Optimizing the quasi-equilibrium state of hot carriers in all-inorganic lead halide perovskite nanocrystals through Mn doping: fundamental dynamics and device perspectives

Hot carrier (HC) cooling accounts for the significant energy loss in lead halide perovskite (LHP) solar cells. Here, we study HC relaxation dynamics in Mn-doped LHP CsPbI₃ nanocrystals (NCs), combining transient absorption spectroscopy and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. We demonstrate that Mn²⁺ doping (1) enlarges the longitudinal optical (LO)–acoustic phonon bandgap, (2) enhances the electron–LO phonon coupling strength, and (3) adds HC relaxation pathways via Mn orbitals within the bands. The spectroscopic study shows that the HC cooling process is decelerated after doping under band-edge excitation due to the dominant phonon bandgap enlargement. When the excitation photon energy is larger than the optical bandgap and the Mn²⁺ transition gap, the doping accelerates the cooling rate owing to the dominant effect of enhanced carrier–phonon coupling and relaxation pathways. We demonstrate that such a phenomenon is optimal for the application of hot carrier solar cells. The enhanced electron–LO phonon coupling and accelerated cooling of high-temperature hot carriers efficiently establish a high-temperature thermal quasi-equilibrium where the excessive energy of the hot carriers is transferred to heat the cold carriers. On the other hand, the enlarged phononic band-gap prevents further cooling of such a quasi-equilibrium, which facilitates the energy conversion process. Our results manifest a straightforward methodology to optimize the HC dynamics for hot carrier solar cells by element doping.

Mn doping modulates the hot carrier dynamics in all-inorganic lead halide perovskite nanocrystals according to the excitation energy.     

Nitrogen and boron co-doped graphene nanoribbons as peroxidase-mimicking nanozymes for enhanced biosensing

The rational design of nanozymes with superior activities is essential for improving bioassay performances. Herein, nitrogen and boron co-doped graphene nanoribbons(NB-GNRs) are prepared by a hydrothermal method using urea as the nitrogen source and boric acid as the boron source, respectively.The introduction of co-doped and edge structures provides high defects and active sites. The resultant NB-GNRs nanozymes show superior peroxidase-like activities to nitrogen-doped and boron-doped counterpa...     

Artematrovirenolides A—D and Artematrolides S—Z,Sesquiterpenoid Dimers with Cytotoxicity against Three Hepatoma Cell Lines from Artemisia atrovirens

Inspired by the intriguing structures and remarkable activities of sesquiterpenoid dimers,12 new sesquiterpenoid dimers,artematrovirenolides A—D(1—4)and artematrolides S—Z(8—12),were isolated from the EtOAc fraction of Artemisia atrovirens through a bioactivity-guided approach.Their structures were elucidated by comprehensive spectroscopic data and absolute configuration was assigned based on single crystal X-ray diffraction data and ECD calculations.Structurally,all compounds are presumably formed via[4+2]cycloaddition involving three connecting model.Compounds 1—4 are four novel hetero-dimeric[4+2]Diels-Alder adducts dimerized from a rotundane-type unit and a guaiane-type monomer,and compounds 5—12 are eight new homo-dimeric[4+2]adducts derived from two guaianolide moieties.A putative biosynthetic pathway for compounds 1—4 was also proposed.Compounds 4,6,7,and 10 demonstrated moderate cytotoxicity against HepG2,SMMC-7721,and Huh7 cell lines with IC50 values ranging from 9.3 to 62.3μmol/L.Interestingly,compounds 5 and 11 manifested cytotoxicity with IC50 values of 13.6 and 12.8(HepG2),18.5 and 13.1(SMMC-7721),and 16.5 and 19.4μmol/L(Huh7),respectively,which were equivalent to the positive control,sorafenib.This investigation suggests that compounds 5 and 11 might be considered as potent antihepatoma candidates and deserve further structural modification and mechanism study.     

The Efficient K Ion Storage of M2P2O7/C (M=Fe,Co, Ni) Anode Derived from Organic-Inorganic Phosphate Precursors

Metal phosphates have been widely explored in lithium ion batteries and sodium ion batteries owing to high theoretical capacities, mild toxicity and low cost. However, their potassium ion battery applications are less reported due to the limited conductivity and the slow diffusion kinetics. Considering these drawbacks, novel structured M₂P₂O₇/C (M=Fe, Co, Ni) nanoflake composites are prepared through an organic-phosphors precursor-assisted solvothermal method and a subsequent high temperature annealing process. The designed Co₂P₂O₇/C composite exhibits the highest rate capacity with 502 mAh g⁻¹ at 0.1 A g⁻¹ and good cyclability for 900 cycles at 1 A g⁻¹ and 2 A g⁻¹ when compared with Ni and Fe based composites. The superior electrochemical performance can be attributed to their unique nanoparticle-assembled nanoflake structure, which can afford enough active sites for K⁺ intercalation. In addition, the robust pyrophosphate crystal structure and the in situ formed carbon composition also have positive effects on enhancing the long-term cycling performance and the electrode's conductivity. Finally, this organic-phosphors precursor induced simple approach can be applied for easy fabrication of other pyrophosphate/carbon hybrids as advanced electrodes.     

