Lead halide perovskites are considered to be most promising photovoltaic materials. Highest efficiency and improved stability of perovskite solar cells have been achieved by using cation and anion ...mixtures. Experimental information on electronic and ionic charge carriers is key to evaluate device performance, as well as processes of photo‐decomposition and photo‐demixing which are observed in these materials. Here, we measure ionic and electronic transport properties and investigate various cation and anion substitutions with a special eye on their photo‐ionic effect, following our previous study on CH3NH3PbI3, where we found that light enhances not only electronic but also ionic conductivities. We find that this phenomenon is very sensitive to the nature of the halide, while the cationic substitutions are less relevant. Based on the observation that the ionic conductivity enhancement found for iodide perovskites is significantly weakened by bromide substitution, we provide a chemical rationale for the photo‐demixing in mixed halide compositions.
The photo‐effect on ion conduction in mixed cation and halide perovskites is studied. Unlike A‐site substitution, anion replacement is of great influence. In I‐Br mixtures the differences in hole localization and defect formation favor (reversible) photo‐demixing (the situation in the right part is simplified as the interstitial neutral iodine is further stabilized by ionic rearrangement, and the hole in the bromide is delocalized over several regular anions).
The distribution and abundance of immune cells, particularly T‐cell subsets, play pivotal roles in cancer immunology and therapy. T cells have many subsets with specific function and current methods ...are limited in estimating them, thus, a method for predicting comprehensive T‐cell subsets is urgently needed in cancer immunology research. Here, Immune Cell Abundance Identifier (ImmuCellAI), a gene set signature‐based method, is introduced for precisely estimating the abundance of 24 immune cell types including 18 T‐cell subsets, from gene expression data. Performance evaluation on both the sequencing data with flow cytometry results and public expression data indicate that ImmuCellAI can estimate the abundance of immune cells with superior accuracy to other methods especially on many T‐cell subsets. Application of ImmuCellAI to immunotherapy datasets reveals that the abundance of dendritic cells, cytotoxic T, and gamma delta T cells is significantly higher both in comparisons of on‐treatment versus pre‐treatment and responders versus non‐responders. Meanwhile, an ImmuCellAI result‐based model is built for predicting the immunotherapy response with high accuracy (area under curve 0.80–0.91). These results demonstrate the powerful and unique function of ImmuCellAI in tumor immune infiltration estimation and immunotherapy response prediction.
Immune Cell Abundance Identifier (ImmuCellAI) is a gene set signature‐based method for precisely estimating the abundance of 24 immune cell types including 18 T‐cell subsets. Application of ImmuCellAI to immunotherapy datasets reveals the dynamic change of immune cell abundance. An ImmuCellAI result‐based model for predicting the immunotherapy response achieves high accuracy with area under curve 0.80–0.91.
The key issue holding back the application of solid polymeric electrolytes in high‐energy density lithium metal batteries is the contradictory requirements of high ion conductivity and mechanical ...stability. In this work, self‐healable solid polymeric electrolytes (SHSPEs) with rigid‐flexible backbones and high ion conductivity are synthesized by a facile condensation polymerization approach. The all‐solid Li metal full batteries based on the SHSPEs possess freely bending flexibility and stable cycling performance as a result of the more disciplined metal Li plating/stripping, which have great implications as long‐lifespan energy sources compatible with other wearable devices.
Solid but flexible: A self‐healing solid polymer electrolyte (featuring fast self‐healing within 60 s after a deep cut with a blade) endows solid Li metal full batteries with freely bending flexibility and superior cycling stability as demonstrated by the small capacity decay of 0.1 % per cycle over 100 cycles.
Nanoparticles (NPs) have emerged as an effective means to deliver therapeutic drugs for cancer treatment, as they can preferentially accumulate at tumor site through the enhanced permeability and ...retention effect. Various forms of NPs including liposomes, polymeric micelles, and inorganic particles have been used for therapeutic applications. However, the therapeutic benefits of nanomedicines are suboptimal. Although many possible reasons may account for the compromised therapeutic efficacy, the inefficient tumor penetration can be a vital obstacle. Tumor develops characteristic pathological environment, such as abnormal vasculature, elevated interstitial fluid pressure, and dense extracellular matrix, which intrinsically hinder the transport of nanomedicines in the tumor parenchyma. The physicochemical properties of the NPs such as size, shape, and surface charge have profound effect on tumor penetration. In this review, we will highlight the factors that affect the transport of NPs in solid tumor, and then elaborate on designing strategies to improve NPs' penetration and uniform distribution inside the tumor interstitium.
