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The local breakdown behavior may be harmful to solar cells and could possibly permanently damage the cell. Therefore, understanding the breakdown mechanisms in commercially competitive photovoltaic devices such as monocrystalline silicon (Si) solar cells is of great importance. Here, by using the reverse-biased electroluminescence (ReBEL) imaging technique, we observed three types of breakdown phenomena in monocrystalline Si solar cells: defect-induced breakdown, avalanche breakdown, and early breakdown. We have applied a variety of methods to diagnose each breakdown mechanism. The positions of defect-induced breakdown were first determined by combining EL and ReBEL imaging. An innovation method, the distributed circuit modeling was further introduced to trace the formation of different defect-induced breakdown sites. It is firstly applied this approach in the analysis of the breakdown mechanism. Then, avalanche breakdown was demonstrated by the temperature coefficient. The origin of its emission spectra was analyzed by the Si energy band structure combined with Baraff theory. Moreover, the characteristic of early breakdown was found to be consistent with the Zener effect, which may be caused by the metal stains such as aluminum (Al) during the manufacturing process.

In this paper, Sb2S3 thin-film solar cells are fabricated by the vapor transport deposition (VTD) method. The effect of the source-substrate proximity on the performance of Sb2S3 thin-film solar cells has been investigated and comparative studies of different source-substrate proximity are carried out. The device efficiency is improved from 0.83 to 3.02% by optimizing the source-substrate proximity with the augment of open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current density and fill factor. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy studies indicate that the deposited Sb2S3 films can achieve optimal grain orientation, high crystallinity, and compact morphology. Moreover, the current transport mechanism is analyzed in detail from dark current density–voltage (J-V) measurements and shows the optimal sample to be least affected by Shockley-Read-Hall recombination and space-charge-limited current (SCLC). Meanwhile, temperature and light intensity-dependent open-circuit voltage measurements reveal the carrier recombination rates are lowest for the optimal cell in all regions, including the CdS/Sb2S3 interface, the space-charge region (SCR), and the quasi-neutral region (QNR). These can account for the efficiency enhancement of the optimal cell and can be used to facilitate the further development of Sb2S3 thin-film solar cells.

Kinases are indispensable signaling components. Radioactive-based phosphorylation assays are widely used but require specific protective equipment and safety trainings. Here, we present a Phos-tag-based non-radioactive kinase assay to study Arabidopsis kinase activities. We expressed and purified both kinase and substrate proteins from E. coli cells and then used the Phos-tag technology to detect the kinase activities under either different temperatures or chemical treatments. This non-radioactive approach is environmentally friendly and applicable to other kinases and organisms. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Lin et al. (2022).

Although it is well known that plants respond to UV-B light, how UV-B regulates plant growth and development in an organ-specific manner remains unknown. Two recent reports by Yang et al. and Qian et al. show that the UV-B photoreceptor UVR8 interacts with different MYB transcription factors in arabidopsis (A. thaliana) cotyledons and roots to control cotyledon expansion and lateral root growth, respectively.

Superstrate ITO/CdS/Sb2Se3/Au thin-film solar cells were fabricated with a CdS film produced by a radio-frequency (RF) magnetron-sputtering method as the buffer layer. The effect of the CdS layer thickness (70–120 nm) on the properties of Sb2Se3 thin films and the performance of the solar cells was investigated. The optimal CdS thickness was 90 nm, which led to the best power conversion efficiency of 5.91%; to the best of our knowledge, this is the highest efficiency for Sb2Se3 solar cells with a sputtered CdS buffer layer to date. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope results indicated that the Sb2Se3 films grown on 90-nm-thick CdS layers had the optimal grain orientation and the best morphology. The current–voltage (J–V) and admittance results indicated that the Sb2Se3 cell with a 90-nm-thick CdS layer had the lowest saturation current and the smallest defect densities. Moreover, temperature- and light intensity-dependent open-circuit (Voc) measurements revealed that the carrier recombination rates at the CdS/Sb2Se3 interface, space-charge region (SCR), and quasi-neutral region (QNR) all achieved the smallest value for the Sb2Se3 cells with a 90-nm CdS buffer layer. These data account for the optimal cell performance and offer new research directions for solving challenges of chemical bath deposition of CdS in Sb2Se3 solar cells.

