A MICROFLUIDIC MODEL FOR THE MIGRATION OF CHONDROCYTE UNDER PULSED ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD

ABSTRACT Pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) treatment is a potentially non-invasive method for tissue engineering. In this paper, a theoretical model is established to simulate the regeneration of articular cartilage for Osteoarthritis by means of pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMF). The electrical field, flow field, single particle motion and concentration field during the growth of chondrocyte are obtained by solving the theoretical model numerically, which accounts for cell distribution in the culture dish. The induced electric field strength can be numerically obtained by Maxwell's equation and then the potential distribution by the Poisson equation and Laplace equation. The chondrocytes can be driven to move once the electric field is built up. In the calculation of the flow field, the continuity and momentum equation are applied to obtain the bulk electroosmotic velocity field which will affect the motion of the charged cell due to viscous drag forces. The motion of a single particle can be obtained by the classic Newton's second law. In addition to a single particle, the concentration distribution of particles which indicates the migration of chondrocytes can be described by the conservation law of mass. Boundary conditions are required to solve these sets of equations numerically. A comparison between model results and actual experimental data for the growth and migration of chondrocytes is performed. The results presented here allow a better understanding of the role PEMF in the treatment of Osteoarthritis

Two-Step Sequential Blade-Coating Large-Area FA-Based Perovskite Thin Film via a Controlled PbI2 Microstructure

Solar cells, which are excellent alternatives to traditional fossil fuels, can efficiently convert sunlight into electricity. The intensive development of high-performance photovoltaic materials plays an important role in environmental protection and the utilization of renewable energy. Organic??? inorganic hybrid perovskite materials, with a formula of ABX3 (A = methylammonium (MA) or formamidinium (FA); B = Pb or Sn; X = Cl, I, or Br), have exhibited remarkable commercial prospects in high-performance photovoltaic devices owing to their long carrier diffusion length, excellent light absorption properties, high charge carrier mobility, and weak exciton binding energy. Recently, perovskite solar cells, fabricated using halide perovskite materials as light-absorbing layers, have achieved remarkable results; their certified power conversion efficiency has continuously improved and reached 25.7%. However, high-performance devices are usually fabricated using spin-coating methods with active areas below 0.1 cm2. Hence, long-term research goals include achieving a large-scale uniform preparation of high-quality photoactive layers. The current one-step preparation of perovskite films involves the nucleation-crystalline growth process of perovskite. Auxiliary processes, such as using an anti-solvent, are often required to increase the nucleation rate and density of the film, which is not suitable for industrial large-area preparation. Additionally, the large-area preparation of perovskite films by spin-coating will result in different film thicknesses in the center and edge regions of the film due to an uneven centrifugal force. This will cause intense carrier recombination in the thicker area of the film and weak light absorption in the thinner area, which will reduce the performance of the device. To address these problems, the development of a large-area fabrication method for high-performance perovskite light-absorbing layers is essential. In this study, a two-step sequential blade-coating strategy was developed to prepare the FA-based perovskite layer. In general, PbI2 easily forms a dense film; therefore, formamidinium iodide (FAI) cannot deeply penetrate to completely react with PbI2. The PbI2 residue is therefore detrimental to charge transportation. To fabricate the desired porous PbI2 film, tetrahydrothiophene 1-oxide (THTO) was introduced into the PbI2 precursor solution. By forming PbI2??THTO complexes, PbI2 crystallization is controlled, resulting in the formation of vertically packed PbI2 flaky crystals. These crystals provide nanochannels for easy FAI penetration. The 5 cm ?? 5 cm modules fabricated through this strategy achieved a high efficiency of 18.65% with excellent stability. This indicates that the two-step sequential blade-coating strategy has considerable potential for scaling up the production of perovskite solar cells

Lead halide–templated crystallization of methylamine-free perovskite for efficient photovoltaic modules

