA and references for assessing the harmful effects of DBPs.

A free-radical-initiated methylation/addition/cyclization of N-arylacrylamides and a methylation/addition/elimination of quinines have been developed in which t-BuOH is used as a methyl source. These reactions provide effective and selective methods for the synthesis of various methylated oxindoles and quinones in moderate to good yields.

With the highlight of environmental problems over the Tibetan Plateau (TP), aerosol pollution and the influence of this pollution on cloud properties are becoming a new area of research. Based on the aerosol index and cloud property parameters derived from satellite observations, in this study, the inconsistent effects of aerosols on ice cloud properties between daytime and nighttime over the TP are investigated. The results indicate that ice clouds are mainly distributed over the TP margin area, especially over the north slope, during both daytime and nighttime. The occurrence frequency of ice cloud is higher during the daytime than during the nighttime over the margin areas of the TP. Similarly, aerosols are mainly concentrated over the northern margin of the TP. A potential relationship may exist between the aerosol index and ice cloud properties. When the aerosol index increases from 0.05 to 0.17, the ice cloud droplet radius (ICDR) during the daytime decreases from 32.1 to 27.9 mu m, while the ICDR during the nighttime remains almost constant (approximately 25 mu m); furthermore, the ice water path (IWP) during the daytime decreases slightly due to the saturation effect, while the nocturnal IWP increases significantly. The changes in ice cloud optical depth (ICOD) during daytime and nighttime show significant and completely opposite trends. The removal of the influence of meteorological factors showed that aerosols have a more dominant influence than meteorological conditions on ice cloud properties (except for the nocturnal ICDR and IWP during the daytime).

This paper concerns about the episodes of PM25 pollution that frequently occur in China in winter months. The severity of PM2.5 pollution is strongly dependent on the synoptic-scale atmospheric conditions. We combined PM2.5 concentration data and meteorological data with the Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model (HYSPLIT4) to investigate the dominant synoptic patterns and their relationships with PM2.5 pollution over the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) and Yangtze River Delta (YRD) regions in the winters of 2014–17. The transport of PM2.5 from the BTH to YRD regions was examined by using cluster analysis and HYSPLIT4. It is found that the level of PM2.5 pollution over the BTH region was higher than that over the YRD region. The concentration of PM2.5 in the atmosphere was more closely related to meteorological factors over the BTH region. The episodes of PM2.5 pollution over the BTH region in winter were related to weather patterns such as the rear of a high-pressure system approaching the sea, a high-pressure field, a saddle pressure field, and the leading edge of a cold front. By contrast, PM2.5 pollution episodes in the YRD region in winter were mainly associated with the external transport of cold air, a high-pressure field, and a uniform pressure field. Cluster analysis shows that the trajectories of PM2.5 were significantly different under different weather patterns. PM2.5 would be transported from the BTH to the YRD within 48 h when the PM2.5 pollution episodes were associated with three different kinds of weather patterns: the rear of a high-pressure system approaching the sea, the high-pressure field, and the leading edge of a cold front over the BTH region. This suggests a possible method to predict PM2.5 pollution episodes based on synoptic-scale patterns.

Fluid-elastic instability of tube bundles is the main cause of vibration failure of heat exchangers. To establish more reasonable and reliable design guidelines for fluid-elastic instability of tube bundles subjected to two-phase cross flow, we investigated experimentally the effects of the flow conditions of the two-phase flow and the geometrical characteristics of the tube bundles on damping, vibration, and fluid-elastic instability. Moreover, we proposed recommended values of the instability constant based on the conductivity difference measurement (CDM) model and the classification of tube bundle arrangements. The reliability of these values was also verified. The results indicated that the damping ratio in the lift direction was smaller than that in the drag direction and fluid-elastic instability was more prone to occur. The order of stability of the four tube bundle arrangements from high to low was normal triangular, normal square, rotated square, and rotated triangular. Thus, to avoid fluid-elastic instability, the normal triangular tube bundle is recommended for large shell-and-tube heat exchangers subjected to two-phase cross flow. In addition, for normal square and normal triangular tube bundles, the recommended instability constant is 4.0. For rotated square and rotated triangular tube bundles, the recommended instability constant is 1.1 when the mass damping parameter is less than or equal to 0.54, otherwise the value is 1.5.