Electronic transport mechanisms in Sb2Se3 thin-film solar cells were investigated using temperature-dependent current-voltage (J-V) measurements. Sb2Se3 thin films were deposited via the vapor transporting deposition method using a double-temperature-zone tubular furnace system, and comparative studies were performed for Sb2Se3 films formed on substrates located at three different positions away from the furnace center. The device efficiency varied from 3.83 to 6.24%. First, structural properties obtained by X-ray diffraction, Raman and scanning electron microscopy measurements verified the optimal Sb2Se3 film quality for the cell with the highest efficiency. Then, temperature-dependent saturation current and open-circuit voltage (Voc) measurements revealed that the dominant carrier recombination occurred in the CdS/Sb2Se3 interface region, which possibly influenced the Voc for all cells: the highest Voc for the optimal Sb2Se3 cell was at least partly due to it having the lowest CdS/Sb2Se3 interface recombination rate. Finally, the reverse bias current relationship revealed that non-ohmic shunt current (space-charge-limited current, SCLC) plays an important role in affecting the performance of solar cells, as lower-efficiency cells had higher non-ohmic shunt current.

A two-dimensional distributed resistance model has been used to simulate the measured dark current-voltage (J-V) curve and the absolute electroluminescence (EL) images of a GaAs solar cell, with the deviation between the simulated and experimental results smaller than 5%. The effects of different kind of defects on the EL distributions with various current densities were also analyzed, and it has been demonstrated that it was possible to identify the defects by analyzing the current-density dependent EL distributions and also by analyzing the current-density dependent voltage difference (ΔV) between the defects and normal points.

Sb2Se3 thin films prepared by vapor transport deposition (VTD) method have been treated by post annealing process at 200 °C in vacuum condition for 1 h, and the comparative studies between the post annealing treatment (PAT) and without the treatment were carried out. The device efficiency was improved from 4.89% to 5.72% by PAT via the augment of open-circuit voltage and fill factor. Electrical properties from dark J-V and C-V measurements, structural properties from X-ray diffraction, Raman and scanning electron microscope measurements, defect properties from admittance measurements have been compared for the two cell samples. The Sb2Se3 cell sample with PAT was found to own less parallel current pathways, larger built-in voltage, better crystalline and lower defects densities, which may account for the efficiency enhancement.

Admittance measurements were performed on Sb2Se3-based thin-film solar cells with energy conversion efficiencies from 3.85% to 5.91%. Three defects located at different energy levels above the valence band maximum (VBM) in the ranges of 0.3–0.4, 0.2–0.6 and 0.5–0.6 eV were identified for all cells and denoted D1, D2 and D3, respectively; the exact energy level of each defect within these ranges varied between cells. Correlations between the defect properties and the cell efficiencies were investigated and it was found that the activation energies of both D1 and D2 increased with decreasing efficiencies, the capture lifetime of holes increased with increasing efficiencies for both D1 and D2, and no obvious relationship with efficiency was found for D3. This indicated that D1 and D2 may play more important roles that affect the efficiencies in the measured samples. DC reverse bias-dependent admittance measurements enabled identification of D1 and D2 as bulk-type defects while D3 was identified as an interface or near-interface type defect. Finally, large parasitic series resistance and inductance effect, instead of defects, were considered to dominate the admittance spectra in the high frequency range (> 105 Hz).

High ambient temperatures have adverse impacts on crop yields. Although a few plant thermosensors have been reported, these sensors directly or indirectly impact PIF4-controlled transcriptional regulation. Moreover, high temperatures also trigger a number of post-transcriptional alternative splicing events in plants and even in animals. Here, we show that LAMMER kinase AFC2 in

We report the construction of MoS2-Co3S4 hybrid with hollow nanostructure that delivers highly reactive and durable energy storage functionalities as lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors via facile solvothermal synthesis. As a lithium-ion battery anode, it is proven to achieve high reversible capacity (880 mA h g−1 at 0.1 A g−1 after 200 cycles) with excellent cycle performance. It exhibits a superior specific capacitance (1369 F g−1 at 1 A g−1) of and 83% capacity retention after 10,000 cycles when evaluated as an electrode for supercapacitors. The enhanced performance of energy storage is attributed to the improved conductivity and increased active sites due to the hollow structure and synergistic effect. First principles calculations are employed with the nudged elastic band method to investigate the inner mechanisms of enhanced battery property. This work paves the way for the preparation of promising energy storage material on the base of MoS2 composite.

