10 research outputs found

    The Fabrication and Scale-Up of Organic Photovoltaic Devices via Ultrasonic Spray Coating

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    At the present time, most prototype organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices are fabricated via spin-coating on to relatively small substrates. While spin-coating is a powerful tool for controllable and accurate material deposition, it is a relatively slow process and not easily scalable. In order for the technology to progress into commercial manufacturing, the fabrication of devices must be demonstrated via scalable deposition techniques. This thesis investigates ultrasonic spray coating as a scalable technique for the fabrication of organic solar cells. Several hole transport and photoactive materials are spray-cast and characterised. OPV devices are fabricated and a partial scale up is investigated, resulting in spray-cast device metrics comparable to those fabricated via spin coating. This work details fabrication of the largest OPV devices yet reported in which the PEDOT:PSS hole transport layer and the photoactive layer are both spray coated. It is therefore suggested that that spray coating is a potentially viable roll-to-roll deposition technique

    Dimethyl fumarate in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

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    Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inhibits inflammasome-mediated inflammation and has been proposed as a treatment for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. This randomised, controlled, open-label platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), is assessing multiple treatments in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 (NCT04381936, ISRCTN50189673). In this assessment of DMF performed at 27 UK hospitals, adults were randomly allocated (1:1) to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus DMF. The primary outcome was clinical status on day 5 measured on a seven-point ordinal scale. Secondary outcomes were time to sustained improvement in clinical status, time to discharge, day 5 peripheral blood oxygenation, day 5 C-reactive protein, and improvement in day 10 clinical status. Between 2 March 2021 and 18 November 2021, 713 patients were enroled in the DMF evaluation, of whom 356 were randomly allocated to receive usual care plus DMF, and 357 to usual care alone. 95% of patients received corticosteroids as part of routine care. There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of DMF on clinical status at day 5 (common odds ratio of unfavourable outcome 1.12; 95% CI 0.86-1.47; p = 0.40). There was no significant effect of DMF on any secondary outcome

    Dimethyl fumarate in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

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    Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inhibits inflammasome-mediated inflammation and has been proposed as a treatment for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. This randomised, controlled, open-label platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), is assessing multiple treatments in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 (NCT04381936, ISRCTN50189673). In this assessment of DMF performed at 27 UK hospitals, adults were randomly allocated (1:1) to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus DMF. The primary outcome was clinical status on day 5 measured on a seven-point ordinal scale. Secondary outcomes were time to sustained improvement in clinical status, time to discharge, day 5 peripheral blood oxygenation, day 5 C-reactive protein, and improvement in day 10 clinical status. Between 2 March 2021 and 18 November 2021, 713 patients were enroled in the DMF evaluation, of whom 356 were randomly allocated to receive usual care plus DMF, and 357 to usual care alone. 95% of patients received corticosteroids as part of routine care. There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of DMF on clinical status at day 5 (common odds ratio of unfavourable outcome 1.12; 95% CI 0.86-1.47; p = 0.40). There was no significant effect of DMF on any secondary outcome

    Slot-Die Coating of Double Polymer Layers for the Fabrication of Organic Light Emitting Diodes

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    This study presents the slot-die coating process of two layers of organic materials for the fabrication of organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS), which is commonly used in OLEDs and in organic photovoltaic devices as the hole injection layer (HIL), has been deposited via slot-die coating. Uniform films of PEDOT:PSS were obtained after optimizing the slot-die processing parameters: substrate temperature, coating speed, and ink flow rate. The film quality was examined using optical microscopy, profilometry, and atomic force microscopy. Further, poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene) (F8) and poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene-alt-benzothiadiazole) (F8BT), a well know polymer blend F8:F8BT, which is used as an emissive layer in OLEDs, has been slot-die coated. The optoelectronic properties of the slot-die coated F8:F8BT films were examined by means of photoluminescence (PL) and electroluminescence (EL) studies. The fabricated OLEDs, consisting of slot-die coated PEDOT:PSS and F8:F8BT films, were characterized to record the brightness and current efficienc

    Research data supporting "Dependence on Material Choice of Degradation of Organic Solar Cells Following Exposure to Humid Air"

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    Supporting data for publication. Data consists of a range of Electron Microscopy images and current - voltage measurements from fresh and aged organic solar cells. Most of the data was acquired 01/10/2014 - 27/01/15. Device fabrication and measurement was done in the Kroto Research Institute, University of Sheffield. Electron Microscopy was done at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge. Further details about the data is included in the Metadata.docx file.This record supports publication available at: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/250470This work was supported by the EPSRC [grant number EP/I029257/1]

    Thigh-length compression stockings and DVT after stroke

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    Controversy exists as to whether neoadjuvant chemotherapy improves survival in patients with invasive bladder cancer, despite randomised controlled trials of more than 3000 patients. We undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the effect of such treatment on survival in patients with this disease

    Vineyard Practice

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    Azithromycin in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

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    Background Azithromycin has been proposed as a treatment for COVID-19 on the basis of its immunomodulatory actions. We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of azithromycin in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19. Methods In this randomised, controlled, open-label, adaptive platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), several possible treatments were compared with usual care in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 in the UK. The trial is underway at 176 hospitals in the UK. Eligible and consenting patients were randomly allocated to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus azithromycin 500 mg once per day by mouth or intravenously for 10 days or until discharge (or allocation to one of the other RECOVERY treatment groups). Patients were assigned via web-based simple (unstratified) randomisation with allocation concealment and were twice as likely to be randomly assigned to usual care than to any of the active treatment groups. Participants and local study staff were not masked to the allocated treatment, but all others involved in the trial were masked to the outcome data during the trial. The primary outcome was 28-day all-cause mortality, assessed in the intention-to-treat population. The trial is registered with ISRCTN, 50189673, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04381936. Findings Between April 7 and Nov 27, 2020, of 16 442 patients enrolled in the RECOVERY trial, 9433 (57%) were eligible and 7763 were included in the assessment of azithromycin. The mean age of these study participants was 65·3 years (SD 15·7) and approximately a third were women (2944 [38%] of 7763). 2582 patients were randomly allocated to receive azithromycin and 5181 patients were randomly allocated to usual care alone. Overall, 561 (22%) patients allocated to azithromycin and 1162 (22%) patients allocated to usual care died within 28 days (rate ratio 0·97, 95% CI 0·87–1·07; p=0·50). No significant difference was seen in duration of hospital stay (median 10 days [IQR 5 to >28] vs 11 days [5 to >28]) or the proportion of patients discharged from hospital alive within 28 days (rate ratio 1·04, 95% CI 0·98–1·10; p=0·19). Among those not on invasive mechanical ventilation at baseline, no significant difference was seen in the proportion meeting the composite endpoint of invasive mechanical ventilation or death (risk ratio 0·95, 95% CI 0·87–1·03; p=0·24). Interpretation In patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, azithromycin did not improve survival or other prespecified clinical outcomes. Azithromycin use in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 should be restricted to patients in whom there is a clear antimicrobial indication. Funding UK Research and Innovation (Medical Research Council) and National Institute of Health Research
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