Transparent conductive electrodes, as transmission windows of photons and electrons, play important roles in high‐performance organic optoelectronic devices. The replacement of widely used indium tin ...oxide (ITO) electrodes has been attempted due to the increasing cost and intrinsically brittle characteristics of ITO. Ultrathin metal films, with excellent optoelectrical features, high flexibility, and sufficient mechanical stability, have been considered a potential candidate for the use as transparent conductive electrodes. However, ultrathin metal films follow the Volmer–Weber mechanism, resulting in a rough and discontinuous morphology with poor optoelectrical properties due to the bad adhesion to substrates. This review summarizes the progress in strategies for preparing ultrathin and ultrasmooth metal films with superior transmittance and conductivity by successfully suppressing the Volmer–Weber mechanism. The electrical and optical performances of the ultrathin metal films based on improved nucleation processes, as well as applications in ITO‐free organic optoelectronic devices, are also described and discussed in detail.
The development of ultrathin metal films with improved metal nucleation processes based on various strategies is summarized in this review. The great progress in the properties of ultrathin metal films as well as their application in indium tin oxide (ITO)‐free organic optoelectronic devices as transparent conductive electrodes are described.
The additions of straw and biochar have been suggested to increase soil fertility, carbon sequestration, and crop produc- tivity of agricultural lands. To our knowledge, there is little information ...on the effects of straw and biochar addition on soil nitrogen form, carbon storage, and super rice yield in cold waterlogged paddy soils. We performed field trials with four treatments including conventional fertilization system （CK）, straw amendment 6 t ha^-1 （S）, biochar amendment 2 t ha^-1 （C1）, and biochar amendment 40 t ha^-1 （C2）. The super japonica rice variety, Shennong 265, was selected as the test Crop. The results showed that the straw and biochar amendments improved total nitrogen and organic carbon content of the soil, reduced N2O emissions, and had little influence on nitrogen retention, nitrogen density, and CO2 emissions. The S and C1 increased NH4^＋-N content, and C2 increased NO3^--N content. Both S and C1 had little influence on soil organic carbon density （SOCD） and C/N ratio. However, C2 greatly increased SOCD and C/N ratio. C1 and C2 significantly improved the soil carbon sequestration （SCS） by 62.9 and 214.0% （P〈0.05）, respectively, while S had no influence on SCS. C1 and C2 maintained the stability of super rice yield, and significantly reduced CH4 emissions, global warming potential （GWP）, and greenhouse gas intensity （GHGI）, whereas S had the opposite and negative effects. In summary, the biochar amendments in cold waterlogged paddy soils of North China increased soil nitrogen and carbon content, improved soil carbon sequestration, and reduced GHG emission without affecting the yield of super rice.
The ever-growing demand for advanced battery technologies with high energy and power density, high security, prolonged cycle life, and sustainably low cost requires the development of novel electrode ...materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), as well as the alternative electrochemical energy storage technologies of sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) and potassium-ion batteries (PIBs) for their abundant alkali metal elements resources. Among various anode materials, such as graphite, organic compounds, metal oxides, and chalcogenides, iron sulfides have attracted substantial interests for their high theoretical capacity and low price. Specifically, as a common mineral that has been already applied as electrode for primary battery, ferrous disulfide (FeS
2
) has been regarded as one of the promising candidate anode materials and studied widely. Unfortunately, there are some inherent problems handicapping its practical application for alkali-ion batteries, including limited ionic/electrical conductivity, the formation of soluble polysulfides, and large volume change. In the last decade, massive efforts have been devoted to solving those problems. In this review, the various synthesis strategies, the effect of morphologies and particle sizes, the energy storage mechanisms, and the electrochemical performances of FeS
2
as anode for alkali-ion batteries (LIBs, SIBs, and PIBs) are summarized. Furthermore, the existing challenges and prospects of the development of FeS
2
-based anode materials for alkali-ion batteries are presented at last.
Graphic abstract
In this review, the various synthesis strategies, the effect of morphologies and particle sizes, the energy storage mechanisms, and the electrochemical performances of FeS
2
as anode for alkali-ion batteries are summarized. Furthermore, the existing challenges and prospects of the development of FeS
2
-based anode materials are also presented.