A central challenge in large scale sustainable hydrogen production by electrolyzing water is to develop efficient and economical electocatalysts with nanostructural materials. This work herein reports the facile solvothermal synthesis of MoS2/Co3S4 hollow nanostructural co-catalyst with high activity and stability for electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) by compositing cheap and HER-active MoS2 on Co3S4 HER catalyst. By morphology and structure modulations, this high-quality nanostructure, which is confirmed by several characterizing techniques, can be considered as excellent catalyst to split water into H2 in a wide pH range via the electric drive. Corresponding electrochemical measurement results of 55.6 mV dec−1 and 115.3 mV dec−1 Tafel slope in acid (pH = 0.3) and alkaline (pH = 14) media demonstrates our predictions. We believe that such performance improvement is mainly due to the much increased active sites for catalysis because of composition process and hollow structure. These findings open up an effective and propagable strategy for nanostructural HER catalysts synthesis.

Photomorphogenesis is a pivotal developmental strategy used by plants to respond to environmental light levels. During emergence from the soil and the establishment of photomorphogenesis, seedlings encounter increasing levels of UV-B irradiation and develop adaptive responses accordingly. However, the molecular mechanisms that orchestrate UV-B signaling cascades remain elusive. Here, we provide biochemical and genetic evidence that the prolonged signaling circuits of UV-B–induced photomorphogenesis involve two sets of E3 ligases and a transcription factor in Arabidopsis thaliana. The UV-B–inducible protein RUP1/RUP2 associates with the CUL4-DDB1 scaffold to form an E3 ligase, which represses photomorphogenesis by mediating the degradation of HY5, the hub transcription factor in the light signaling pathway. Conversely, COP1 directly targets RUP1/RUP2 for ubiquitination and degradation, leading to balanced RUP1/RUP2 accumulation, alleviation of the COP1–HY5 interaction, and stabilization of HY5 protein. Therefore, our study reveals that these two E3-substrate modules, CUL4-DDB1-RUP1/RUP2-HY5 and COP1-RUP1/RUP2, constitute the repression and derepression machinery by which plants respond to prolonged UV-B irradiation in photomorphogenic development.

Hydrogen evolution is of great significance for reducing carbon emissions and realizing carbon-neutral. Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) by water splitting has no carbon emissions and pollution, but it is still necessary to reduce cost and enhance catalytic activity. Herein, we report an ultra-thin Ti2NTx MXene-wrapped metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)-derived CoP composite (Ti2NTx@MOF-CoP), which is a bifunctional catalyst with low cost and high activity. We synthesize the Ti2NTx@MOF-CoP composite by phosphating the precursor ZIF-67 self-assembled with Ti2NTx MXene nanosheets. The Ti2NTx@MOF-CoP electrode shows competitive hydrogen evolution performance in a wide pH-range (current density of 10 mA cm−2) and has a low overpotential (η) of 112 mV in pH = 14 especially. The Ti2NTx@MOF-CoP electrode for OER also has a low η = 241 mV at 50 mA cm−2. Based on the bifunctional activity of Ti2NTx@MOF-CoP in alkaline, we set a dual-electrode configuration for HER and OER. It has a bias of 1.61 V at 10 mA cm−2, with impressive catalytic stability during a 20 h measurement. MOFs-derived CoP has a large specific surface area and strong catalytic activity. Ti2NTx as a novel member of the MXene family not only can increase the active sites, but also can improve the stability of heterojunction catalysts. It reveals that the Ti2NTx@MOF-CoP composite has great potential in hydrogen evolution and water oxidation, thus reducing carbon emissions and protecting the environment.