Novel WS2/Fe0.95S1.05 Hierarchical Nanosphere as a Highly Efficient Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Fe_0.95S_1.05 with high reactivity and stability was incorporated into WS₂ nanosheets via a one-step solvothermal method for the first time. The resulted hybrid catalyst has much higher catalytic activity than WS₂ and Fe_0.95S_1.05 alone, and the optimal WS₂/Fe_0.95S_1.05 hybrid catalyst was found by adjusting the feed ratio. The addition of Fe_0.95S_1.05 was proven to be able to enhance the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity of WS₂, and vice versa. At the same time, it was found that the catalytic effect of the hybrid catalyst was the best when the feed ratio was W : Fe=2 : 1. In other words, we confirmed that there is a synergistic effect between W- and Fe-based sulfide hybrid catalysts, and validated that the reason for the improved HER performance is the strong interaction between the two in the middle sulfur. WS₂/Fe_0.95S_1.05-2 hybrid catalyst leads to enhanced HER activity, which shows a low overpotential of ∼0.172 V at 10 mA cm⁻², low Tafel slope of ∼53.47 mV/decade. This study supplies innovative synthesis of a highly active WS₂/Fe_0.95S_1.05 hybrid catalyst for HER.     

MLIMC: Machine Learning-Based Implicit-Solvent Monte Carlo

Monte Carlo (MC) methods are important computational tools for molecular structure optimizations and predictions. When solvent effects are explicitly considered, MC methods become very expensive due to the large degree of freedom associated with the water molecules and mobile ions. Alternatively implicit-solvent MC can largely reduce the computational cost by applying a mean field approximation to solvent effects and meanwhile maintains the atomic detail of the target molecule. The two most popular implicit-solvent models are the Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) model and the Generalized Born (GB) model in a way such that the GB model is an approximation to the PB model but is much faster in simulation time. In this work, we develop a machine learning-based implicit-solvent Monte Carlo (MLIMC) method by combining the advantages of both implicit solvent models in accuracy and efficiency. Specifically, the MLIMC method uses a fast and accurate PB-based machine learning (PBML) scheme to compute the electrostatic solvation free energy at each step. We validate our MLIMC method by using a benzene-water system and a protein-water system. We show that the proposed MLIMC method has great advantages in speed and accuracy for molecular structure optimization and prediction.     

Synthesis and Magnetism of 2-Hydroxy-1,3-propylene-bis(oxamato)-bridged Co~ⅡCu~ⅡCo~Ⅱ Complexes

ＳｙｎｔｈｅｓｉｓａｎｄＭａｇｎｅｔｉｓｍｏｆ２┐Ｈｙｄｒｏｘｙ┐１，３┐ｐｒｏｐｙｌｅｎｅ┐ｂｉｓ（ｏｘａｍａｔｏ）┐ｂｒｉｄｇｅｄＣｏⅡＣｕⅡＣｏⅡＣｏｍｐｌｅｘｅｓＭＩＡＯＭｉｎｇ－ｍｉｎｇ，ＣＨＥＮＧＰｅｎｇ，ＬＩＡＯＤａｉ－ｚｈｅｎｇＪＩＡ...     

胍变及脲变α-淀粉酶的研究 Ⅰ.用高效疏水色谱法研究变性机理和复性效率

用疏水性强弱不同的两种色谱柱对７．０ｍｏｌ／Ｌ盐酸胍及８．０ｍｏｌ／Ｌ脲变性的α－淀粉酶变体和在疏水色谱介质表面上折叠的中间体进行了分离和复性。通过研究和比较发现,两者的变性机理和形成折叠中间体的个数以及复性效率均不相同。在用疏水性较弱的疏水色谱柱对脲变α－淀粉酶的折叠中间体进行分离时,得到了疏水性接近连续的、数目很多的中间体。用疏水性较强的疏水色谱柱对胍变α－淀粉酶进行复性的效果较好。还研究了柱温变化对其折叠、分离效果和复性效率的影响。     

Rational design of iridium–porphyrin conjugates for novel synergistic photodynamic and photothermal therapy anticancer agents

Near-infrared (NIR) emitters are important probes for biomedical applications. Nanoparticles (NPs) incorporating mono- and tetranuclear iridium(iii) complexes attached to a porphyrin core have been synthesized. They possess deep-red absorbance, long-wavelength excitation (635 nm) and NIR emission (720 nm). TD-DFT calculations demonstrate that the iridium–porphyrin conjugates herein combine the respective advantages of small organic molecules and transition metal complexes as photosensitizers (PSs): (i) the conjugates retain the long-wavelength excitation and NIR emission of porphyrin itself; (ii) the conjugates possess highly effective intersystem crossing (ISC) to obtain a considerably more long-lived triplet photoexcited state. These photoexcited states do not have the usual radiative behavior of phosphorescent Ir(iii) complexes, and they play a very important role in promoting the singlet oxygen (¹O₂) and heat generation required for photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT). The tetranuclear 4-Ir NPs exhibit high ¹O₂ generation ability, outstanding photothermal conversion efficiency (49.5%), good biocompatibility, low half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) (0.057 μM), excellent photothermal imaging and synergistic PDT and PTT under 635 nm laser irradiation. To our knowledge this is the first example of iridium–porphyrin conjugates as PSs for photothermal imaging-guided synergistic PDT and PTT treatment in vivo.

Iridium–porphyrin conjugates assembled in nanoparticles are photosensitizers that exhibit excellent photothermal imaging and synergistic PDT and PTT in vivo.     

Hydrogen bonding networks controllable by the substitution position of tetrathiafulvalene on the pyridine ring

Because of the effect of pyridine on the substituent position on the TTF group, TTF derivatives exhibit different assembly structures at the interface, which will be of great significance to the construction of functional nanostructures from the molecular design point of view.