Despite the ubiquity and importance of organic hole-transport materials in photovoltaic devices, their intrinsic low conductivity remains a drawback. Thus, chemical doping is an indispensable ...solution to this drawback and is essentially always required. The most widely used p-type dopant, FK209, is a cobalt coordination complex. By reducing Co(III) to Co(II), Spiro-OMeTAD becomes partially oxidized, and the film conductivity is initially increased. In order to further increase the conductivity, the hygroscopic co-dopant LiTFSI is typically needed. However, lithium salts are normally quite hygroscopic, and thus, water absorption has been suggested as a significant reason for perovskite degradation and therefore limited device stability. In this work, we report a LiTFSI-free doping process by applying organic salts in relatively high amounts. The film conductivity and morphology have been studied at different doping amounts. The resulting solar cell devices show comparable power conversion efficiencies to those based on conventional LiTFSI-doped Spiro-OMeTAD but show considerably better long-term device stability in an ambient atmosphere.
Ketogenic diet (KD) has been proposed to be an effective lifestyle intervention in metabolic syndrome. However, the effects of KD on cardiac remodeling have not been investigated. Our aim was to ...investigate the effects and the underling mechanisms of KD on cardiac remodeling in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs).
10-week-old spontaneously hypertensive rats were subjected to normal diet or ketogenic diet for 4 weeks. Then, their blood pressure and cardiac remodeling were assessed. Cardiac fibroblasts were isolated from 1- to 3-day-old neonatal pups. The cells were then cultured with ketone body with or without TGF-β to investigate the mechanism in vitro
4 weeks of KD feeding aggravated interstitial fibrosis and cardiac remodeling in SHRs. More interestingly, ketogenic diet feeding increased the activity of mammalian target of rapamyoin (mTOR) complex 2 pathway in the heart of SHRs. In addition, β-hydroxybutyrate strengthened the progression of TGF-β-induced fibrosis in isolated cardiac fibroblasts. mTOR inhibition reversed this effect, indicating that ketone body contributes to cardiac fibroblasts via mTOR pathway.
These data suggest that ketogenic diet may lead to adverse effects on the remodeling in the hypertensive heart, and they underscore the necessity to fully evaluate its reliability before clinical use.
Nowadays, various harmful indoor pollutants especially including bacteria and residual formaldehyde (HCHO) seriously threaten human health and reduce the quality of public life. Herein, a universal ...substrate-independence finishing approach for efficiently solving these hybrid indoor threats is demonstrated, in which amine-quinone network (AQN) was employed as reduction agent to guide in-situ growth of Ag@MnO2 particles, and also acted as an adhesion interlayer to firmly anchor nanoparticles onto diverse textiles, especially for cotton fabrics. In contrast with traditional hydrothermal or calcine methods, the highly reactive AQN ensures the efficient generation of functional nanoparticles under mild conditions without any additional catalysts. During the AQN-guided reduction, the doping of Ag atoms onto cellulose fiber surface optimized the crystallinity and oxygen vacancy of MnO2, providing cotton efficient antibacterial efficiency over 90 % after 30 min of contact, companying with encouraging UV-shielding and indoor HCHO purification properties. Besides, even after 30 cycles of standard washing, the Ag@MnO2-decorated textiles can effectively degrade HCHO while well-maintaining their inherent properties. In summary, the presented AQN-mediated strategy of efficiently guiding the deposition of functional particles on fibers has broad application prospects in the green and sustainable functionalization of textiles.
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•Cationic modification promotes the deposition of electroactive MXene@GA on textile.•Washable electrically conductive textile is fabricated via cross-linking assisted with ...borax.•Breathability, moisture permeability and softness are well remained as that of the original fabric.•Textile has excellent Joule heating and solar heating, and superior antibacterial performances.