The combination of lasers and solar cells has potential applications in many areas. Therefore, investigating the laser induced damage and defect formation in such cells is crucial. In this study, a Cu(In, Ga)Se2 solar cell was irradiated with a 532 nm continuous wave laser beam. The damage threshold power density with irradiation for 10 s was found to be approximately 5000 W/cm2 by analyzing the light current density–voltage curves and the variation of the solar cell efficiency after laser exposure. Further, absolute electroluminescence (EL) imaging with distributed circuit modeling was used to determine the laser induced defects. By simulating the measured injection current dependent EL intensities of the defect spots, the defects created by exposure to laser power densities less than 5000 W/cm2 could be mainly attributed to increased series resistance or increased transparent conductive oxide layer resistance, whereas those created by exposure to laser power densities greater than 5000 W/cm2 could be mainly attributed to decreased shunt resistance.

Plants have evolved various photoreceptors to adapt to changing light environments, and photoreceptors can inactivate the large CONSTITUTIVE PHOTOMORPHOGENIC/DE-ETIOLATED/FUSCA (COP/DET/FUS) protein complex to release their repression of photoresponsive transcription factors. Here, we tracked the origin and evolution of COP/DET/FUS in Archaeplastida and found that most components of COP/DET/FUS were highly conserved. Intriguingly, the COP1-SUPPRESSOR OF PHYA-105 (SPA) protein originated in Chlorophyta but subsequently underwent a distinct evolutionary history in Viridiplantae. SPA experienced duplication events in the ancestors of specific clades after the colonization of land by plants and was divided into two clades (clades A and B) within euphyllophytes (ferns and seed plants). Our phylogenetic and experimental evidences support a new evolutionary model to clarify the divergence and convergence of light signaling during plant evolution.

Current defect inspection methods for photovoltaic (PV) devices based on electroluminescence (EL) imaging technology lack juggling both labor-saving and in-depth understanding of defects, restricting the progress towards yield improvement and higher efficiency. Herein, we propose an adaptive approach for automatic solar cell defect detection and classification based on absolute EL imaging. Specifically, we first develop an unsupervised algorithm to automatically detect defects referring to the defect features in EL images. Then a diagnosis approach is proposed, which statistically classifies the detected defects based on the electrical origin. To the best of our knowledge, the proposed method is the first effort to integrate automatic defect detection with fine-grained classification. Experimental results on multiple types of solar cells show that the proposed method can achieve the average uncertainty of 5.15% at the minimum, with by up to 98.90% optimization ratio compared with two conventional methods. The proposed method is expected to provide more guiding feedback in both practical design and reliability diagnosis of the PV industry.

It is significant to exploit novel electrode materials because at present the severe capacity decline and slow ion kinetics limit the broad application of lithium-based batteries. Herein, we have prepared the metal–organic frameworks-derived CoP anchored on Ti3C2 MXene (MOFs-CoP@MXene) and fully explored its synergy as an efficient bifunctional electrode for enhanced lithium storage for the first time. It is gratifying that the prepared MOFs-CoP@MXene provides a high capacity of 706.5 mAh g−1 after 200 cycles at 0.2 A g−1, as the anode for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). It can provide 585.8 mAh g−1 after 1000 cycles with 0.5 A g−1. The MOFs-CoP@MXene anode has robust lithium-ion storage capacity, indicating that it can increase the charge transfer rate and improve Li+ diffusion kinetics with enhanced electrochemical activity. As lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) cathode, MOFs-CoP@MXene/S shows 796.9 mAh g−1 after 300 cycles at 0.2C. MOFs-derived CoP coupling with MXene exhibits enhanced capture capacity of sulfur, facilitating the conversion of polysulfides. The results show that the MOFs-CoP@MXene composite prepared for the first time are feasible as both the anode of LIBs and the cathode of LSBs.

