On‐chip technology for single‐cell arraying,electrorotation‐based analysis and selective release

This paper reports a method for label‐free single‐cell biophysical analysis of multiple cells trapped in suspension by electrokinetic forces. Tri‐dimensional pillar electrodes arranged along the width of a microfluidic chamber define actuators for single cell trapping and selective release by electrokinetic force. Moreover, a rotation can be induced on the cell in combination with a negative DEP force to retain the cell against the flow. The measurement of the rotation speed of the cell as a function of the electric field frequency define an electrorotation spectrum that allows to study the dielectric properties of the cell. The system presented here shows for the first time the simultaneous electrorotation analysis of multiple single cells in separate micro cages that can be selectively addressed to trap and/or release the cells. Chips with 39 micro‐actuators of different interelectrode distance were fabricated to study cells with different sizes. The extracted dielectric properties of Henrietta Lacks, human embryonic kidney 293, and human immortalized T lymphocytes cells were found in agreements with previous findings. Moreover, the membrane capacitance of M17 neuroblastoma cells was investigated and found to fall in in the range of 7.49 ± 0.39 mF/m².     

生物电化学系统降解多环芳烃萘及微生物群落研究

采用单室空气阴极微生物燃料电池(MFC)反应器构型, 以不同浓度萘为基底物质, 考察MFC的产电性能、 萘降解率、 化学需氧量(COD)和总有机碳含量(TOC)降解率及MFC阴阳极微生物活性和多样性. 结果表明, 循环伏安曲线受不同浓度萘的影响变化较为明显, 随着萘浓度的增大, 最大功率密度呈下降趋势, 且萘对MFC的阴极电极电势影响较大; 当萘的浓度为15 mg/L时, MFC最大功率密度可达(645.841±28.08) mW/m ²; 对萘的降解率高达100%, 且MFC对COD和TOC的降解率随着萘浓度的提高而增大, 但是增大的速率逐渐减小. 对MFC阳极微生物膜进行高通量测序发现, Geobacter是优势菌属, 相对丰度达81%, 阴极主要以Aquamicrobium为主.     

超支化聚合物氮修饰Pd催化剂促进甲酸电催化氧化

通过原位聚合法制备了以超支化聚合物的氮修饰的PdN_x/C催化剂, 并考察了其催化甲酸电氧化反应的性能. 采用透射电子显微镜(TEM)、 X射线光电子能谱(XPS)和X射线衍射(XRD)等技术研究了氮的引入对催化活性组分Pd的形貌及表面电子形态的影响. 结果表明, 修饰氮后Pd纳米粒子粒径可稳定在2 nm, 并且保持了较高的分散度, 改善了表面Pd电子状态. 与Pd/C催化剂相比, 氮修饰的PdN₂₀/C用于甲酸电氧化的Pd单位质量比活性提高了10.9%.     

Dielectric and elastic properties of fluorine-containing tricyclic isothiocyanate liquid crystal

The dielectric and elastic properties of liquid crystals (LCs) generally depend on the molecule structure, such as polar group and carbon chain length. For further investigation of the influence of molecular structure on the dielectric and elastic properties of fluorine-containing tricyclic isothiocyanate LC, the experimental temperature was controlled at 25°C by precision hot stage, and a precision LCR meter was used to measure the capacitance of six LC cells under the voltage from 0.1 to 20 V at 1 kHz. An LC cell capacitance model and a dual-cell model were adopted to obtain the dielectric anisotropy, and the capacitance–voltage curves of six LC materials were plotted. The threshold voltage of Fréedericksz transition was analysed, and a finite difference iterative method was used to attain specific values of three elastic constants. The influence of molecular structure on the dielectric and elastic constants was finally analysed. Experimental results showed that the introduction of meta-difluoro group would increase the dielectric anisotropy and reduce the threshold voltage of LC. As the length of the alkyl carbon chain increased, the dielectric anisotropy would have an odd–even alternation effect, which would lead to changes in the elastic constants of LC.     

A Coumarin Triflate Reagent Enables One-Step Synthesis of Photo-Caged Lipid Metabolites for Studying Cell Signaling

Photorelease of caged compounds is among the most powerful experimental approaches for studying cellular functions on fast timescales. However, its full potential has yet to be exploited, as the number of caged small molecules available for cell biological studies has been limited by synthetic challenges. Addressing this problem, a straightforward, one-step procedure for efficiently synthesizing caged compounds was developed. An in situ generated benzylic coumarin triflate reagent was used to specifically functionalize carboxylate and phosphate moieties in the presence of free hydroxy groups, generating various caged lipid metabolites, including a number of GPCR ligands. By combining the photo-caged ligands with the respective receptors, an easily implementable experimental platform for the optical control and analysis of GPCR-mediated signal transduction in living cells was developed. Ultimately, the described synthetic strategy allows rapid generation of photo-caged small molecules and thus greatly facilitates the analysis of their biological roles in live cell microscopy assays.     

