The complete chloroplast genome of Callianthe picta (Malvaceae)

Callianthe picta likes a warm and humid climate, is resistant to barrenness, and is easy to reproduce. Its petals and leaves can promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis, and can also be used to relax the muscles and collaterals. In this study, we sequenced the complete chloroplast genome sequence of C. picta to investigate its phylogenetic relationship in the family Abutilon. The complete chloroplast size of C. picta is 160,398 bp, including a large single-copy (LSC) region of 89,088 bp, a small single-copy (SSC) region of 20,138 bp, a pair of invert repeats (IRs) regions of 25,586 bp. The GC content of the whole complete chloroplast genome is 37.0%. We annotated 128 genes in the genome in detail, including 84 protein-coding genes, 36 tRNA genes, and 8 rRNA genes. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that C. picta was closely related to Abutilon theophrati

The Influence of Hypothermia Hibernation Combined with CO2 Anesthesia on Life and Storage Quality of Large Yellow Croaker (Pseudosciaena crocea)

We explore the feasibility of the long-term transportation of live large yellow croakers (Pseudosciaena crocea) using the combined method of CO2 anesthesia and hypothermia hibernation, and its effect on the quality of recovered fish stored at 4 °C. Fish treated with CO2 anesthesia at a 2 ppm/s aeration rate were cooled at 3 °C/h to hibernate survived for 36 h at 8 °C in seawater. This method resulted in better survival rates and time, and a lower operational time than hypothermia hibernation or CO2 anesthesia methods. The results of a blood analysis indicated that the stress experienced by the fish during hibernation was mitigated, but existent after recovery. The drip loss rate of the ordinary muscle of hibernated fish was significantly different from that of the control group at 4 °C, but there was no significant difference in the pH, lactic acid content, and color during early storage. Furthermore, hibernation did not affect springiness and chewiness. Thus, the combination of CO2 anesthesia and hibernation may improve the survival and operation efficiency of fish in long-term transportation. However, this method affects the quality of fish after long-term storage. Thus, hibernated fish should be consumed after appropriate domestication or immediately after recovery

Trifluoromethyl-Substituted Large Band-Gap Polytriphenylamines for Polymer Solar Cells with High Open-Circuit Voltages

Two large band-gap polymers (PTPACF and PTPA2CF) based on polytriphenylamine derivatives with the introduction of electron-withdrawing trifluoromethyl groups were designed and prepared by Suzuki polycondensation reaction. The chemical structures, thermal, optical and electrochemical properties were characterized in detail. From the UV-visible absorption spectra, the PTPACF and PTPA2CF showed the optical band gaps of 2.01 and 2.07 eV, respectively. The cyclic voltammetry (CV) measurement displayed the deep highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy levels of −5.33 and −5.38 eV for PTPACF and PTPA2CF, respectively. The hole mobilities, determined by field-effect transistor characterization, were 2.5 × 10−3 and 1.1 × 10−3 cm2 V−1 S−1 for PTPACF and PTPA2CF, respectively. The polymer solar cells (PSCs) were tested under the conventional device structure of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/polymer:PC71BM/PFN/Al. All of the PSCs showed the high open circuit voltages (Vocs) with the values approaching 1 V. The PTPACF and PTPA2CF based PSCs gave the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of 3.24% and 2.40%, respectively. Hence, it is a reliable methodology to develop high-performance large band-gap polymer donors with high Vocs through the feasible side-chain modification

Mn-containing bioceramics inhibit osteoclastogenesis and promote osteoporotic bone regeneration via scavenging ROS

Osteoporosis is caused by an osteoclast activation mechanism. People suffering from osteoporosis are prone to bone defects. Increasing evidence indicates that scavenging reactive oxygen species (ROS) can inhibit receptor activator of nuclear factor κB ligand (RANKL)-induced osteoclastogenesis and suppress ovariectomy-induced osteoporosis. It is critical to develop biomaterials with antioxidant properties to modulate osteoclast activity for treating osteoporotic bone defects. Previous studies have shown that manganese (Mn) can improve bone regeneration, and Mn supplementation may treat osteoporosis. However, the effect of Mn on osteoclasts and the role of Mn in osteoporotic bone defects remain unclear. In present research, a model bioceramic, Mn-contained β-tricalcium phosphate (Mn-TCP) was prepared by introducing Mn into β-TCP. The introduction of Mn into β-TCP significantly improved the scavenging of oxygen radicals and nitrogen radicals, demonstrating that Mn-TCP bioceramics might have antioxidant properties. The in vitro and in vivo findings revealed that Mn2+ ions released from Mn-TCP bioceramics could distinctly inhibit the formation and function of osteoclasts, promote the differentiation of osteoblasts, and accelerate bone regeneration under osteoporotic conditions in vivo. Mechanistically, Mn-TCP bioceramics inhibited osteoclastogenesis and promoted the regeneration of osteoporotic bone defects by scavenging ROS via Nrf2 activation. These results suggest that Mn-containing bioceramics with osteoconductivity, ROS scavenging and bone resorption inhibition abilities may be an ideal biomaterial for the treatment of osteoporotic bone defect

Achieving 16% Efficiency for Polythiophene Organic Solar Cells with a Cyano-Substituted Polythiophene