In this study, a combination of satellite observations and reanalysis datasets is used to analyze the spatiotemporal distribution, classification and source of pollutants over the eastern slope of the Tibetan Plateau (ESTP). The aerosol optical depth (AOD) over the ESTP is extremely large and even larger than some important industrialized regions and deserts. The main aerosol component over the ESTP is sulfate, followed by carbonaceous and dust aerosols. Local emissions related to human activity directly contribute to the accumulation of sulfate and carbonaceous aerosols over the Sichuan Basin. In addition, in spring, abundant carbonaceous aerosols emitted from forest, grassland and savanna fires in Southeast Asia can be transported by the prevailing southwesterly wind to southern China and the ESTP. The dust AOD over the ESTP peaks in spring because of the transport from the Taklimakan and Gobi deserts. Additionally, the high aerosol loading over the ESTP is also directly related to the meteorological background. Due to the special topography, the terrain-driven circulation can trap aerosols in the Sichuan Basin and these aerosols can climb along the ESTP due to the perennial updraft. The aerosol loading is lowest in summer because of effective wet deposition induced by the strong precipitation and better dispersion conditions due to the larger vertical temperature gradients and ascending air movement enhanced by the plateau heat pump effect. In contrast, the aerosol loading is greatest in winter. Abundant anthropogenic aerosols over the ESTP may generate some climatic and environmental risks and consequently greatly influence the downstream regions.

Based on satellite observations and reanalysis datasets, this study focuses on the effect of aerosols on clouds over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and the impact of dust-polluted convective clouds on precipitation over downstream regions. A heavy dust event is detected by Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) over the northern slope of the TP on 16 July and 17 July 2016. The high aerosol optical depth (AOD) values are mainly distributed over the northern slope of the TP. Simultaneously, the CloudSat satellite observes deep convective clouds over the northern slope area of the TP, in which convective clouds and dust mix at the same height. With the AOD increasing from 16 July to its peak on 17 July, the ice particle size decreases to a minimum, and convective clouds develop at higher heights because of the prolonged cloud life. Accordingly, a larger ice water path (IWP) is induced by the development of convective clouds that move eastwardly from 16 to 17 July. In the following days, under favorable meteorological conditions, some of the developed convective clouds continuously move eastward and merge with the convective cloud clusters along the motion path, which induces significant precipitation over the Yangtze River basin on 17 July. Furthermore, driven by the northward wind, some developed convective cloud clusters move northward and induce strong precipitation over North China on 19 July. The indirect effect of dust aerosols over the TP could enhance the plateau's cloud development and potentially contribute to downstream precipitation, which is a meaningful factor for weather forecasting.

Herein, a new metal-organic framework based on Cu(II) and 3-bromo-5-(4-carboxyphenyl)pyridine (HL) was obtained under hydrothermal condition, namely, CuL2 (1). Its structure was characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and further determined by IR spectroscopy as well as thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential thermoanalysis (DTA). In 1, every L anion links three Cu(II) ions to generate a three-dimensional (3D) framework with a 3,6-connected (4⋅62)2(42⋅610⋅83) topology. Meanwhile, the photoluminescent and magnetic properties of 1 were investigated.

A new ramjet configuration using powder and solid fuel as propellant is investigated, namely, hybrid powder-solid ramjet (HPSR). Boron particles were used as the powder in this study. In order to improve combustion efficiency of boron and simplify the engine structure, a tangential swirl air inlet is adopted on the HPSR. Ignition model based on the multi-layer oxide structure and Global reaction combustion model of boron particles, the Lagrangian particle trajectory model and the realizable k-e turbulence model were implemented to calculate three-dimensional two-phase flow and combustion in the HPSR with the different tangential air inlet angles (0°,5°, 10°, 15°, 20°, 25°). The effects of tangential air inlet angles on the ignition and combustion of boron were analyzed. The results show that when the tangential swirl air inlet angle is 10°, the combustion efficiency of boron particles and the total combustion efficiency of engine are the highest; the temperature distribution in the second combustion chamber is uniform, and the ignition distance of particles is small, for the HPSR configuration tested.