In this study, Sb2(S,Se)3 thin films are fabricated using the vapor transport deposition (VTD) method, with Sb2Se3 and Sb2S3 mixed powders as the evaporation source. The performance of the corresponding glass/ITO/CdS/Sb2(S,Se)3/Au solar cells are found to be correlated to the mass ratio between Sb2S3 and the overall powder mixture. The properties of the Sb2(S,Se)3 thin films and cell devices adopting four different Sb2S3 mass ratios (x = 0.1, 0.25, 0.5 and 0.75) are compared. Further, the electrical properties – from dark and light J-V measurements; structural properties – from X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope measurements; and carrier-recombination rates at the buffer/absorber interface in the space-charge region (SCR) and in the quasi-neutral region – from temperature-illumination-dependent open-circuit voltage (VOC) measurements – are compared. It is found that a Sb2(S,Se)3 solar cell with a Sb2S3 mass ratio of 0.25 had optimal crystallinity, the lowest density of deep traps and the smallest carrier-recombination rates at the interface, leading to a high efficiency of 7.31%.

Acridone derivatives have much attracted attention due to their objective photoelectric properties. However, their applications in nonlinear optical (NLO) materials are rarely studied. In this work, we designed and synthesized four D-π-A-π-D acridone derivatives and one D-A-D type derivative as comparison. The effects of the structure on photophysics, electrochemistry and the third-order nonlinear optics were analyzed by UV spectrophotometer, fluorescence spectrophotometer, cyclic voltammetry and Z-scan technique. The results show that the introduction of acetylene group as a bridge is conducive to intramolecular charge transfer and can maintain the planarity of the molecule and enhances the third-order NLO properties. In the four target products, YA4 has the best third-order NLO properties, with its second-order hyperpolarizability γ (γ = 5.792 × 10−33 esu) 1.36 times that of YA1 (γ = 4.262 × 10−33 esu) and 6267 times that of urea (γ = 0.68 × 10−36 esu). The study showed that introducing an appropriate length of alkane chain into acridone derivatives can effectively reduce the intermolecular interference and improve their third-order NLO performance.

The jasmonate signaling pathway has been established for 10 years. Nonetheless, two recent reports suggest that its temporal and spatial regulation is worth further investigation. These reports show that jasmonate responses decay gradually with increasing plant age and that signaling components vary between different tissues.

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) based on ZnO were fabricated on a p -Si substrate by using a pulsed laser deposition system. Significant electroluminescence (EL) improvement was demonstrated with the insertion of an HfO 2 electron blocking layer (EBL) in n -ZnO/ p -Si heterojunctions. Distinct near-band-edge emission at around 392 nm accompanying by a broadly strong visible emission was achieved when a proper thickness of HfO 2 EBL was used. Current-voltage and capacitance-voltage measurements confirmed that a proper thickness of the HfO 2 EBL can effectively balance the injection of electrons and holes, resulting in an increase of radiative recombination in the ZnO active layer and thus enhancing the EL performance of the devices. Five independent emissions corresponding to five different transition processes were proposed to clarify the EL origination of the n -ZnO/HfO 2 / p -Si heterojunction LEDs by Gaussian deconvolutions. It is hoped that results in this work should be helpful for the development of ZnO-based LEDs that can integrate ZnO with the Si planar technology.

In this work, we synthesized the three differently structured MoS 2 including flower-like, sphere and porous as electrocatalysts for hydrogen production. Based on the experiment results, we proposed reasonable formation mechanisms for the differently structured MoS 2 . Since the final obtained flower-like MoS 2 possessed a mass of active sites with densely stacked MoS 2 multi-slices, it could deliver the optimal HER (hydrogen evolution reaction) activity. In order to give a theoretical explanation for the inherent mechanism, the first-principles investigation based on density functional theory (DFT) was further performed to survey the adsorption characteristic of H atom in MoS 2 at different sites. In short, the corresponding calculations gave the theoretical explanation for the different HER performance and provided valuable references for the future studies.

A novel mid-long-infrared two-color photodetector is proposed. It combines quantum cascade detector (QCD) and surface plasmonic coupling structure. The reflection spectrum and electric field are analyzed by algorithm of finite difference time domain method (FDTD). This QCD is sensitive to 4.4 μm and 9.0 μm infrared light. Mid-infrared and long-infrared pixels are interlaced arranged with specific plasmonic micro-cavity structures integrated. 7.1 and 7 times enhancement in optical absorption are obtained for mid-infrared and long-infrared pixels, respectively. Besides, a polarization-discriminating detection performance has been observed.