Polythiophenes (PTs) are promising electron donors in organic solar cells (OSCs) due to their simple structures and excellent synthetic scalability. However, the device performance of PT-based OSCs is rather poor due mainly to large photon energy losses and an unfavorable active layer morphology. Herein, the authors report a new PT, which is abbreviated as P5TCN-2F and features cyano-group substituents for high-efficiency OSCs. The cyano-group endows P5TCN-2F with a deep-lying highest occupied molecular orbital energy level, which thereby contributed to high open-circuit voltage in OSCs as a result of reduced non-radiative recombination energy loss. Moreover, the cyano-group leads to strong interchain interaction, improved polymer crystallinity, and appropriate miscibility with the prevailing non-fullerene acceptors. Consequently, P5TCN-2F offers over 15% power conversion efficiency when blended with various Y-series non-fullerene acceptors (Y6, Y6-BO, eC9, and L8-BO). Particularly, a champion efficiency of 16.1% is obtained by the P5TCN-2F:Y6 blend, which is largely higher than that of any previous PT-based OSCs. Moreover, the average figure of merit of the active layer based on P5TCN-2F is much superior to that of benzodithiophene-based polymers. These results suggest the renaissance of PT-based OSCs and have opened an avenue to access high-performance materials for the large-scale production of OSC modules

Terpolymers Containing Difluorobenzoxadiazole Enable Suppressed Energy Losses and Optimal Batch-to-Batch Reproducibility for High-Efficiency Organics Solar Cells

Developing high-performance polymer donors is of great importance to further improve the photovoltaic performances of organic solar cells (OSCs). However, most polymer donors suffer from mismatching energy levels and poor batch-to-batch reproducibility, which hinder the further enhancement of device performance and their potential in a commercial application. Constructing random terpolymers with a third monomer is considered a practical way to solve these problems. Herein, the 5,6-difluorobenzo[c][1,2,5]oxadiazole (ffBX) unit is incorporated into the skeleton of PBDB-TF as the third comonomer to construct random terpolymers. The terpolymers exhibit downshifted the highest occupied molecular orbital energy levels than PBDB-TF, which is beneficial for obtaining higher open-circuit voltage and lower energy loss of the OSCs. The OSCs based on PBFBX20:Y6-BO demonstrate high power conversion efficiency of 17.5%. Moreover, PBFBX20 exhibits excellent batch-to-batch reproducibility. Five polymer batches with molecular weights ranging from 20.0 to 54.0 kDa produced very similar PCEs. This work demonstrates the bright future of ffBX-contained terpolymers in realizing high-performance OSCs and further applying in the OSCs community

An electron acceptor featuring a B-N covalent bond and small singlet-triplet gap for organic solar cells

BNTT2F, an electron acceptor featuring a B-N covalent bond and singlet-triplet gap as low as 0.20 eV via the multiple resonance effect, is developed for organic solar cells. The optimized device based on BNTT2F offered an efficiency of 8.3%, suggesting the great prospect of B-N covalent bond-containing π-conjugated molecules for photovoltaics

Mastering morphology of non-fullerene acceptors towards long-term stable organic solar cells

Despite the rapid progress of organic solar cells based on non-fullerene acceptors, simultaneously achieving high power conversion efficiency and long-term stability for commercialization requires sustainable research effort. Here, we demonstrate stable devices by integrating a wide bandgap electron-donating polymer (namely PTzBI-dF) and two acceptors (namely L8BO and Y6) that feature similar structures yet different thermal and morphological properties. The organic solar cell based on PTzBI-dF:L8BO:Y6 could achieve a promising efficiency of 18.26% in the conventional device structure. In the inverted structure, excellent long-term thermal stability over 1400 h under 85 °C continuous heating is obtained. The improved performance can be ascribed to suppressed charge recombination along with appropriate charge transport. We find that the morphological features in terms of crystalline coherence length of fresh and aged films can be gradually regulated by the weight ratio of L8BO:Y6. Additionally, the occurrence of melting point decrease and reduced enthalpy in PTzBI-dF:L8BO:Y6 films could prohibit the amorphous phase to cluster, and consequently overcome the energetic traps accumulation aroused by thermal stress, which is a critical issue in high efficiency non-fullerene acceptors-based devices. This work provides insight into understanding non-fullerene acceptors-based organic solar cells for improved efficiency and stability

Energy Level Modulation of Donor-Acceptor Alternating Random Conjugated Copolymers For Achieving High-Performance Polymer Solar Cells

Random copolymerization has been successful in synthesizing conjugated polymers for application in polymer solar cells (PSCs). However, fine energy level modulation without negatively affecting other properties such as optical, electrical, and morphological properties is challenging for random copolymers. In this work, a set of random conjugated copolymers (named P2TBT-BT, P2TBX-BT, P2TBT-BX, and P2TBX-BX) with minor structural changes have been synthesized by replacing the difluorobenzo[2,1,3]thiadiazole (BT) unit with its difluorobenzoxadiazole (BX) analog. The four random conjugated copolymers show desirable similarities in optical, charge transport, and morphological properties, but gradually down-shifted highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) levels (P2TBT-BT \u3e P2TBX-BT \u3e P2TBT-BX \u3e P2TBX-BX). When blended with a fullerene-based acceptor ([70]PCBM), a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.8% was achieved by P2TBT-BT benefitting from the well matched energy level alignment between the polymer donor and fullerene acceptor. This work provides a strategy for energy level modulation of random conjugated copolymers without negatively affecting other properties. Besides, we found that high energetic order can be obtained for random conjugated polymers. These results will provide inspiration for the rational design of new random conjugated copolymers for high-performance PSCs