Relating Band Edge DOS Occupancy Statistics Associated Excited State Electrons Entropy Generation to Free Energy Loss and Intrinsic Voc Deficit of Solar Cells

Ever science the invention of solar cells, thermodynamics has been used to assess their performance limits, guiding advances in materials science and photovoltaic technology to reduce the gap between the practical efficiencies and the thermodynamic limits to photovoltaic energy conversion. By systematically addressing the thermodynamic efficiency losses in current photovoltaic, ultrahigh efficiency photovoltaic can be expected. Currently, the non-radiative recombination of some ultrahigh efficient solar cells is almost completely suppressed, and the radiative recombination loss is then the key to restrict the further improvement of device performance. This work relates the energy band edge electronic density of states (DOS) of semiconductor absorber and transport layer, excited/transfer state electronic entropy to thermodynamically inevitable energy loss during photoelectric conversion in solar cells. On accounts of the basic limitations of thermodynamic laws on the energy conversion process, this work reveals a hidden variable that affects the photovoltaic performance and puts forward the band edge DOS engineering as a new dimension in performance optimization of solar cell apart from the traditional material and defect passivation engineering, etc. This work highlights the great importance of DOS engineering for further improving the performance of any solar cell devices

Diabetes-Specific Nutrition Algorithm: A Transcultural Program to Optimize Diabetes and Prediabetes Care

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and prediabetes have a major global impact through high disease prevalence, significant downstream pathophysiologic effects, and enormous financial liabilities. To mitigate this disease burden, interventions of proven effectiveness must be used. Evidence shows that nutrition therapy improves glycemic control and reduces the risks of diabetes and its complications. Accordingly, diabetes-specific nutrition therapy should be incorporated into comprehensive patient management programs. Evidence-based recommendations for healthy lifestyles that include healthy eating can be found in clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) from professional medical organizations. To enable broad implementation of these guidelines, recommendations must be reconstructed to account for cultural differences in lifestyle, food availability, and genetic factors. To begin, published CPGs and relevant medical literature were reviewed and evidence ratings applied according to established protocols for guidelines. From this information, an algorithm for the nutritional management of people with T2D and prediabetes was created. Subsequently, algorithm nodes were populated with transcultural attributes to guide decisions. The resultant transcultural diabetes-specific nutrition algorithm (tDNA) was simplified and optimized for global implementation and validation according to current standards for CPG development and cultural adaptation. Thus, the tDNA is a tool to facilitate the delivery of nutrition therapy to patients with T2D and prediabetes in a variety of cultures and geographic locations. It is anticipated that this novel approach can reduce the burden of diabetes, improve quality of life, and save lives. The specific Southeast Asian and Asian Indian tDNA versions can be found in companion articles in this issue of Current Diabetes Reports

Neuropeptides, Trophic Factors, and Other Substances Providing Morphofunctional and Metabolic Protection in Experimental Models of Diabetic Retinopathy

Vision is the most important sensory modality for many species, including humans. Damage to the retina results in vision loss or even blindness. One of the most serious complications of diabetes, a disease that has seen a worldwide increase in prevalence, is diabetic retinopathy. This condition stems from consequences of pathological metabolism and develops in 75% of patients with type 1 and 50% with type 2 diabetes. The development of novel protective drugs is essential. In this review we provide a description of the disease and conclude that type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes lead to the same retinopathy. We evaluate existing experimental models and recent developments in finding effective compounds against this disorder. In our opinion, the best models are the long-term streptozotocin-induced diabetes and Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty and spontaneously diabetic Torii rats, while the most promising substances are topically administered somatostatin and pigment epithelium-derived factor analogs, antivasculogenic substances, and systemic antioxidants. Future drug development should focus on these

16.67% Rigid and 14.06% Flexible Organic Solar Cells Enabled by Ternary Heterojunction Strategy

16.67% Rigid and 14.06% Flexible Organic Solar Cells Enabled by Ternary Heterojunction Strateg

Systems Pharmacology-Based Approach to Comparatively Study the Independent and Synergistic Mechanisms of Danhong Injection and Naoxintong Capsule in Ischemic Stroke Treatment

To provide evidence for the better clinical use of traditional Chinese medicine preparations (TCMPs), comparison of the pharmacological mechanisms between TCMPs with similar therapeutic effect is necessary. However, methodology for dealing with this issue is still scarce. Danhong injection (DHI) and Naoxintong capsule (NXT) are representative TCMPs for ischemic stroke (IS) treatment, which are also frequently used in combination. Here they were employed as research objects to demonstrate the feasibility of systems pharmacology approach in elucidation of the independent and combined effect of TCMPs. By incorporating chemical screening, target prediction, and network construction, a feasible systems pharmacology model has been established to systematically uncover the underlying action mechanisms of DHI, NXT, or their pair in IS treatment. Systematic analysis of the created TCMP-Compound-Target-Disease network revealed that DHI and NXT shared common targets such as PTGS2, F2, ADRB1, IL6, ALDH2, and CCL2, which were involved in the vasomotor system regulation, blood-brain barrier disruption, redox imbalance, neurotrophin activity, and brain inflammation. In comparative mechanism study, the merged DHI/NXT-IS PPI network and pathway enrichment analysis indicated that DHI and NXT exerted the therapeutic effects mainly through immune system and VEGF signaling pathways. Meanwhile, they had their own unique pathways, e.g., calcium signaling pathway for DHI and gap junction for NXT. While for their synergistic mechanism, DHI and NXT participated in chemokine signaling pathway, T cell receptor signaling pathway, VEGF signaling pathway, gap junction, and so on. Our study provided an optimized strategy for dissecting the different and combined effect of TCMPs with similar actions

Graphene:silver nanowire composite transparent electrode based flexible organic solar cells with 13.4% efficiency

Graphene:silver nanowire composite transparent electrode based flexible organic solar cells with 13.4% efficienc

Synergistic Interface Energy Band Alignment Optimization and Defect Passivation toward Efficient and Simple-Structured Perovskite Solar Cell

Efficient electron transport layer-free perovskite solar cells (ETL-free PSCs) with cost-effective and simplified design can greatly promote the large area flexible application of PSCs. However, the absence of ETL usually leads to the mismatched indium tin oxide (ITO)/perovskite interface energy levels, which limits charge transfer and collection, and results in severe energy loss and poor device performance. To address this, a polar nonconjugated small-molecule modifier is introduced to lower the work function of ITO and optimize interface energy level alignment by virtue of an inherent dipole, as verified by photoemission spectroscopy and Kelvin probe force microscopy measurements. The resultant barrier-free ITO/perovskite contact favors efficient charge transfer and suppresses nonradiative recombination, endowing the device with enhanced open circuit voltage, short circuit current density, and fill factor, simultaneously. Accordingly, power conversion efficiency increases greatly from 12.81% to a record breaking 20.55%, comparable to state-of-the-art PSCs with a sophisticated ETL. Also, the stability is enhanced with decreased hysteresis effect due to interface defect passivation and inhibited interface charge accumulation. This work facilitates the further development of highly efficient, flexible, and recyclable ETL-free PSCs with simplified design and low cost by interface electronic structure engineering through facile electrode modification