基于二噻吩并吡咯π桥的窄带隙非富勒烯受体材料在有机太阳能电池中的应用

以不同烷基取代的二噻吩并吡咯(DTP)为π桥,连接吲哒省并二噻吩(IDT)中间单元和氰基茚酮(IC)或二氟代氰基茚酮(2F-IC)末端基团,设计并合成了6个窄带隙的非富勒烯受体材料。 其中,IDTDTP-C₂C₂-H和IDTDTP-C₂C₂-F中的DTP单元以1-乙基丙基为侧链,IDTDTP-C₆C₆-H和IDTDTP-C₆C₆-F中的DTP单元以1-己基庚基为侧链,IDTDTP-C₁₂-H和IDTDTP-C₁₂-F中的DTP单元以十二烷基为侧链。 6个分子均具有较窄的光学带隙(1.37~1.44 eV)。 相比于以IC为末端基团的分子(IDTDTP-C₂C₂-H、IDTDTP-C₆C₆-H和IDTDTP-C₁₂-H),由于氟原子的拉电子效应,以2F-IC为末端基团的分子(IDTDTP-C₂C₂-F、IDTDTP-C₆C₆-F和IDTDTP-C₁₂-F)具有红移的吸收光谱,以及更低的最高分子占有轨道能级(HOMO)和最低分子空轨道(LUMO)能级。 以宽带隙聚合物聚[2,6-(4,8-双(5-(2-乙基己基))噻吩-2-基)-苯并[1,2-b:4,5-b']二噻吩-alt-5,5-(1',3'-二-2-噻吩)-5',7'-双(2-乙基己基)-苯并[1',2'-c:4',5'-c']二噻吩-4,8-二酮](PBDB-T)为给体材料,制备了有机太阳能电池器件。 PBDB-T:IDTDTP-C₆C₆-F共混薄膜具有较高且更平衡的空穴/电子迁移率,以及良好的形貌,基于PBDB-T:IDTDTP-C₆C₆-F的有机太阳能电池获得了6.94%的能量转换效率,开路电压为0.86 V,短路电流密度为13.56 mA/cm²,填充因子为59.5%。     

借助液体透射电镜原位分析钯纳米棒的可控性氧化刻蚀

借助原位液体透射电镜,我们观察并研究了钯纳米棒溶液环境下的氧化刻蚀的微观行为及机理。通过改变钯纳米棒所处的液体环境,有效地控制了钯纳米棒的氧化刻蚀行为。由于端部具有较高的反应活性,钯纳米棒在氯化铁溶液中的氧化刻蚀会选择沿着轴向进行,具有明显的各向异性。当反应在超薄液层进行时,钯纳米棒的氧化刻蚀会变为准各向同性。这种行为是由于超薄溶液中溶解产物以及氧化物的扩散被抑制,在纳米棒端部选择性发生的氧化刻蚀会受到阻碍。最后,我们发现在钯纳米棒端部选择性沉积金,可以保护纳米棒的端部不受氧化,从而能控制刻蚀沿着钯纳米棒的径向进行。本文的研究结果对贵金属纳米晶的结构参数的精确调控以利于实际应用具有重要的意义。     

通过调节共轭聚合物侧链实现可绿色溶剂加工的非富勒烯太阳能电池

有机太阳能电池(OSC)经过长期的发展,其能量转换效率(PCE)已快速推进至14%–16%,基本接近可商业化应用的范围,但在目前所见报道的高效率OSC器件的制备过程中,活性层薄膜的加工大多采用氯苯、二氯苯、氯仿等毒性较高的含卤/芳香性试剂,此类试剂对环境及人类健康的危害非常高。在本工作中,我们基于已报道的高效率给体共轭聚合物PBDB-T,通过扩大共轭侧链结构与增长柔性烷基侧链的方式,合成了新型给体聚合物PBDB-DT。PBDB-DT中较长的柔性烷基侧链保证了其在低毒性溶剂四氢呋喃(THF)溶液中良好的溶解度,同时,扩大的共轭侧链也有效增强了其在THF中的溶液聚集作用,这一特性对于在非富勒烯型OSC器件中获得较好的光伏性能尤其重要。当采用非富勒烯小分子IT-M作为电子受体材料时,以THF为主溶剂加工的基于PBDB-DT:IT-M的OSC器件可以获得10.2%的能量转换效率。     