Upscaling efficient and stable perovskite layers is one of the most challenging issues in the commercialization of perovskite solar cells. Here, a lead halide–templated crystallization strategy is developed for printing formamidinium (FA)–cesium (Cs) lead triiodide perovskite films. High-quality large-area films are achieved through controlled nucleation and growth of a lead halide•N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone adduct that can react in situ with embedded FAI/CsI to directly form α-phase perovskite, sidestepping the phase transformation from δ-phase. A nonencapsulated device with 23% efficiency and excellent long-term thermal stability (at 85°C) in ambient air (~80% efficiency retention after 500 hours) is achieved with further addition of potassium hexafluorophosphate. The slot die–printed minimodules achieve champion efficiencies of 20.42% (certified efficiency 19.3%) and 19.54% with an active area of 17.1 and 65.0 square centimeters, respectively

A bottom-up approach to non-ideal fluids in the lattice Boltzmann method

The Shan-Chen (SC) pseudopotential lattice Boltzmann model for multiphase fluids has been revised to incorporate the particle exclusion-volume effect. Previous attempts to simulate a non-ideal fluid with the SC model tailored the interparticle potential to obtain the desired equation of state. Such an approach lumped the contributions from the particle exclusion-volume effect and the interparticle interactions together, and undermined the excellent physical basis of the SC model. In this letter, the equilibrium distributions are modified to include the particle exclusion-volume effect, and the clear physical meaning of interparticle potential in the original SC model has been reserved. Without losing the simple mathematical formulation and unique physical representation, the revised model can easily model non-ideal fluids with various equations of state. A van der Waals fluid has also been simulated as an example to demonstrate the significance of this improvement

Relationship between Caregivers’ Smoking at Home and Urinary Levels of Cotinine in Children

Objective: To assess the impact of different smoking behaviors of caregivers on environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure in children aged 5–6 years in Changsha, China. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional, random digit-dial telephone survey of caregivers (n = 543) between August and October 2013. Caregivers’ smoking behaviors were collected by a questionnaire. Exposure assessment was based upon determination of urinary cotinine levels in children employing gas chromatography–triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). Results: In children not living with a smoker, children living with one smoker, and children living with more than one smoker at home, median urinary cotinine concentrations (ng/mL) were 0.72, 2.97, and 4.46, respectively. For children living with one smoker, median urinary cotinine levels of children exposed to ETS were associated with caregiver smoking behaviors, i.e., if a caregiver consumed more cigarettes (>20 compared with ≤10; 7.73 versus 2.29 ng/mL, respectively). Conclusions: The magnitude of ETS exposure in children is correlated with the smoking behaviors of the caregiver. Counseling for smoking cessation and educational interventions are needed urgently for smoking caregivers to increase their awareness about ETS exposure and to encourage smoking cessation at home or to take precautions to protect children’s health

Efficient and stable planar all-inorganic perovskite solar cells based on high-quality CsPbBr3 films with controllable morphology

All-inorganic cesium lead bromide (CsPbBr3) perovskite is attracting growing interest as functional materials in photovoltaics and other optoelectronic devices due to its superb stability. However, the fabrication of high-quality CsPbBr3 films still remains a big challenge by solution-process because of the low solubility of the cesium precursor in common solvents. Herein, we report a facile solution-processed approach to prepare high-quality CsPbBr perovskite films via a two-step spin-coating method, in which the CsBr methanol/H2O mixed solvent solution is spin-coated onto the lead bromide films, followed by an isopropanol-assisted post-treatment to regulate the crystallization process and to control the film morphology. In this fashion, dense and uniform CsPbBr3 films are obtained consisting of large crystalline domains with sizes up to microns and low defect density. The effectiveness of the resulting CsPbBr3 films is further examined in perovskite solar cells (PSCs) with a simplified planar architecture of fluorine-doped tin oxide/compact TiO2/CsPbBr3/carbon, which deliver a maximum power conversion efficiency of 8.11% together with excellent thermal and humidity stability. The present work offers a simple and effective strategy in fabrication of high-quality CsPbBr3 films for efficient and stable PSCs as well as other optoelectronic devices. (C) 2019 Science Press and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese AcademyofSciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. and Science Press. All rights reserved