Perovskite photovoltaics are strong potential candidates to drive low‐power off‐grid electronics for indoor applications. Compared with rigid devices, flexible perovskite devices can provide a more ...suitable surface for indoor small electronic devices, enabling them have a broader indoor application prospect. However, the mechanical stability of flexible perovskite photovoltaics is an urgent issue solved. Herein, a kind of 3D crosslinking agent named borax is selected to carry out grain boundary penetration treatment on perovskite film to realize full‐dimensional stress release. This strategy improves the mechanical and phase stabilities of perovskite films subjected to external forces or large temperature changes. The fabricated perovskite photovoltaics deliver a champion power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 21.63% under AM 1.5G illumination, which is the highest one to date. The merit of low trap states under weak light makes the devices present a superior indoor PCE of 31.85% under 1062 lux (LED, 2956 K), which is currently the best flexible perovskite indoor photovoltaic device. This work provides a full‐dimensional grain boundary stress release strategy for highly stable flexible perovskite indoor photovoltaics.
A grain boundary stress release strategy is proposed for high‐stability flexible perovskite indoor photovoltaics by the grain boundary penetration with borax 3D stretchable molecules. The full‐dimensional grain boundary stress release enables the flexible perovskite photovoltaics deliver a champion power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 21.63% under AM 1.5G illumination and an indoor PCE of 31.85% under 1062 lux.
Adding 2‐phenoxyethylamine (POEA) into a CH3NH3PbBr3 precursor solution can modulate the organic–inorganic hybrid perovskite structure from bulk to layered, with a photoluminescence and ...electroluminescence shift from green to blue. Meanwhile, POEA can passivate the CH3NH3PbBr3 surface and help to obtain a pure CH3NH3PbBr3 phase, leading to an improvement of the external quantum efficiency to nearly 3% in CH3NH3PbBr3 LED.
•Pectin was extracted from orange peel using surfactant and microwave assisted method.•Pectin yield, GA content, and DE were considered during Box–Behnken design.•Chemical properties of pectin ...extracted by different methods were compared.•S-MAE showed the best effect on the yield and characteristics of extracted pectin.
Surfactant and microwave assisted extraction (S-MAE) was used for pectin extraction from orange peel. First, we optimized the conditions of microwave assisted extraction (MAE), e.g., irradiation time, liquid-to-solid ratio (LSR), and pH on pectin yield (PY), galacturonic acid (GA) content, and degree of esterification (DE) using a Box-Behnken design. Under optimal conditions (pH 1.2, 7.0 min, and 21.5 v/w LSR), we obtained a PY of 28.0 ± 0.5%, which was close to the predicted value (31.1%). Second, we analyzed the effect of surfactant on microwave extraction of pectin. Among the surfactants investigated, Tween-80 (8 g/L, w/v) increased PY by 17.0%. Compared with conventional solvent extraction, S-MAE is a novel and efficient method for pectin extraction, which generated a higher (p < 0.05) PY (32.8%), GA content (78.1%), DE (69.8%), and Mw (286.3 kDa).
A new perovskite‐like coordination polymer (CH3)2NH2Cd(N3)3 is reported which undergoes a reversible ferroelastic phase transition. This transition is due to varied modes of motion of the (CH3)2NH2+ ...guest accompanied by a synergistic deformation of the Cd(N3)3− framework. The unusual two‐staged switchable dielectric relaxation reveals the molecular dynamics of the polar cation guest, which are well controlled by the variable confined space of the host framework. As the material switches from the ferroelastic phase to the paraelastic phase, a remarkable increase of the rotational energy barrier is detected. As a result, upon heating at low temperature, this compound shows a notable change from a low to a high dielectric state in the ferroelastic phase. This thermoresponsive host–guest system may serve as a model compound for the development of sensitive thermoresponsive dielectric materials and may be key to understanding and modulating molecular/ionic dynamics of guest molecules in confined space.