Currently, Pb pollution has become a severe environmental problem and filamentous fungi hold a promising potential for the treatment of Pb-containing wastewater. The present study showed that the strain Pleurotus ostreatus ISS-1 had a strong ability to tolerate Pb at high concentration and reached a removal rate of 53.7% in liquid media. Pb was removed by extracellular biosorption, intracellular bioaccumulation by mycelia, or precipitation with extracellular oxalic acids. On the cellular level, Pb was mainly distributed in the cell wall, followed by vacuoles and organelles. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis indicated that hydroxyl, amides, carboxyl, and sulfhydryl groups provided binding sites for Pb. Furthermore, Pb was found on the cell surface in the form of PbS and PbCO3 through X-ray diffraction (XRD). Intracellular chelates such as thiol compounds and oxalic acid, as well as extracellular oxalic acid, might play an important role in the tolerance of Pb. In addition, isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) analysis showed that ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter, cytochrome P450, peroxisome, and the calcium signaling pathway might participate in both accumulation and detoxification of Pb. These results have successfully provided a basis for further developing Pb polluted water treatment technology by fungi.

With diamond wire sawn (DWS) technique becoming mainstream of multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) solar cells, the corresponding texturing technology for light harvesting is more prominent. In order to further reduce production costs of mature Ag-based metal assisted chemical etching (MACE), an Ag/Cu MACE method was proposed. In this paper, the influence of different pretreatment method which has few studies reported before was investigated. The experimental results indicated that appropriate pretreatment could contribute to achieve uniform nanostructure, low reflectivity and recombination velocities of the silicon wafers. The light trapping mechanism of different texturing method was analyzed. The impact of nanostructure on surface passivation was also studied. Industrial large area solar cells have been fabricated by applying different texturing method. The results showed that the pretreatment using hot alkaline solution with texturing additive was more beneficial to achieve high conversion efficiency. Finally, an efficiency of 18.91% was obtained on DWS mc-Si wafer, which is 0.4% absolutely higher than the cells with traditional acid texturing.

In this paper, a two-step growth approach was proposed to deposit a Ge-rich Si1−xGex epilayer directly on a Si substrate by reactive thermal CVD (RTCVD) at low temperature (350 °C). The two-step growth process included seed layer epitaxial growth, post-annealing, and a second epitaxial growth step. The effect of the two-step growth approach on the crystalline quality of the Si1−xGex epilayer was investigated. Raman and TEM measurements indicate that a perfect Si1−xGex film structure, with few in-film defects, can be achieved by the two-step approach, and the resulting Si1−xGex films exhibited an RMS roughness of 1.02 nm with a threading dislocation density of ∼4.5 × 105/cm2 and a degree of strain relaxation of up to 100%. These results suggest that two-step growth, combined with annealing, is a good approach to fabricate a high-quality Si1−xGex epilayer by RTCVD at low temperature.

Klisyri (KX01) is a dual tubulin/Src protein inhibitor that has shown potential therapeutic effects in several tumor models. However, a phase II clinical trial in patients with bone-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer was halted because of lack of efficacy. We previously reported that KX01 binds to the colchicine site of β-tubulin and its morpholine group lies close to α-tubulin's surface. Thus, we hypothesized that enhancing the interaction of KX01 with α-tubulin could increase tubulin inhibition and synthesized a series of KX01 derivatives directed by docking studies. Among these derivatives, 8a exhibited more than 10-fold antiproliferation activity in several tumor cells than KX01 and significantly improved in vivo antitumor effects. The X-ray crystal structure suggested that 8a both bound to the colchicine site and extended into the interior of α-tubulin to form potent interactions, presenting a novel binding mode. A potential clinical candidate for cancer therapy was identified in this study.

