Single-Layered Organic Photovoltaics With Double Cascading Charge Transport Pathways: 18% Efficiencies

The chemical structure of donors and acceptors limit the power conversion efficiencies achievable with active layers of binary donor-acceptor mixtures. Here, using quaternary blends, double cascading energy level alignment in bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaic active layers are realized, enabling efficient carrier splitting and transport. Numerous avenues to optimize light absorption, carrier transport, and charge-transfer state energy levels are opened by the chemical constitution of the components. Record-breaking PCEs of 18.07% are achieved where, by electronic structure and morphology optimization, simultaneous improvements of the open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current and fill factor occur. The donor and acceptor chemical structures afford control over electronic structure and charge-transfer state energy levels, enabling manipulation of hole-transfer rates, carrier transport, and non-radiative recombination losses

The Validity of Street View Service Applied to Ambiance Perception of Street: A Comparison of Assessment in Real Site and Baidu Street View

The street view service, like Google Street View and Baidu Street View, has emerged as a research tool to capture the visual perception data of observers. This research explores the validity of Street View service tool using in visual perception assessment on historical block—can Street View service provides perceptual results consistent with reality. We conducted a survey based on the real environment and Baidu Street View pictures on two typical historical streets in Harbin, China. User's subjective perception of the quality of streets and ambiance were compared. The findings show Street View has good validity on the subjective perception part of street quality, but on the ambiance perception, there is a significant difference between Street View and real site audit. Meanwhile, the validity of Street View on the ambiance differs for different types of streets

Real-time visualizing the regulation of reactive oxygen species on Zn2+ release in cellular lysosome by a specific fluorescent probe

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) regulating the release of free zinc ions (Zn2+) in cellular lysosome is closely related to various pathways of cellular signal transduction, such as inflammation and oxidative stress. Directly visualizing Zn2+ release in lysosome is essential for in-depth understanding these physiological processes, and is still an atelic challenge. In this work, we successfully fabricate a lysosome-specific Zn2+ fluorescent probe and achieve the visualization of ROS-induced Zn2+ release in lysosome of inflammatory cells. The as-prepared probe combines a green fluorophore, an ionophore with five-dentate sites, and a morpholine as the lysosome-specific localization moiety. The fluorescence of the fluorophore in the free probe is suppressed by a photoinduced electron transfer (PET) process from nitrogen atoms in the ionophore. Upon the addition of Zn2+, the fluorescence can be promoted immediately, achieving the real-time detection. Meanwhile, the probe is sensitive and selective to Zn2+, which provides the capability to detect low-concentration of free Zn2+ in lysosomes. Accordingly, the Zn2+ release was clearly observed in lysosome with the increase of ROS levels when the inflammation occurred in living cells. (c) 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V.Funding Agencies|Swedish Research Council (VR) [621-2013-5357]; National Natural Science Foundation of China [21705001, 21577098]; Swedish Government strategic faculty grant in material science (SFO, MATLIU) in Advanced Functional Materials (AFM) (VR) [5.1-2015-5959]; Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (KAW) [2012.0083]; Centre in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (CeNano)</p

Loss of polycystin-1 inhibits Bicc1 expression during mouse development.

Bicc1 is a mouse homologue of Drosophila Bicaudal-C (dBic-C), which encodes an RNA-binding protein. Orthologs of dBic-C have been identified in many species, from C. elegans to humans. Bicc1-mutant mice exhibit a cystic phenotype in the kidney that is very similar to human polycystic kidney disease. Even though many studies have explored the gene characteristics and its functions in multiple species, the developmental profile of the Bicc1 gene product (Bicc1) in mammal has not yet been completely characterized. To this end, we generated a polyclonal antibody against Bicc1 and examined its spatial and temporal expression patterns during mouse embryogenesis and organogenesis. Our results demonstrated that Bicc1 starts to be expressed in the neural tube as early as embryonic day (E) 8.5 and is widely expressed in epithelial derivatives including the gut and hepatic cells at E10.5, and the pulmonary bronchi at E11.5. In mouse kidney development, Bicc1 appears in the early ureteric bud and mesonephric tubules at E11.5 and is also expressed in the metanephros at the same stage. During postnatal kidney development, Bicc1 expression gradually expands from the cortical to the medullary and papillary regions, and it is highly expressed in the proximal tubules. In addition, we discovered that loss of the Pkd1 gene product, polycystin-1 (PC1), whose mutation causes human autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), downregulates Bicc1 expression in vitro and in vivo. Our findings demonstrate that Bicc1 is developmentally regulated and reveal a new molecular link between Bicc1 and Pkd1

Unraveling the Crystallization Kinetics of 2D Perovskites with Sandwich-Type Structure for High-Performance Photovoltaics.