Flexible frameworks: A perovskite‐like coordination polymer (CH3)2NH2Cd(N3)3 undergoes a ferroelastic‐to‐paraelastic phase transition as a result of the motion of the guest cation within the host framework (see picture), which itself undergoes a simultaneous deformation. This material acts as a thermoresponsive dielectric system owing to the well‐controlled guest molecular dynamics in the confined space.
The interlayer soil identified in conventional French rail track corresponds to a mixture of fine soil and coarse grains. To investigate the role of fines in the soil-water retention property of such ...a mixture, different coarse grain contents f
v
and dry densities of fine soil ρ
d–f
were considered. The filter paper method was applied to measure matric suction. Mercury intrusion porosimetry tests were performed to observe the microstructure of the fine soil. In terms of the gravimetric water content of fine soil w
f
with matric suction ψ, the soil-water retention curve (SWRC) was significantly affected by ρ
d–f
for ψ < 715 kPa, while independent of ρ
d–f
for ψ > 715 kPa. Interestingly, this threshold ψ corresponded to a delimiting pore diameter of the bi-modal microstructure of fine soil, which separated micropores from macropores. In terms of degree of saturation S
r
with ψ, the SWRC was significantly affected by ρ
d–f
in the full suction range, while it was independent of f
v
. These findings help to better understand the results for samples where dry density of mixture ρ
d
is kept constant: an increase in f
v
resulted in a decrease in ρ
d–f
and the suction changed accordingly. In this case, both f
v
and ψ affected the mechanical behavior.
Background and purpose
Recent genetic progress has shown many causative/risk genes linked to Parkinson's disease (PD), mainly in patients of European ancestry. The study aimed to investigate the ...PD‐related genes and determine the mutational spectrum of early‐onset PD in ethnic Chinese.
Methods
In this study, whole‐exome sequencing and/or gene dosage analysis were performed in 704 early‐onset PD (EOPD) patients (onset age ≤45 years) and 1866 controls. Twenty‐six PD‐related genes and 20 other genes linked to neurodegenerative and lysosome diseases were analysed.
Results
Eighty‐two (11.6%, 82/704) EOPD patients carrying rare pathogenic/likely pathogenic variants in PD‐related genes were identified. The mutation frequency in autosomal recessive inheritance EOPD (42.9%, 27/63) was much higher than that in autosomal dominant inheritance EOPD (0.9%, 12/110) or sporadic EOPD (8.1%, 43/531). Bi‐allelic mutations in PRKN were the most frequent, accounting for 5.1% of EOPD cases. Three common pathogenic variants, p.A53V in SNCA, p.G284R in PRKN and p.P53Afs*38 in CHCHD2, occur exclusively in Asians. The putative damaging variants from GBA, PRKN, DJ1, PLA2G6 and GCH1 contributed to the collective risk for EOPD. Notably, the protein‐truncating variants in CHCHD2 were enriched in EOPD, especially for p.P53Afs*38, which was also found in three patients from an independent cohort of patients with late‐onset PD (n = 1300). Functional experiments confirmed that truncated CHCHD2 variants cause loss of function and are linked to mitochondrial dysfunction.
Conclusions
Our study reveals that the genetic spectrum of EOPD in Chinese, which may help develop genetic scanning strategies, provided more evidence supporting CHCHD2 in PD.
Three common pathogenic variants, p.A53V in SNCA, p.G284R in PRKN and p.P53Afs*38 in CHCHD2, occur exclusively in Asians. The putative damaging variants from GBA, PRKN, DJ1 and PLA2G6 contributed the collective risk for early‐onset Parkinson’s disease (PD). The protein‐truncating variants in CHCHD2 were significantly enriched in early‐onset PD, especially for p.P53Afs*38, which was confirmed in an independent cohort of patients with late‐onset PD and functional experiments.