In this study, the mechanism by which mercapto-modified palygorskite (MPAL) mediates Cd and Mn absorption by wheat was elucidated. In the aqueous phase, MPAL can react with Cd to form Cd-thiol complexes and CdO and with Mn to form MnO. In the wheat-soil system, 0.1-0.3% MPAL application increased the biomass of wheat by 18.6-29.4% and decreased the Cd concentration in shoots and roots by 19.4-51.8% and 35.9-64%, respectively; however, MPAL application did not decrease the diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA)-extracted Cd concentration in soil, probably because the formed Cd-thiol complexes and CdO could not be taken up by plants but could be extracted by DTPA. MPAL appeared to increase the Mn concentration in plants and the DTPA-extracted Mn concentration in soil, possibly because of the reduction in soil Mn oxides to more soluble Mn(Ⅱ) by the thiol groups in MPAL. MPAL enriched plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria and Cd-immobilizing bacteria and strengthened the sulfate reduction metabolism in rhizosphere soil, which partly contributed to the improvement in plant growth and the reduction in Cd bioaccumulation in wheat. These findings highlight the importance of the thiol group in MPAL and the regulation of the rhizosphere bacterial community in mediating Cd and Mn bioaccumulation in wheat.

Sequence control has attracted increasing attention for its ability of regulating polymer property and performance. Herein, the sequence-controlled polymer containing acrylonitrile (AN) is achieved by using 2,5-dimethylfuran/acrylonitrile adduct as a latent monomer. The temperature-dependent retro Diels-Alder reaction is engaged in controlling the release of AN during RAFT polymerization, that is, regulating the instant AN concentration via a non-invasive and in situ manner. Such control over the instant AN concentration and particularly the molar ratio of comonomer pair leads to the simultaneous change of monomer units in "living" polymeric chain, thus resulting in the sequence-controlled polymeric structures. By delicately manipulating the polymerization temperature, diverse sequence-on-demand structures of AN-containing copolymers, such as poly(AN/methyl methacrylate), poly(AN/styrene), poly(AN/butyl acrylate), poly(AN/N,N-dimethylacrylamide), and poly(AN/N-isopropylacrylamide) are created. Meanwhile, this study presents an initial attempt in tuning the thermal responsivity of poly(AN/N-isopropylacrylamide), which is closely correlated to the sequence of polymer structure. More importantly, the polymer with averagely distributed AN units results in the higher thermal sensitivity. Therefore, the synthetic strategy proposed in this work offers a promising platform for accessing the sequence-controlled copolymers containing AN structures, thus expanding the investigation on the relationship between the polymer structures and correlated properties.

The 2019 Ridgecrest, California earthquake sequence ruptured along a complex fault system and triggered seismic and aseismic slips on intersecting faults. To characterize the surface rupture kinematics and fault slip distribution, we used optical images and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) observations to reconstruct the displacement caused by the earthquake sequence. We further calculated curl and divergence from the north-south and east-west components, to effectively identify the surface rupture traces. The results show that the major seismogenic fault had a length of ~55 km and strike of 320° and consisted of five secondary faults. On the basis of the determined multiple-fault geometries, we inverted the coseismic slip distributions by InSAR measurements, which indicates that the Mw7.1 mainshock was dominated by the right-lateral strike-slip (maximum strike-slip of ~5.8 m at the depth of ~7.5 km), with a small dip-slip component (peaking at ~1.8 m) on an east-dipping fault. The Mw6.4 foreshock was dominated by the left-lateral strike-slip on a north-dipping fault. These earthquakes triggered obvious aseismic creep along the Garlock fault (117.3° W–117.5° W). These results are consistent with the rupture process of the earthquake sequence, which featured a complicated cascading rupture rather than a single continuous rupture front propagating along multiple faults.