Achieving multifunctional integration with comfortability and durability comparable to conventional textiles is one of the ultimate pursuits of personal protective wearables. Herein, a multi-protective textile with breathable, moisture-permeable and washable properties is reported, which is realized by cross-linking of electroactive MXene@gallic acid (MG) with the cationized cotton. Cationic modification reduces the charge repulsion between MG and cotton fibers, and promotes the deposition of conductive media on textile surface. After borax (STB) cross-linking, the obtained textile exhibits superior service stability and can be subjected to conventional washing, exhibiting antioxidant stability during natural storage. Importantly, the cross-linked textile inherits the properties of good breathability, softness and bendability as the original fabric. With the outstanding conductivity (260 mS/cm) and high absorptivity of the solar spectrum (0.920), the textile was used for Joule heating and solar heating, demonstrating their potential in the field of thermal management. Meanwhile, the textile demonstrates excellent antibacterial activity against Gram-negative Escherichia coli and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus, and maintained satisfactory antibacterial effect (>90 %) even after ten washing cycles. This facile strategy for fabricating personal protective textiles, based on cross-linking cotton fiber with electroactive mediators offers favorable durability, comfortability and multifunctionality, providing a scalable and sustainable approach for manufacturing multi-protective wearables.
The microstructural evolutions and properties variations of a CuCrZrY alloy processed by equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) with different passes were studied systematically. After 4 passes of ...ECAP, the average grain size was decreased to 500 nm, and the grain size distribution became more uniform during the subsequent processing. After 8 passes ECAP-ed and aged at 400 °C for 7 h, the samples’ tensile strength and electrical conductivity are 560 MPa and 86.4%IACS. The main strengthening mechanisms are precipitation strengthening, low-angle grain boundary strengthening, and high-angle grain boundary strengthening (about 82% in total). Finite element simulation was carried out through ABAQUS to obtain the equivalent strain distribution diagram of ECAP, resulting in that the strain force of the outer region was less than that of the inner one. The inconsistency of deformation leads to the inhomogeneity of microstructure. These findings will effectively guide researchers to develop high-strength high-electrical conductivity copper alloys.
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•The properties and microstructural evolution of a CuCrZrY alloy after ECAP for different passes were studied systematically.•The main strengthening mechanisms are precipitation strengthening, low-angle grain boundary strengthening and precipitation strengthening.•The CuCrZrY alloy after ECAP showed excellent tensile strength and electrical conductivity.•The strain force of the outer region was less than that of the inner region, and the inconsistency of deformation leads to microstructure inhomogeneity.
With the increasing need of clean energy demand, the development of efficient and green electrocatalysts for water electrolysis plays an irreplaceable role in the realization of large-scale ...production of hydrogen. Herein, an original iron modulated heterogeneous VN/V3O4/Co5·47N nanoparticles (FVOCN) is successfully synthesized using hydrothermal technique and in situ pyrolysis protocol. Through a series of characterization, it is found that the addition of iron in VN/V3O4/Co5·47N (VOCN) can significantly regulate the electronic structure and make it have better electrochemical oxygen evolution activity in 1 M KOH solution as opposed to the VOCN. The catalyst is obtained at the sintering temperature of 600 °C has the best performance, which only requires a lower overpotential of 270 mV to attain the current density of 10 mA cm−2 and superior to commercial IrO2. The method of introducing iron into vanadium-based, cobalt-based nitrides and vanadium-based oxides can broaden the research content of new electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts and provide a reference idea for the development of energy industry.
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•Iron-doped VN/V3O4/Co5·47N nanoparticles were synthesized via coprecipitation, hydrothermal and partial nitriding methods.•FVOCN-600 has a rich heterogeneous interface, which can provide more active sites and accelerate the transfer between electrons.•FVOCN-600 shows excellent performance and stability for OER in alkaline media.