2D perovskite solar cells with high stability and high efficiency have attracted significant attention. A systematical static and dynamic structure investigation is carried out to show the details of 2D morphology evolution. A dual additive approach is used, where the synergy between an alkali metal cation and a polar solvent leads to high-quality 2D perovskite films with sandwich-type structures and vertical phase segregation. Such novel structure can induce high-quality 2D slab growth and reduce internal and surface defects, resulting in a high device efficiency of 16.48% with enhanced continuous illumination stability and improved moisture (55-60%) and thermal (85&nbsp;°C) tolerances. Transient absorption spectra reveal the carrier migration from low n to high n species with different kinetics. An [PbI6 ]4- octagon coalescence transformation mechanism coupled with metal and organic cations wrapped is proposed. By solvent vapor annealing, a recrystallization and reorientation of the 2D perovskite slabs occurs to form an ideal structure with improved device performance and stability

Unraveling the Crystallization Kinetics of 2D Perovskites with Sandwich-Type Structure for High-Performance Photovoltaics.

2D perovskite solar cells with high stability and high efficiency have attracted significant attention. A systematical static and dynamic structure investigation is carried out to show the details of 2D morphology evolution. A dual additive approach is used, where the synergy between an alkali metal cation and a polar solvent leads to high-quality 2D perovskite films with sandwich-type structures and vertical phase segregation. Such novel structure can induce high-quality 2D slab growth and reduce internal and surface defects, resulting in a high device efficiency of 16.48% with enhanced continuous illumination stability and improved moisture (55-60%) and thermal (85&nbsp;°C) tolerances. Transient absorption spectra reveal the carrier migration from low n to high n species with different kinetics. An [PbI6 ]4- octagon coalescence transformation mechanism coupled with metal and organic cations wrapped is proposed. By solvent vapor annealing, a recrystallization and reorientation of the 2D perovskite slabs occurs to form an ideal structure with improved device performance and stability

Single-layered organic photovoltaics with double cascading charge transport pathways: 18% efficiencies.

The chemical structure of donors and acceptors limit the power conversion efficiencies achievable with active layers of binary donor-acceptor mixtures. Here, using quaternary blends, double cascading energy level alignment in bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaic active layers are realized, enabling efficient carrier splitting and transport. Numerous avenues to optimize light absorption, carrier transport, and charge-transfer state energy levels are opened by the chemical constitution of the components. Record-breaking PCEs of 18.07% are achieved where, by electronic structure and morphology optimization, simultaneous improvements of the open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current and fill factor occur. The donor and acceptor chemical structures afford control over electronic structure and charge-transfer state energy levels, enabling manipulation of hole-transfer rates, carrier transport, and non-radiative recombination losses

Specificity of the polyclonal antiserum mBicc1p for Bicc1.

<p>(A) The mBicc1-GST antigen was subjected to western blot analysis with the antibodies shown. The anti-Bicc1 (mBicc1p) and anti-GST antibodies, but not the preimmune serum (Pre-IM), recognized the mBicc1-GST antigen of the expected size (43 kD). (B) Schematic representation of the <i>Bicc1</i>-pCMV-Tag4 expression vector constructed by inserting the full-length ORF of <i>Bicc1</i> into Flag-tagged pCMV-Tag4. (C) <i>Bicc1</i>-pCMV-Tag4-transfected HEK293 cell lysates were subjected to western blot analysis with the antibodies shown. The anti-Bicc1 (mBicc1p) and anti-GST antibodies but not the Pre-IM recognized the <i>Bicc1</i>-pCMV-Tag4 protein of the expected size (∼110 kD). (D) Western analysis of duplicated protein lysates from wildtype, <i>Bicc1</i>-silenced (IMCD^shC4C), and <i>Bicc1</i>-overexpressed IMCD cells (IMCD^Bicc1) were blotted with the mBicc1p antibody. Compared to the wildtype control, the immunoreactivity was significantly increased in <i>Bicc1</i>-overexpressed IMCD cells and was almost not detected in the <i>Bicc1</i>-silenced cells. (E) Normalized quantitative analysis of the densitometry values of the western analyses. Compared to wildtype IMCD and <i>Bicc1</i>-silenced IMCD (IMCD^shC4C) cells, <i>Bicc1</i>-overexpressed IMCD (IMCD^Bicc1) cells showed significantly increased Bicc1 expression (*P<0.05). (F) Immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining of Bicc1 protein in the kidneys of E18.5 <i>Bicc1</i>^−/− and its wildtype littermates. Positive staining (arrows) were showed in the wildtype kidney (a), while no obvious positive staining was seen in the E18.5 <i>Bicc1</i>^−/− kidney (b). (a'–b') Corresponding areas of a–b were stained by Bicc1p IHC without counterstaining. Data presented are representative of two to three independently replicated experiments. “cy” = renal cysts. Bars: 25 µm in F.</p