Bisphenol A (BPA), as a phenolic compound, is harmful to human health, and its residue in the aquatic environment also threatens the health of aquatic animals. In this research, the toxicity effects of BPA on liver tissues were evaluated in common carp (Cyprinus carpio) after long-term exposure. Fish were exposed to five concentrations of BPA (0, 0.01, 0.1, 0.5 and 2 mg/L) for 30 days. The blood and liver tissues were gathered to analyze biochemical indices and genes transcription levels. The data related to lipid metabolism showed that BPA exposure increased serum total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels, upregulated the expressions of fatp1, pparγ, fas, atgl, hsl, pparα, cpt1b, acox-1, and downregulated the expression of dgat1 in liver. Antioxidative parameters displayed a reduced antioxidant ability and increased lipid peroxidation after BPA exposure. Meanwhile, the upregulations of nrf2, ho-1, cyp1a and cyp1b genes revealed an adaptive response mechanism against oxidative stress-induced adverse effects. After 30 days of exposure, BPA induced apoptosis and endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) via upregulating the expression levels of apoptosis and ERS-related genes and increasing Ca2+ concentration in liver. Moreover, the downregulation of mtor and the upregulation of atg3, atg7, tfeb, uvrag and mcoln1 indicated that BPA could influence the normal process of autophagy. Furthermore, BPA exposure activated toll like receptors (TLRs) pathway to mediate the inflammatory response. Our results demonstrated that BPA exposure disturbed lipid metabolism, and induced oxidative stress, ERS, apoptosis, autophagy and inflammatory response in the liver of common carp. These findings contributed to the understanding of hepatotoxicity mechanism induced by BPA in fish.

The compressibility and microstructural changes of four types of reconstituted clays, Tianjin, Shanghai, kaolin, and montmorillonite clays, were studied to investigate the effects of miner...

Carbon nanotube yarn microelectrodes (CNTYMEs) are an alternative to carbon-fiber microelectrodes (CFMEs) with interesting electrochemical properties because analyte is momentarily trapped in cavities between the CNTs. Here, we compare fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV) detection of catecholamines, including dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine, at CNTYMEs, CFMEs, as well as cavity carbon nanopipette electrodes (CNPEs). At CFMEs, current decreases dramatically at high FSCV repetition frequencies. At CNTYMEs, current is almost independent of FSCV repetition frequency because the analytes are trapped in the crevices between CNTs, and thus the electrode acts like a thin-layer cell. At CFMEs, small cyclization product peaks are observed due to an intramolecular cyclization reaction to form leucocatecholamine, which is electroactive, and these peaks are largest for the secondary amine epinephrine. At CNTYMEs, more of the leucocatecholamine cyclization product is detected for all catecholamines because of the enhanced trapping effects, particularly at higher repetition rates where the reaction occurs more frequently and more product is accumulated. For epinephrine, the secondary peaks have larger currents than the primary oxidation peaks at 100 Hz, and similar trends are observed with faster scan rates and 500 Hz repetition frequencies. Finally, we examined CNPEs, which also momentarily trap neurotransmitters. Similar to CNTYMEs, at CNPEs, catecholamines have robust cyclization peaks, particularly at high repetition rates. Thus, CNTYMEs and CNPEs have thin layer cell behavior that facilitates high temporal resolution measurements, but catecholamines CVs are complicated by cyclization reactions. However, those additional peaks could be useful in discriminating the analytes, particularly epinephrine and norepinephrine.

Boron doped emitters prepared by thermal diffusion using boron trichloride (BCl3) have been adopted in N-type Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact (TOPCon) silicon solar cells. In order to establish a proper diffusion process of p + emitter that matches to TOPCon solar cells fabrication, the influence of diffusion pressure, pre-deposition O2 flow rate and drive-in O2 flow rate on the doping profiles, sheet resistance, BSG thickness as well as the sheet resistance uniformity are carefully investigated. In addition, the impact of BSG thickness on the surface morphology and optical properties of the TOPCon cells are studied. The experimental results indicate that good uniformity of p + emitter can be obtained at low pressure (300 mbar) with acceptable sheet resistance. In addition, a p + emitter with thick BSG (> 50 nm) layer is very necessary, which can effectively protect the underneath emitter during the removal process of the wrap-around poly-Si. Finally, high efficiency over 22% is obtained for 244.32 cm2 n-type TOPCon solar cells based on the boron diffused emitter with the sheet resistance 70–90 ohm/sq., BSG thickness ~ 100 nm.