Farnesylpyrophosphate synthase (FPS) catalyzes the biosynthesis of farnesyl pyrophosphate (FPP), which is an important precursor of sesquiterpenoids such as artemisinin and wilfordine. In the present ...study, we report the molecular cloning and characterization of two full-length cDNAs encoding FPSs from Tripterygium wilfordii (TwFPSs). TwFPSs maintained their capability to synthesise FPP in vitro when purified as recombinant proteins from E. coli. Consistent with the endogenous role of FPS in FPP biosynthesis, TwFPSs were highly expressed in T. wilfordii roots, and were up-regulated upon methyl jasmonate (MeJA) treatment. The global gene expression profiles suggested that the TwFPSs might play an important regulatory role interpenoid biosynthesis in T. wilfordii, laying the groundwork for the future study of the synthetic biology of natural terpene products.
Feeding is essential for animal survival and reproduction and is regulated by both internal states and external stimuli. However, little is known about how internal states influence the perception of ...external sensory cues that regulate feeding behavior. Here, we investigated the neuronal and molecular mechanisms behind nutritional state-mediated regulation of gustatory perception in control of feeding behavior in the brown planthopper and Drosophila. We found that feeding increases the expression of the cholecystokinin-like peptide, sulfakinin (SK), and the activity of a set of SK-expressing neurons. Starvation elevates the transcription of the sugar receptor Gr64f and SK negatively regulates the expression of Gr64f in both insects. Interestingly, we found that one of the two known SK receptors, CCKLR-17D3, is expressed by some of Gr64f-expressing neurons in the proboscis and proleg tarsi. Thus, we have identified SK as a neuropeptide signal in a neuronal circuitry that responds to food intake, and regulates feeding behavior by diminishing gustatory receptor gene expression and activity of sweet sensing GRNs. Our findings demonstrate one nutritional state-dependent pathway that modulates sweet perception and thereby feeding behavior, but our experiments cannot exclude further parallel pathways. Importantly, we show that the underlying mechanisms are conserved in the two distantly related insect species.
Optical interconnects exhibit superior potential in the precise regulation of photon transmission for organic photonic circuits. However, the rational design of well‐defined organic heterostructures ...toward active optoelectronics remains challenging. Herein, we designed organic branched heterostructures (OBHs) with accurate spatial organization for optical interconnection. Notably, the precise regulation of OBHs has been controllably achieved including the trunk morphologies and the branched microwire number. Significantly, these as‐prepared OBHs inherently exhibit the multichannel coupling outputs and the excitation position‐dependent waveguide characteristics, leading to various outcoupling signals with tunable intensity and emission colors. The optical interconnects are realized due to the occurrence of exciton conversion and photon propagation between branch and trunk at the heterojunction, benefiting the application possibilities of two‐dimensional (2D) optical barcodes.
The precise synthesis of well‐defined organic heterostructures toward active optoelectronic functions remains challenging. Optical interconnections based on organic branched heterostructures (OBHs) have been synthesized through a sequential self‐assembly process. The accurate spatial organization has been applied to the generation of 2D barcodes.
Immune response in plants is tightly regulated by the coordination of the cell surface and intracellular receptors. In animals, the membrane attack complex/perforin-like (MACPF) protein superfamily ...creates oligomeric pore structures on the cell surface during pathogen infection. However, the function and molecular mechanism of MACPF proteins in plant pathogen responses remain largely unclear. In this study, we identified an Arabidopsis MACP2 and investigated the responsiveness of this protein during both bacterial and fungal pathogens. We suggest that MACP2 induces programmed cell death, bacterial pathogen resistance, and necrotrophic fungal pathogen sensitivity by activating the biosynthesis of tryptophan-derived indole glucosinolates and the salicylic acid signaling pathway dependent on the activity of enhanced disease susceptibility 1 (EDS1). Moreover, the response of MACP2 mRNA isoforms upon pathogen attack is differentially regulated by a posttranscriptional mechanism: alternative splicing. In comparison to previously reported MACPFs in Arabidopsis, MACP2 shares a redundant but nonoverlapping role in plant immunity. Thus, our findings provide novel insights and genetic tools for the MACPF family in maintaining SA accumulation in response to pathogens in Arabidopsis.
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