Polystyrene sulfonic acid is widely utilized as an effective template for synthesis of poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), but the bonding fastness between PEDOT and textiles is ...unsatisfactory, which easily leads to poor conductivity. In this study, a linear template of dextran sulfate (DS) was covalently grafted onto silk fibers (SF), followed by in-situ deposition of PEDOT onto the silk fabrics, aiming at constructing a functional silk fabric with rapid photothermal antibacterial ability and durable flexible sensing performance. Impressively, the composite fabric of SF-g-DS/PEDOT exhibits excellent photothermal conversion performance and can rise to 80 °C within 1 min of irradiation with the light intensity of 100 mW/cm2, and can kill 99.99% of Escherichia coli (E. coli) on the fabric surface. Benefited from the strong interaction forces between the conductive polymer and silk fibers, the SF-g-DS/PEDOT fabric can still reach 75 °C after 15 times of washing, and achieves a 99.4% bactericidal rate against E. coli. In a relatively weak winter sunlight, the surface temperature of SF-g-DS/PEDOT can also be raised to 45 °C to keep the human body warm. Meanwhile, the excellent conductivity of the deposited PEDOT endows the composite with antistatic performance, accurate flexible strain and respiratory sensing behaviors, companying with encouraging UV resistance. The present work provides a feasible alternative for development of photothermal antibacterial, lightweight warm clothing and smart wearable textiles.
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•Dextran sulfate (DS) promotes the efficient deposition of poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) on the textiles.•The covalently-grafted DS on fiber surface improves the deposition fastness, compactness and uniformity of PEDOT.•The composite textile realizes efficient photothermal sterilization, UV protection and outdoor warmth preservation.•The PEDOT-deposited textiles have the smart abilities of monitoring human motion state and breathing state.
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•Bifunctional PEG endows SF aerogel with flexibility and structural stability.•cPEG promotes pyrrole binding onto SF scaffold and PPy deposition.•Flexible and conductive SF aerogel ...exhibits potential as a pressure sensor.
Silk fibroin (SF) has excellent biocompatibility and can be regenerated to obtain diverse materials. However, high brittleness and poor elasticity limit its applications in flexible devices, mainly due to high amounts of β-sheet structures in SF. Herein, a flexible SF aerogel is prepared by coupling polyethylene glycol (PEG) containing double-carboxyl end group with fibroin chains. This is followed by ammonium persulfate (APS)-initiated deposition of polypyrrole (PPy) units onto the scaffold. The bifunctional PEG not only improves the elasticity of SF aerogel, but it also promotes the accumulation of pyrrole cations on the fibroin surface and guides the formation of PPy. Meanwhile, PPy distributed in the SF matrix forms an electrically conductive pathway with an encouraging static conductivity, which is responsive to environmental humidity and external pressure. The sensitivity of the prepared SF-based conductive aerogel as a pressure sensor is much better than those reported in literature. Meanwhile, the stress and resistance show good synchronization during cyclic compressions. The present work provides a promising alternative for the fabrication of fibroin-based flexible and conductive aerogels as highly sensitive pressure sensors.
Cobalt–oxo cubane clusters were immobilized on a Nafion film-coated fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) electrode and an α-Fe2O3 photoanode as surface catalysts for water oxidation. The performance of ...electrochemical water splitting indicated that these earth-abundant metal complexes retain their homogeneous reactivity on the electrode. Furthermore, efficient visible light-driven water oxidation was realized by coupling a molecular electrocatalyst with an inorganic semiconductor as a noble metal-free photoanode, showing a stability significantly improved with respect to that of the homogeneous system.
The dominant active slip systems during plastic deformation of an extruded Mg-4.5Zn (wt.%) alloy with and without β1′ precipitates were investigated by means of advanced electron back-scattered ...diffraction techniques and transmission electron microscopy. Planar slip traces were found in 92% of the grains with slip traces in the sample without precipitates and, among them, the primary active slip systems were basal slip and pyramidal II <c + a> slip. However, non-planar slip traces were observed in 76% of the grains with slip traces in the sample with precipitates, and among them, prismatic slip exhibited the highest activity, followed by pyramidal II <c + a> slip. The change in the dominant active slip systems with precipitation was attributed to the strong hardening induced by β1′ precipitates on basal slip. This favoured the cross-slip of basal slip dislocations to prismatic plane and plastic deformation progressed by the glide of prismatic slip dislocations parallel to the precipitates.
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