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) appears to be ubiquitous in natural water. Higher level of H2O2 can cause physiological stress, immunosuppression and even death in aquatic animals, but the physiological and molecular mechanisms of H2O2 toxicity are not well studied. Thus, the aim of the present study was to exposure potential toxic mechanisms of H2O2 via assessing the effects on redox state, apoptosis and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in common carp. The fish were subjected to four concentrations of H2O2 (0, 0.25, 0.5 and 1 mM) for 14 days. And then, the tissues including blood, liver, muscle, gills, intestines, heart, kidney and spleen were collected to measure biochemical parameter and gene expression. The results showed that H2O2 exposure suppressed the majority antioxidative parameters in serum, liver, muscle and intestines, but enhanced T-SOD, CAT and T-AOC levels in gills. In all tested tissues, the MDA content was significantly promoted by H2O2 exposure. The oxidative stress-related genes including nrf2, gstα, sod, cat and/or gpx1 were upregulated in liver, gills, muscle, intestines, and/or kidney, but downregulated in heart after H2O2 exposure. Moreover, the ho-1 mRNA level was inhibited by H2O2 exposure in all tissues except intestines and spleen. After 14 days of exposure, H2O2 induced ER stress and initiated IRE1 and PERK pathways, which activated downstream genes, including chop, grp78 and/or xbp1s, to regulate UPR in liver, gills, muscle and/or heart. Meanwhile, H2O2 exposure activated MAPK pathway to regulate mitochondria-related genes including bcl-2, bax and cytc, which further triggered cas-8, cas-9 and cas-3, and accelerated apoptosis in liver, gills, muscle and heart. Importantly, in different tissues, the genes associated with oxidative stress, ER stress and apoptosis showed a different influence, and more significant influence was observed in the muscle, gills and liver. Overall results suggested that long-term H2O2 exposure induced oxidative stress, ER stress and apoptosis in the majority of tested tissues of common carp. The Nrf2, IRE1, PERK and MAPK pathways played important roles in H2O2-induced toxicity in fish. These data enriched the toxicity mechanism of H2O2 in fish, which might contribute to the risk assessment of H2O2 in aquatic environment.

Hepatic steatosis is the most common phenomenon of lipid metabolism disorder in farmed fish, but its molecular mechanism is poorly understood. Therefore, the present study was aimed to investigate steatosis induced by high-fat diet (HFD) and explore underlying mechanism in tilapia. The fish were fed on control diet or HFD for 90 days. The blood and liver tissues were collected to determine biochemical parameters, genes expression and proteins level after 30, 60 and 90 days and analyzed lipid accumulation, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and autophagy. After 30 days of feeding, the plasma and hepatic lipid content (TG, TCH, LDL-C and HDL-C) and fatty acids (FAs) transportation (fabp1 and CD36) were enhanced significantly in HFD-fed tilapia. After 60 days, the lipid metabolism disorder, such as increase of TG synthesis and free CH formation, and decrease of FAs β-oxidation and biosynthesis, was observed in liver of HFD-fed tilapia. Further, with increasing lipid accumulation, ER stress was induced and worsen hepatic steatosis via activating IRE1 signaling pathway in liver of HFD group after 90 days. Meanwhile, the autophagy was suppressed via impairing AMPK and BFET pathways in HFD-fed tilapia liver after 90 days. Our results demonstrated that HFD feeding induced extensive lipid deposition, promoted ER stress, suppressed autophagy in tilapia liver. Interestingly, these pathological features were positively correlated with the duration of HFD feeding.

