Ternary Blend Organic Photovoltaics with High Efficiency and Stability Through Energy Transfer and Molecular Packing Induced by an A-D-A Small Molecule.

A novel A-D-A type small molecule (DTP-2EH-IO2Cl) incorporating dithiophenepyrrole (DTP) core with indene-dione (IO2Cl) side chain with an intermediate band gap and rigid structure is incorporated into polymer donor PM6 and one of the three A-DA'D-A small molecule acceptor-L8-BO, BTP-eC9 or Y6-for ternary-blend organic photovoltaics (OPVs). The third component DTP-2EH-IO2Cl induces not only energy transfer but also stronger molecular packing of the acceptors, resulting in a larger coherence length and enhanced absorption that enhances devices' power conversion efficiencies (PCE) and thermal stability. The PCE values of the champion ternary-blend devices PM6:L8-BO, PM6:BTP-eC9, and PM6:Y6 incorporating DTP-2EH-IO2Cl are 19.

Predictions of Lattice Parameters in NiTi High-Entropy Shape-Memory Alloys Using Different Machine Learning Models.

This work applied three machine learning (ML) models-linear regression (LR), random forest (RF), and support vector regression (SVR)-to predict the lattice parameters of the monoclinic B19' phase in two distinct training datasets: previously published ZrO-based shape-memory ceramics (SMCs) and NiTi-based high-entropy shape-memory alloys (HESMAs). Our findings showed that LR provided the most accurate predictions for a, a, b, and c in NiTi-based HESMAs, while RF excelled in computing β for both datasets. SVR disclosed the largest deviation between the predicted and actual values of lattice parameters for both training datasets.

Formation and mechanics of fire ant rafts as an active self-healing membrane.

The unique ability of fire ants to form a raft to survive flooding rain has enchanted biologists as well as researchers in other disciplines. It was established during the last decade that a three-dimensional aggregation of fire ants exhibits viscoelasticity with respect to external compression and shearing among numerous unusual mechanical properties. Continuing these works, we will study the ant raft in its natural form, i.

Stability-limiting heterointerfaces of perovskite photovoltaics.

Optoelectronic devices consist of heterointerfaces formed between dissimilar semiconducting materials. The relative energy-level alignment between contacting semiconductors determinately affects the heterointerface charge injection and extraction dynamics. For perovskite solar cells (PSCs), the heterointerface between the top perovskite surface and a charge-transporting material is often treated for defect passivation to improve the PSC stability and performance.

High-Performance Organic Solar Cells Featuring Double Bulk Heterojunction Structures with Vertical-Gradient Selenium Heterocyclic Nonfullerene Acceptor Concentrations.

In this study, we prepared organic photovoltaics (OPVs) featuring an active layer comprising double bulk heterojunction (BHJ) structures, featuring binary blends of a polymer donor and concentration gradients of two small-molecule acceptors. After forming the first BHJ structure by spin-coating, the second BHJ layer was transfer-printed onto the first using polydimethylsiloxane stamps. A specially designed selenium heterocyclic small-molecule acceptor (Y6-Se-4Cl) was employed as the second acceptor in the BHJ.

High-Performance Organic Photovoltaics Incorporating an Active Layer with a Few Nanometer-Thick Third-Component Layer on a Binary Blend Layer.

In this paper, a universal approach toward constructing a new bilayer device architecture, a few-nanometer-thick third-component layer on a bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) binary blend layer, has been demonstrated in two different state-of-the-art organic photovoltaic (OPV) systems. Through a careful selection of a third component, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the device based on PM6/Y6/layered PTQ10 layered third-component structure was 16.8%, being higher than those of corresponding devices incorporating the PM6/Y6/PTQ10 BHJ ternary blend (16.

Incorporating Indium Selenide Nanosheets into a Polymer/Small Molecule Binary Blend Active Layer Enhances the Long-Term Stability and Performance of Its Organic Photovoltaics.

In this report, we demonstrated that the incorporation of 15 wt % two-dimensional transition-metal dichalcogenide materials indium selenide (InSe) nanosheets into a polymer (PM6)/small molecule (Y6) active layer not only increased its light absorption but also enhanced the long-term stability of the PM6/Y6/InSe ternary blend organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the device was improved from 15.7 to 16.

Transparent Hole-Transporting Frameworks: A Unique Strategy to Design High-Performance Semitransparent Organic Photovoltaics.

Thanks to the nature of molecular orbitals, the absorption spectra of organic semiconductors are not continuous like those in traditional inorganic semiconductors, which offers a unique application of organic photovoltaics (OPVs): semitransparent OPVs. Recently, the exciting progress of materials design has promoted the development of semitransparent OPVs. However, in the perspective of device engineering, almost all reported works reduce the thickness of back/reflected electrode to obtain high average visible transmittance (AVT), which is a trade-off between power conversion efficiency (PCE) and the transmittance of the whole solar spectrum (visible and infrared), and therefore limit the further development.