This article is categorized under:
Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Nanomedicine for Oncologic Disease
Advanced designing strategies can be exploited to improve tumor penetration and therapeutic efficacy of cancer nanomedicines.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of substituting fish meal (FM) with soybean meal (SM) on growth performance, digestive enzymes activity, gut histology, and intestinal ...pro-inflammatory and transporter genes expression in Japanese seabass (Lateolabrax japonicus). Totally three test diets were prepared: a basal FM-based diet and two SM diets by substituting 50 or 75% of FM with SM (FM, SM50 and SM75 diets). Each diet was fed to triplicate groups of fish (6.67±0.03g) to apparent satiation twice a day for eight weeks. The results showed no significant (P>0.05) differences in growth performance between FM and SM50 groups while further increment of replacement level to 75% led to a significantly (P<0.05) reduced growth rate. However, both SM50 and SM75 groups showed significantly lower feed efficiency and protein efficiency ratio than FM group. Significantly lower digestibility coefficients of dry matter and protein were achieved in the group received SM75 diet and digestibility coefficient of gross energy decreased in both SM50 and SM75 groups. Also, SM75 fed fish exhibited remarkably lower survival rate than the other treatments. SM75 group had lower whole-body protein and lipid contents than FM fed fish. Drastic decreases in protease, amylase and lipase activities were found in foregut of SM groups compared to FM group. Offering SM75 diet resulted in significant reduction of villus height, villus thickness, and muscular thickness in foregut and midgut. A remarkable increase in serum D-lactate concentration was detected in SM groups, and serum diamine oxidase activity elevated in SM75 group. Replacement of FM resulted in elevated expression of gut pro-inflammatory genes such as TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-2, IL-8 while an opposed trend was observed for the anti-inflammatory gene IL-4. Expression of intestinal transporter genes including PepT1, LAT1 and SLC1A5 were significantly up-regulated by SM replacement. To conclude, replacing 50% of FM with SM did not significantly influence growth performance, but adverse effects were found on feed utilization, digestive enzymes activity and gut health being more evident at the higher replacement level.
•Effects of high soybean meal (SM) diets were evaluated in Japanese seabass.•Growth performance was not influenced by replacing 50% of fish meal with SM.•SM fed fish exhibited reduced feed utilization and digestive enzymes activity.•SM adversely affected morphological and molecular characteristics of fish gut.
Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play critical roles in the carcinogenesis and progression of cancers. However, the role and mechanism of the pseudogene lncRNA PIN1P1 in gastric carcinoma remain ...unclear. The expression and effects of lncRNA PIN1P1 in gastric cancer were investigated. The transcriptional regulation of CREB1 on PIN1P1 was determined by ChIP and luciferase assays. The mechanistic model of PIN1P1 in gastric cancer was further explored by RNA pull‐down, RIP and western blot analysis. PIN1P1 was overexpressed in gastric cancer tissues, and upregulated PIN1P1 predicted poor prognosis in patients. CREB1 was directly combined with the promoter region of PIN1P1 to promote the transcription of PIN1P1. CREB1‐mediated enhanced proliferation, migration and invasion could be partially reversed by downregulation of PIN1P1. Overexpressed PIN1P1 promoted the proliferation, migration and invasion of gastric cancer cells, whereas decreased PIN1P1 showed the opposite effects. PIN1P1 directly interacted with YBX1 and promoted YBX1 protein expression, leading to upregulation of PIN1, in which E2F1 may be involved. Silencing of YBX1 during PIN1P1 overexpression could partially rescue PIN1 upregulation. PIN1, the parental gene of PIN1P1, was elevated in gastric cancer tissues, and its upregulation was correlated with poor patient outcomes. PIN1 facilitated gastric cancer cell proliferation, migration and invasion. To sum up, CREB1‐activated PIN1P1 could promote gastric cancer progression through YBX1 and upregulating PIN1, suggesting that it is a potential target for gastric cancer.