The uniform distribution of silver nanoparticles on the surfaces of diamond-wire sawn multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) is critical for the texturing of mc-Si by the Ag metal-assisted chemical etching method (Ag-MACE). In this study, an additive containing alkylphenol polyoxyethylene is developed to improve the Ag-MACE process. It enables an even deposition of the silver nanoparticles over the surface of the silicon wafer, so that the entire wafer surface can be uniformly textured with nanostructures. The experimental results show that the additive improves the appearance and performance of solar cells, including their reflectivity, efficiency, internal quantum efficiency and external quantum efficiency. Mass-produced mc-Si solar cells textured using Ag-MACE with this additive have achieved a maximum efficiency of 19.51%, compared with an efficiency of 19.16% for cells fabricated without the additive. Keywords: Multicrystalline silicon, Solar cell, Diamond wire saw, Metal-assisted chemical etching, Uniform textures, Additive

Resistive-pulse sensing is a technique widely used to detect single nanoscopic entities such as nanoparticles and large molecules that can block the ion current flow through a nanopore or a nanopipette. Although the species of interest, e.g., antibodies, DNA, and biological vesicles, are typically produced by living cells, so far, they have only been detected in the bulk solution since no localized resistive-pulse sensing in biological systems has yet been reported. In this report, we used a nanopipette as a scanning ion conductance microscopy (SICM) tip to carry out resistive-pulse experiments both inside immobilized living cells and near their surfaces. The characteristic changes in the ion current that occur when the pipet punctures the cell membrane are used to monitor its insertion into the cell cytoplasm. Following the penetration, cellular vesicles (phagosomes, lysosomes, and/or phagolysosomes) were detected inside a RAW 264.7 macrophage. Much smaller pipettes were used to selectively detect 10 nm Au nanoparticles in the macrophage cytoplasm. The in situ resistive-pulse detection of extracellular vesicles released by metastatic human breast cells (MDA-MB-231) is also demonstrated. Electrochemical resistive-pulse experiments were carried out by inserting a conductive carbon nanopipette into a macrophage cell to sample single vesicles and measure reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS/RNS) contained inside them.

Millettia pulchra is a renowned anti-inflammatory herbal medicine in southeast provinces of China. However, the underlying anti-inflammation mechanism remained incompletely understood. Herein, four new isoflavones, pulvones A-D and eleven reported constituents were isolated from the stems of Millettia pulchra with their structures being elucidated by HRMS and NMR analysis. The anti-inflammatory activities of pulvones A and C were further evaluated due to the better inhibitory activity on nitric oxide production in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells and no obvious cytotoxicity to RAW264.7 cells. Western blot showed that pulvones A significantly decreased the levels of iNOS and COX-2 proteins and pulvones C only decreased the level of iNOS protein. ELISA analysis demonstrated that pulvones A inhibited the production of both interleukin-6 (IL-6) and IL-1β while pulvones C showed better suppression effect on IL-1β production in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells. Then, their potential inhibitory effects on NF-κB pathway were tested in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells. Immunofluorescence and western blot assay showed that pulvones A and C reduced the nuclear translocation of NF-κB(p65) and interrupted IκB phosphorylation. The ADP-Glo™ kinase assay showed pulvones A and C could directedly inhibit the IKKβ kinase activity with the inhibitory rate of 40%, which were also verified by docking study. Collectively, these results suggested that pulvones A and C's anti-inflammatory effects were relevant to the interruption of NF-κB activation by inhibiting IKKβ kinase.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a slowly progressive and complex neurodegenerative disorder. Up to date, there are no approved drugs that could slow or reverse the neurodegenerative process of PD. Here, we reported the synthesis of series of piperine analogues and the evaluation of their neuroprotective effects against hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) induced damage in the neuron-like PC12 cells. Among these analogues, 3b exhibited the most potent protection effect and its underlying mechanism was further investigated. Further results indicated that the ROS scavenging and cytoprotection effect of 3b might be related to the Nrf2 activation and upregulation of related phase II antioxidant enzymes, such as HO-1 and NQO1. In in vivo study, oral administration (100 mg/kg) of 3b significantly attenuated PD-associated behavioral deficits in a 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-induced mouse model of PD and protected tyrosine hydroxylase-immunopositive dopaminergic neurons. Our results provided evidence that 3b might be a promising candidate for Parkinson’s disease treatment.

Particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter equal or less than 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5) is associated with the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The mechanisms by which PM2.5 accelerates disease progression in COPD are poorly understood. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of PM2.5 on lung injury in rats with hallmark features of COPD. Cardinal features of human COPD were induced in a rat model by repeated cigarette smoke inhalation and bacterial infection for 8 weeks. Then, from week 9 to week 16, some of these rats with COPD were subjected to real-time concentrated atmospheric PM2.5. Lung function, pathology, inflammatory cytokines, oxidative stress, and mucus and collagen production were measured. As expected, the COPD rats had developed emphysema, inflammation, and deterioration in lung function. PM2.5 exposure resulted in greater lung function decline and histopathological changes, as reflected by increased Mucin (MUC) 5ac, MUC5b, Collagen I, Collagen III, and the profibrotic cytokine α-smooth muscle-actin (SMA), transforming growth factor- (TGF-) β1 in lung tissues. PM2.5 also aggravated inflammation, increasing neutrophils and eosinophils in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and cytokines including Interleukin- (IL-) 1β, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), and IL-4. The likely mechanism is through oxidative stress as antioxidants levels were decreased, whereas oxidants were increased, indicating a detrimental shift in the oxidant-antioxidant balance. Altogether, these results suggest that PM2.5 exposure could promote the development of COPD by impairing lung function and exacerbating pulmonary injury, and the potential mechanisms are related to inflammatory response and oxidative stress.

A three-dimensional (3D) coordination polymer (CP) constructed from the linear trinuclear Co(II) cluster and 3,5-bis(4-carboxyphenyl)pyridine (H2bcpp), Co3(bcpp)2(HCOO)2(H2O)2 (1), has been synthesized under solvothermal condition of H2O-DMF (DMF = N,N-dimethylformamide) and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). In 1, the COO groups from the bcpp and HCOO anions bridge the Co(II) ions to form a linear trinuclear Co3(COO)6 cluster. The linear trinuclear Co3(COO)6 clusters are linked by the bcpp anions into a 3D CP with a 3,6-connected (4·82)2(42·812·10) topology. The HCOO anion is derived from the decomposition of DMF under solvothermal condition. The introduction and decomposition of DMF plays an important role in the formation of 1. In addition, the photoluminescent and magnetic properties of 1 have been investigated.

In this paper, the influence of indium tin oxide (ITO) deposition on the passivation quality of tunnel oxide passivated contact solar cells was investigated. Both phosphorous-doped poly-Si/SiOx (n-TOPCon) and boron-doped poly-Si/SiOx (p-TOPCon) stacked films were fabricated on crystalline Si substrate, and ITO thin films were deposited by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering system with various temperatures and RF powers, followed by post annealing. Effective minority carrier lifetime (τeff) of all the samples degraded drastically after ITO deposition. After post annealing, τeff of p-TOPCon samples exhibited significant recovery, while τeff of n-TOPCon samples only recovered partially. In addition, the deposition of ITO at lower RF power or room temperature leads to more effective recovery of τeff. The τeff recovery after ITO deposition thus depends on the types of TOPCon, which may be related to the film quality improvement of poly-Si during the post-annealing. The conversion efficiency of the top/rear TOPCon solar cells was decreased severely due to the sputtering damage during ITO deposition, and it can be improved by post-annealing at relatively high temperature.

Two 9,10-distyrylanthracene-based luminophores exhibiting aggregation-induced emission and stimuli-responsive properties were synthesized. Seven- or five-color luminescence switching based on a single organic molecule was achieved for the first time. These phase transitions can be induced by physical stimuli such as grinding by mortar and pestle, heating, and exposure to the vapors of organic solvents. Moreover, a strategy for the design of new mechanoresponsive materials with π-conjugated luminophores is proposed.