Enabling High-Performance Tandem Organic Photovoltaic Cells by Balancing the Front and Rear Subcells.

In tandem organic photovoltaics, the front subcell is based on large-bandgap materials, whereas the case of the rear subcell is more complicated. The rear subcell is generally composed of a narrow-bandgap acceptor for infrared absorption but a large-bandgap donor to realize a high open-circuit voltage. Unfortunately, most of the ultraviolet-visible part of the photons are absorbed by the front subcell; as a result, in the rear subcell, the number of excitons generated on large-bandgap donors will be reduced significantly.

The combined inhibition of the CaMKIIδ and calcineurin signaling cascade attenuates IGF-IIR-induced cardiac hypertrophy.

Cardiac hypertrophy is a common phenomenon observed in progressive heart disease associated with heart failure. Insulin-like growth factor receptor II (IGF-IIR) has been much implicated in myocardial hypertrophy. Our previous studies have found that increased activities of signaling mediators, such as calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) and calcineurin induces pathological hypertrophy.

Realizing Efficient Charge/Energy Transfer and Charge Extraction in Fullerene-Free Organic Photovoltaics via a Versatile Third Component.

Solution-processed organic photovoltaics (OPVs) based on bulk-heterojunctions have gained significant attention to alleviate the increasing demend of fossil fuel in the past two decades. OPVs combined of a wide bandgap polymer donor and a narrow bandgap nonfullerene acceptor show potential to achieve high performance. However, there are still two reasons to limit the OPVs performance.

Synthesis of 2-Alkenyl-2H-indazoles from 2-(2-Carbonylmethyl)-2H-indazoles.

A procedure has been developed for synthesis of 2-alkenyl-2H-indazoles starting from 2-(2-carbonylmethyl)-2H-indazoles, which are prepared by gallium/aluminium- and aluminium-mediated, direct, regioselective alkylation of indazoles with α-bromocarbonyl compounds. The structure of 3-(2H-indazol-2-yl)-2H-chromen-2-one was proven by X-ray crystallography. The styrene- and coumarin-2H-indazoles produced by using the new method were found to have interesting fluorescence properties.

Synthesis of hexahydro-1H-isoindole derivatives from arylacyl bromides via homoallenic bromohydrins.

A procedure has been developed for the concise synthesis of hexahydro-1H-isoindole derivatives starting from phenacyl bromides. The approach employs a sequence involving an initial indium-mediated allenylation reaction of an arylacyl bromide with propargyl bromide. This process is followed by FeBr3-mediated SN2'-type substitution reaction of the formed homoallenic bromohydrin to produce a 2,5-dibromo-4-aryl-1,3-pentadiene, which then is subjected to a sequential, one-pot N-alkylation reaction with N-allyl-N-(p-tosyl)amine and a highly diastereoselective intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction of the formed ene-diene to generate the target hexahydro-1H-isoindole.

Preconditioning renoprotective effect of isoflurane in a rat model of virtual renal transplant.

Background: The development of warm-cold ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury of the kidney grafts is inevitable during renal transplantation. However, there is currently no definite renoprotective strategy available in the protection of the graft tissue. In the present study, we compared the renal protection of preconditioning isoflurane with N-acetylcysteine (NAC) in a novel rat model of warm-cold renal IR injury.

The Drosophila GOLPH3 homolog regulates the biosynthesis of heparan sulfate proteoglycans by modulating the retrograde trafficking of exostosins.

The exostosin (EXT) genes encode glycosyltransferases required for glycosaminoglycan chain polymerization in the biosynthesis of heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs). Mutations in the tumor suppressor genes EXT1 and EXT2 disturb HSPG biosynthesis and cause multiple osteochondroma (MO). How EXT1 and EXT2 traffic within the Golgi complex is not clear.

Outdoor scene image segmentation based on background recognition and perceptual organization.

In this paper, we propose a novel outdoor scene image segmentation algorithm based on background recognition and perceptual organization. We recognize the background objects such as the sky, the ground, and vegetation based on the color and texture information. For the structurally challenging objects, which usually consist of multiple constituent parts, we developed a perceptual organization model that can capture the nonaccidental structural relationships among the constituent parts of the structured objects and, hence, group them together accordingly without depending on a priori knowledge of the specific objects.

Can you see me now? Sensor positioning for automated and persistent surveillance.

Most existing camera placement algorithms focus on coverage and/or visibility analysis, which ensures that the object of interest is visible in the camera's field of view (FOV). However, visibility, which is a fundamental requirement of object tracking, is insufficient for automated persistent surveillance. In such applications, a continuous consistently labeled trajectory of the same object should be maintained across different camera views.