Designing tailor-made metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) to synthesize target nanomaterials with extraordinary electrochemical oxygen catalytic activity is highly desirable. Here, we rationally designed ...a 2D Co-MOF Co(BDC)2(SPDP)2(DMF)(H2O) (H2BDC = 1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid, SPDP = 4,4′-(sulfonylbis(4,1-phenylene))dipyridine, DMF = N,N-dimethylformamide) as a single-source precursor through direct carbonization to afford an N, O and S-tridoped carbon matrix encapsulated with Co9S8 nanocomposites (Co9S8@TDC). By virtue of the intrinsic activity of Co9S8 nanoparticles (NPs) as well as the heteroatom-doped carbon shell, Co9S8@TDC possessed excellent electrocatalytic activities for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline solutions. In particular, Co9S8@TDC-900 displayed an overpotential of 330 mV (vs. RHE) at current density of 10 mA cm−2 for OER and a half-wave potential of 0.78 V (vs. RHE) for ORR with the limiting current density of 5.45 mA cm−2, rivalling the performances of RuO2 and Pt/C. As the proof of concept, Co9S8@TDC-900 was employed as a bifunctional oxygen catalyst for a rechargeable Zn–air battery, exhibiting a considerable open-circuit voltage (1.50 V) and impressive long-term charge/discharge stability (45 h at 5 mA cm−2). The straightforward strategy provides a facile method for the further exploration of non-noble metal electrochemical oxygen reaction catalysts.
2D halide perovskites feature a versatile structure, which not only enables the fine‐tuning of their optoelectronic properties but also makes them appealing as model systems to investigate the ...fundamental properties of hybrid perovskites. In this study, the authors analyze the changes in the optical absorption of 2D Dion‐Jacobson mixed halide perovskite thin films (encapsulated) based on (PDMA)Pb(I0.5Br0.5)4 (PDMA: 1,4‐phenylenedimethanammonium spacer) exposed to a constant illumination. It is demonstrated that these 2D mixed‐halide perovskites undergo photo‐induced phase segregation, where the pristine mixed‐phase de‐mixes into iodide‐rich and bromide‐rich phases (photo de‐mixing). The de‐mixed state is largely maintained in the dark at room temperature for several months, while at higher temperatures it shows complete reversibility to the mixed‐phase in terms of optical and structural properties (dark re‐mixing). The authors further investigate temperature‐dependent absorption measurements under light to extract the photo de‐mixed compositions and to map the photo‐miscibility‐gap. This work thereby reveals that reversible photo de‐mixing occurs in Dion‐Jacobson 2D hybrid perovskites and provides strategies to address the role of light in the thermodynamic properties of these materials.
Thin films of 2D Dion‐Jacobson mixed halide perovskites undergo de‐mixing under light. In the dark, re‐mixing occurs with reversible recovery of the optical and structural properties. Based on temperature‐dependent absorption data after illumination, the de‐mixed phases’ compositions (photo‐miscibility‐gap) are estimated using different methods.
Sensitization with dyes is the most promising option to narrow the band gap and improve visible-light absorption of TiO2. As ideal structure and reaction models of TiO2, titanium oxo clusters (TOCs) ...with exact crystal structure are beneficial for further understanding the structure–property relationship of TiO2. Most reports mainly focus on the synthesis and properties of TOCs, but research on the band-gap tuning of TOCs at the large range of 3.7–2.0 eV by chromophore ligands (CLs) has been lacking. Herein, six new Ti6-core-based TOCs (Ti6-TOCs) were successfully synthesized by using CLs in a simple and general approach. Each Ti6-TOC structure contains two Ti3(μ3-O) units featuring a flat or pyramidal mode as building blocks. Five Ti6-core structure types were present among the six Ti6-TOCs, which enriched the family of hexanuclear TOCs. To be noted, the band-gap values were tuned at a wide range of 3.41–1.98 eV by controlling the type and number of the CLs 2-hydroxypyridine, salicylaldoxime, and catechol in the structure. Density functional theory calculation revealed that the lowest-energy bands of these Ti6-TOCs are attributed to the CL-to-TiO core charge-transfer bands. This work provides a precise and wide-ranged band-gap tuning method for TOCs. Additionally, the six Ti6-TOCs exhibit good photocurrent response.
Co/Co9S8 nanoparticles encapsulated in a N, S, and O ternary-doped carbon matrix were synthesized utilizing a Co-NSOMOF as a single precursor, and they exhibited excellent bifunctional ...electrocatalytic activity for the OER and HER. Impressively, the water splitting cell exhibited a low cell voltage of 1.56 V at 10 mA cm−2. The high performances were attributed to the synergistic effect and the protection of multi-heteroatom doped carbon shells for active Co/Co9S8 nanoparticles.
PDF