骨架非稠合的电子受体在聚合物太阳能电池中的应用

Non-fullerene electron acceptors have attracted enormous attention of the research community owing to their advantages of optoelectronic and chemical tunabilities for promoting high-performance polymer solar cells (PSCs). Among them, fused-ring electron acceptors (FREAs) are the most popular ones with the good structural planarity and rigidity, which successfully boost the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of PSCs to over 14%. In considering the cost-control of future scale-up applications, it is also worthwhile to explore novel structures that are easy to synthesize and still maintain the advantages of FREAs. In this work, we design and synthesize a new electron acceptor with an unfused backbone, 5, 5'-((2, 5-bis((2-hexyldecyl)oxy)-1, 4-phenylene)bis(thiophene-2-yl))bis(methanylylidene)) bis(3-oxo-2, 3-dihydro-1H-indene-2, 1-diylidene))dimal-ononitrile (ICTP), which contains two thiophenes and one alkoxy benzene as the core and 2-(3-oxo-2, 3-dihydroinden-1-ylidene) malononitrile (IC) as the terminal groups. The synthetic route to ICTP involves only three steps, with high yields. Density functional theory calculations indicate that the non-covalent interactions, O…H and O…S, help reinforce the space conformation between the central core and the terminals. ICTP shows broad and strong absorption in the long-wavelength range between 500 and 760 nm. The highest occupied molecular orbital and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital levels of ICTP were measured to be -5.56 and -3.84 eV by cyclic voltammetry. The suitable absorption and energy levels make ICTP a good acceptor candidate for medium bandgap polymer donors. The best devices based on PBDB-T:ICTP showed a PCE of 4.43%, with an open circuit voltage (V_OC) of 0.97 V, a short circuit current density (J_SC) of 8.29 mA∙cm^-2, and a fill factor (FF) of 0.55, after adding 1% 1, 8-diiodooctane (DIO) as the solvent additive. Atomic force microscopy revealed that DIO could ameliorate the strong aggregation in the blended film and lead to a smoother film surface. The hole and electron mobilities of the optimized device were measured to be 9.64 and 2.03 × 10^-5 cm²∙V^-1∙s^-1, respectively, by the space-charge-limited current method. The relatively low mobilities might be responsible for the moderate PCE. Further studies can be performed to enlarge the conjugation length by including more aromatic rings. This study provides a simple strategy to design non-fullerene acceptors and a valuable reference for the future development of PSCs.     

氧分压对固体氧化物电解池性能的影响

High-temperature (700–900 ℃) steam electrolysis based on solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs) is valuable as an efficient and clean path for large-scale hydrogen production with nearly zero carbon emissions, compared with the traditional paths of steam methane reforming or coal gasification. The operation parameters, in particular the feeding gas composition and pressure, significantly affect the performance of the electrolysis cell. In this study, a computational fluid dynamics model of an SOEC is built to predict the electrochemical performance of the cell with different sweep gases on the oxygen electrode. Sweep gases with different oxygen partial pressures between 1.01 × 10³ and 1.0 × 10⁵ Pa are fed to the oxygen electrode of the cell, and the influence of the oxygen partial pressure on the chemical equilibrium and kinetic reactions of the SOECs is analyzed. It is shown that the rate of increase of the reversible potential is inversely proportional to the oxygen partial pressure. Regarding the overpotentials caused by the ohmic, activation, and concentration polarization, the results vary with the reversible potential. The Ohmic overpotential is constant under different operating conditions. The activation and concentration overpotentials at the hydrogen electrode are also steady over the entire oxygen partial pressure range. The oxygen partial pressure has the largest effect on the activation and concentration overpotentials on the oxygen electrode side, both of which decrease sharply with increasing oxygen partial pressure. Owing to the combined effects of the reversible potential and polarization overpotentials, the total electrolysis voltage is nonlinear. At low current density, the electrolysis cell shows better performance at low oxygen partial pressure, whereas the performance improves with increasing oxygen partial pressure at high current density. Thus, at low current density, the best sweep gas should be an oxygen-deficient gas such as nitrogen, CO₂, or steam. Steam is the most promising because it is easy to separate the steam from the by-product oxygen in the tail gas, provided that the oxygen electrode is humidity-tolerant. However, at high current density, it is best to use pure oxygen as the sweep gas to reduce the electric energy consumption in the steam electrolysis process. The effects of the oxygen partial pressure on the power density and coefficient of performance of the SOEC are also discussed. At low current density, the electrical power demand is constant, and the efficiency decreases with growing oxygen partial pressure, whereas at high current density, the electrical power demand drops, and the efficiency increases.