Single-atom catalysts (SACs) have obtained a great deal of attention in many catalytic fields due to the high atom utilization efficiency and high catalytic activity. Recently, great achievements on ...SACs have been made for thermocatalysis, electrocatalysis, and photocatalysis which play an important role in obtaining value-added products. However, it remains a great challenge to fabricate SACs with high metal loading and investigate their reaction mechanisms. Therefore, it is necessary to highlight the recent development of SACs in these fields to guide future research. In this review, we overviewed the thermocatalysis applications of SACs in CO oxidation, preferential oxidation of CO, water-gas shift reaction, methane conversion, methanol steam reforming, aqueous-phase reforming of methanol, hydrogenation of alkynes and dienes, hydrogenation of CO, and hydrogenation of substituted nitroarenes. Moreover, the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), CO
2
reduction reaction (CO
2
RR), and N
2
reduction reaction (N
2
RR) for photocatalytic and electrocatalytic fields were also overviewed. Lastly, the opportunities and challenges of SACs were pointed out.
To evaluate the prognostic effects of combining serum circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC-Ag) levels on patients with locally advanced cervical cancer treated with ...radiotherapy.
Ninety-nine patients with locally advanced cervical cancer (FIGO stage IIB-IVA) undergoing radiotherapy (RT) or concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) were identified. The association between serum CTC level and clinicopathological parameters was examined. Univariate and multivariate survival analyses were performed by using Cox's proportional hazards regression model.
Elevated CTC and SCC-Ag levels were significantly associated with poor disease-free survival (DFS). Multivariate analysis suggest that serum CTC level, FIGO stage and serum SCC-Ag level were independent prognostic factors for two-year DFS. When CTC and SCC-Ag levels were combined into a new risk model to predict disease progression of cervical cancer patients, it performed a significantly better predictive efficiency compared with either biomarker alone.
Serum CTC and SCC-Ag levels are potentially useful biomarkers for prediction of prognosis in locally advanced cervical cancer patients and their combination significantly improves predictive ability for survival in locally advanced cervical cancer patients.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with high incidence of cardiovascular events but the mechanism remains elusive. Our previous study reveals a tight correlation between cardiac dysfunction and ...low mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2) activity in elderly AD patients. In the present study we investigated the effect of ALDH2 overexpression on cardiac function in APP/PS1 mouse model of AD. Global ALDH2 transgenic mice were crossed with APP/PS1 mutant mice to generate the ALDH2-APP/PS1 mutant mice. Cognitive function, cardiac contractile, and morphological properties were assessed. We showed that APP/PS1 mice displayed significant cognitive deficit in Morris water maze test, myocardial ultrastructural, geometric (cardiac atrophy, interstitial fibrosis) and functional (reduced fractional shortening and cardiomyocyte contraction) anomalies along with oxidative stress, apoptosis, and inflammation in myocardium. ALDH2 transgene significantly attenuated or mitigated these anomalies. We also noted the markedly elevated levels of lipid peroxidation, the essential lipid peroxidation enzyme acyl-CoA synthetase long-chain family member 4 (ACSL4), the transcriptional regulator for ACLS4 special protein 1 (SP1) and ferroptosis, evidenced by elevated NCOA4, decreased GPx4, and SLC7A11 in myocardium of APP/PS1 mutant mice; these effects were nullified by ALDH2 transgene. In cardiomyocytes isolated from WT mice and in H9C2 myoblasts in vitro, application of Aβ (20 μM) decreased cell survival, compromised cardiomyocyte contractile function, and induced lipid peroxidation; ALDH2 transgene or activator Alda-1 rescued Aβ-induced deteriorating effects. ALDH2-induced protection against Aβ-induced lipid peroxidation was mimicked by the SP1 inhibitor tolfenamic acid (TA) or the ACSL4 inhibitor triacsin C (TC), and mitigated by the lipid peroxidation inducer 5-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (5-HETE) or the ferroptosis inducer erastin. These results demonstrate an essential role for ALDH2 in AD-induced cardiac anomalies through regulation of lipid peroxidation and ferroptosis.
•CCRT significantly improved the survival benefits for the older patients with stage II NPC compared with IMRT alone.•Patients in the CCRT group experienced higher frequencies of some of the acute ...toxicities than patients in the RT group.•Late complications were comparable between the CCRT and RT groups.
Whether concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) benefits the older (age ≥ 60 years) patients with stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) has not been determined. This study aimed to compare the outcomes and toxicities of CCRT with Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT) alone in older patients with stage II NPC.
Between January 2010 and December 2017, 220 older (age ≥ 60 years) patients with stage II NPC were analyzed. A pair of 53 patients were matched between the CCRT group and RT group by using propensity score matching (PSM) in terms of age, sex, pathological type, T and N stage, ACE-27 scores, CRP, LDH and Hb. Cancer-specific survival (CSS), progression-free survival (PFS), locoregional relapse-free survival (LRRFS) and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) were analysed by the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test. Multivariate analysis was performed to assess the prognostic risk factors by using a Cox’s proportional hazards regression model. Treatment toxicities were clarified and compared between the two groups by using the χ2 test.
