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The proliferation and steroid hormone synthesis of granulosa cells (GCs) are essential for ovarian follicle growth and ovulation, which are necessary to support the normal function of the follicle. Numerous studies suggest that miRNAs play key roles in this process. In this study, we report a novel role for miR-10a-5p that inhibits ovarian GCs proliferation and progesterone (P4) synthesis in chicken. Specifically, we found that miR-10a-5p significantly decreased the P4 secretion by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and western blot. Moreover, we observed that miR-10a-5p can inhibit the proliferation of chicken GCs through the investigation of cell proliferation gene expression, cell counting kit 8 (CCK-8), cell cycle progression, and 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU) assay. Then we screened a target gene MAPRE1 of miR-10a-5p, which can promote P4 synthesis and proliferation of GCs. To explore how miR-10a-5p affects cell cycle by MAPRE1, we investigated the interaction between MAPRE1 and cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2) by Co-Immunoprecipitation (Co-IP), and then we found that MAPRE1 can form a complex with CDK2. In addition, miR-10a-5p was found to inhibit CDK2 expression by repressing the expression of MAPRE1. Overall, our results indicate that miR-10a-5p regulates the proliferation and P4 synthesis of chicken GCs by targeting MAPRE1 to suppress CDK2.

In the present study, alloyed (Cu2SnS3)x(ZnS)1−x quantum dots (QDs) were prepared by combining Cu2SnS3 and ZnS. The alloyed (Cu2SnS3)x(ZnS)1−x was applied to perovskite solar cells (PSCs) as an inorganic hole transport layer. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the solar cells based on (Cu2SnS3)x(ZnS)1−x was optimized by tuning the content of ZnS. A high PCE of 17.02% was obtained for the solar cells based on the optimized (Cu2SnS3)0.7(ZnS)0.3 quantum dots, while that of the solar cells based on Cu2SnS3 was 15.96%. The experimental data demonstrate that the enhancement of PCE could be due to the high conductivity of the alloyed (Cu2SnS3)0.7(ZnS)0.3 QDs and suitable energy level alignment between the corresponding QDs and perovskite layer. In addition, the PSCs based on the alloyed (Cu2SnS3)0.7(ZnS)0.3 possess superior stability compared with that of the Cu2SnS3 based devices. This work displays that (Cu2SnS3)0.7(ZnS)0.3 QDs can be used as a novel inorganic hole transport material to PSCs.

Copper-based ternary semiconductors have been applied as hole-transporting materials (HTM) for perovskite solar cells (PSCs) in recent years. However, the unavoidable defects of inorganic nanoparticles affect the performance of PSCs. Here, we prepared CuGaS2 quantum dots (CGS QDs) and employed them as HTM to PSCs. The Cu content of CGS QDs was precisely controlled and its influence on the photoelectric properties of the solar cells was systematically investigated. An optimal power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 17.56% was obtained as the Cu content is 0.8:1 (Cu:Ga, molar ratio). Photoluminescence and electrochemical impedance analyses indicate that the surface defects of Cu-deficient CGS QDs were significantly reduced, thus resulting in effective suppression of carrier recombination between solar cell interfaces. Moreover, the stability of CuGaS2-based PSCs is promoted obviously compared with that of the device utilizing Spiro-OMeTAD as HTM. This work demonstrated that reducing the Cu content of CGS QDs can effectively improve the PCE of CuGaS2-based solar cells, and CGS QDs with Cu-deficiency can be applied as a potential HTM to PSCs.

In this paper, SiC particles of different particle sizes were used as aggregates to prepare SiC porous ceramics (50-70 mesh, 70-80 mesh and 80-90 mesh), and their flexural strength, filtration pressure drop and porosity were tested. On this basis, SiC with 80-90 mesh size was used as the aggregate, and the properties of porous ceramics were measured by using different proportions of pore-making agent. The results showed that when SiC particles were 80-90 mesh and the ratio of pore-making agent was 2:1, the samples prepared at 1300°C for 1.5h had the best comprehensive performance, the porosity was 33.9%, the flexural strength was up to 38.28MPa, and the filtration pressure drop was relatively low.

In order to explore the microstructures and ferroelectric properties of the Ca-doped BaTiO3 nanotubes, anodic oxidation method was used to generate TiO2 nanotubes. As a template to TiO2 nanotubes, hydrothermal synthesis method was used to prepare the Ca-doped BaTiO3 nanotubes. The microstructures and ferroelectric properties of the Ca-doped BaTiO3 nanotubes arrays, which had gained under different concentrations of calcium hydroxide, was measured and analyzed by scanning electron microscopy(SEM), X-ray diffraction instrument and ferroelectric analyzer respectively. The experiments show that with the increase of Ca(OH)2 concentration, TiO2 nanotubes can be transformed into Ba(1-x)CaxTiO3 nanotubes, and the crystallinity is improved. The Ca(OH)2 doping amount can improve the ferroelectric properties of Ba(1-x)CaxTiO3. When the Ca(OH)2 doping amount is 12%, residual polarization strength of the Ba(1-x)CaxTiO3 nanotubes is up to 1.32 µC/cm2 and coercive field can reach 3.37 kV/cm.

In this paper, the microstructure and ferroelectric properties of Ba(1-x-y)CaxCe2y/3TiO3 nanotubes were prepared by hydrothermal method using TiO2 nanotube as templates. Ba(1-x-y)CaxCe2y/3TiO3 nanotubes at different concentration of Ca(CH3COO)2•H2O and (CH3CO2)3Ce·xH2O were investigated. The experimental results show that increasing the concentration of (CH3CO2)3Ce·xH2O and Ca(CH3COO)2•H2O are beneficial to the transition of TiO2 nanotubes to Ba(1-x-y)CaxCe2y/3TiO3 nanotubes and improve ferroelectricity, and the results show that in the Ca(CH3COO)2•H2O, (CH3CO2)3Ce·xH2O doping concentration of 0.032mol/L,0.008mol/, respectively, the surface morphology of Ba(1-x-y)CaxCe2y/3TiO3 nanotubes is the best. Typical hysteresis loops with remanent polarization and coercive field are 0.33 μC/cm2, and 33 kV/cm, respectively.