The median follow-up time of the whole cohort was 82.0 months (range, 11–151 months). PSM analysis indicated that compared with the RT group, significantly higher 5-year CSS (98.1 % vs. 83.0 %, P = 0.02), PFS (98.1 % vs. 79.2 %, P = 0.01) and DMFS (100.0 % vs. 92.4 %, P = 0.04) were observed in the CCRT group. Multivariate analysis showed that CCRT was an independent prognostic factor predicting CSS (HR, 0.34; 95 % CI, 0.15–0.79; P = 0.01), PFS (HR, 0.48; 95 % CI, 0.25–0.93; P = 0.03), and LRRFS (HR, 0.36; 95 % CI, 0.14–0.90; P = 0.03), and a higher ACE-27 score predicted a worse CSS. Patients in the CCRT group experienced higher frequencies of the acute toxicities than patients in the RT group. Late complications were comparable between the two groups.
CCRT significantly improved the survival benefits for the older patients with stage II NPC compared with IMRT alone without adding late complications, whereas increased some of the treatment-associated acute toxicities.
Harvesting light by metallic structures with sharp corners, or the so-called photonic singularities, has exhibit their potential in nanophotonics, sensing, and bio-medical applications. The ...high-quality light confinement of the light energy mainly relies on the precise preparation of nanoscale photonic singularities. However, the realization of massive photonic singularities still meets the challenges on integration and low-cost mask multiplexing. Here, we show an angle-dependent elevated nanosphere lithography to achieve massive photonic singularities for spatially modulated light harvesting at the near-infrared regime. The photonic geometrical singularity is constructed by the gold crescent array of plasmonic materials. The numerical simulation shows that the light can be localized at the spatially distributed singularities. This phenomenon is verified experimentally through the infrared spectral measurement. Our work provides the possibility to produce integrated light-harvesting devices for numerous optical applications in illumination, display, and enhanced nonlinear excitation.
2D/3D perovskite heterostructures show great potential to boost efficiency and stability of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Here, a solvent-free transfer-imprinting-assisted growth (TIAG) method is ...employed to in situ grow 2D/3D perovskite heterojunctions. The solid-state transfer of spacer cation by the TIAG process enables a spatially confined growth of the 2D perovskite interlayer with uniform morphology between the 3D perovskites and charge transport layer. Meanwhile, the pressure associated with the TIAG process promotes the crystalline orientation, which is beneficial to carrier transport. As a result, the inverted PSC achieved a PCE of 23.09% (with certified 22.93%) and maintained 90% of their initial PCE after aging at 85 °C for 1200 h or operating for 1100 h under continuous AM 1.5 illumination. Flexible inverted PSCs achieved a PCE of 21.14% with mechanical robustness by maintaining above 80% of their initial PCE after 10000 bending cycles under a 3 mm bending radius.
To design and evaluate the accuracy of a novel navigation template suitable for posterior cervical screw placement surgery by using 3D printing technology to improve the existing guiding template ...design.
The researchers (including spine surgeons and technicians) used CT to perform thin-slice scanning on 12 cases of normal upper cervical vertebral specimens and defined the screw channels that were completely located in the pedicle without penetrating the cortex as ideal screw channels, then designed the ideal channel of the upper cervical vertebral (atlantoaxial) pedicle screw by computer software which was regarded as the preset values, and recorded the screw entrance point, transverse angle and sagittal angle of the ideal channel. Then, researchers designed the novel navigation templates for placement pedicle screw according to the ideal screw channel preset values and manufactured them with one for every single vertebra by 3D printer. A senior spine surgeon performed the posterior surgery to implant pedicle screw on the specimens by the novel navigation templates, then performed CT thin-slice scanning on the specimens again after removing the screws, and reconstructed the actual screws channel by computer software, recorded the screw entrance point, transverse angle and sagittal angle of the actual channels which were defined as the actual values and evaluated them according to Kawaguchi's pedicle screw evaluation standard finally. The differences between the preoperative preset values of ideal screw channel and the postoperative actual values of actual screw channel were compared by a nonparametric paired rank test.
48 screws were placed on 12 cases of upper cervical vertebral specimens in total. It showed that the grade 0, I, II, III channels in this study were 47, 1, 0, 0, respectively. The grade 0 channels accounted for 97.92% of the total number of channels. There was no significant difference with regard to the screw entrance point, the transverse angle, and the sagittal angle between the preoperative preset values of ideal screw channels and the postoperative actual values of actual screw channels.
To implant pedicle screw assisted with the novel individually navigation template designed by 3D printed in the posterior cervical surgery can improve accuracy of pedicle screw placement and safety of the surgery.
PDF