Ultraviolet-B (UV-B) light suppresses hypocotyl elongation. Although UV-B photo-perception mechanisms have been well investigated, the signaling events from UV-B photoreceptor to downstream transcription are largely unknown. Two recent papers illustrate that the UV-B photoreceptor directly inhibits its interacting transcription factors and reveal the missing link between UV-B perception and transcriptional regulation.

We present a joint experimental and theoretical investigation on a long wavelength infrared quantum cascade detector to reveal its dark current paths. The temperature dependence of the dark current is measured. It is shown that there are two different transport mechanisms, namely resonant tunneling at low temperatures and thermal excitation at higher temperature, dominate the carrier flow, respectively. Moreover, the experimental intersubband transition energies obtained by the magneto-transport measurements matches the theoretical predictions well. With the aid of the calculated band structures, we can explain the observed oscillation phenomena of the dark current under the magnetic field very well. The obtained results provide insight into the transport properties of quantum cascade detectors thus providing a useful tool for device optimization.

The incidence of melanoma in both males and females continues to rise during the past 40 years despite the stable or declining trends for most cancer types. Due to the tremendous advance in immunobiology and molecular biology, breakthroughs in both immunotherapies and molecular targeted therapies have recently revolutionized the standard of care for patients with advanced melanoma. In 2011, US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ipilimumab, an anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) antibody for metastatic melanoma therapy. Since then, novel drugs including antibodies to programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) such as pembrolizumab and nivolumab (both approved in 2014), selective BRAF inhibitors such as vemurafenib (approved in 2011), dabrafenib (approved in 2013); and MEK inhibitor trametinib (approved in 2013), have greatly extended the potential of immunotherapy and molecular targeted therapy for advanced melanoma. All of which have been demonstrated a significant increase in overall survival rate, and long-term benefits in multiple large clinical trials. Several new agents and novel therapies are currently under phase III clinical trials with the hope of being approved in the near future. We already entered a golden era in oncology that are providing significant survival improvement. In the meantime, new challenges for clinicians also started to emerge. In this review, we presented the existing evidence for the newest treatments for advanced melanoma, including CTLA-4, PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitors and BRAF, MEK inhibitors. We also discussed the strengths, limitations and challenges of using these novel therapies, and potential solutions as well as highlighted the areas requiring further research.

Ethnopharmacological relevance Kai-Xin-San (KXS) has been prescribed by TCM doctors for treating psychiatric diseases with the core symptoms of anhedonia, amnesia, and dizziness. According to the symptoms of patients, KXS series formulae are created by varying the compatible ratio of herbs. Today, these formulae are still used in the clinic to treat major depressive disorders. Aim of the study We hoped to evaluate the antidepressant-like effect of Kai-Xin-San via regulation of the gut-brain axis. Materials and methods Standardized extracts of three representative compatible ratios of KXS had been prepared, and quality control of the extracts was performed by HPLC-MS/MS. Chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS)-induced depression-like mice were used as the depression animal model. After KXS treatment, the antidepressant-like effects of KXS were assessed by behavioural tests. The gut microbiota compositions in the faeces were determined by 16S rRNA sequencing technology. The levels of LPS, pro-inflammatory cytokines and HPA-axis-related hormones were measured by ELISA kits, and the expression of barrier proteins in the small intestines and prefrontal cortex were determined by Western blot analysis. Furthermore, antibiotics were used to determine the correlation between KXS exerting an antidepressant-like effect and regulating the gut-brain axis. Results KXS alleviated depression-like behaviours in CUMS-exposed mice. Furthermore, these parameters were also found to be changed after KXS treatment. Alteration of the gut microbiota composition were found in the small intestines. A decrease in the LPS and the pro-inflammatory cytokines were found in both the small intestine and brain. An increase in the tight junction proteins was found in the gut epithelium barrier and the blood-brain barrier. A decrease in the stress-related hormones was found in the central nervous system. Furthermore, antibiotic treatment attenuated the antidepressant-like effect of KXS in CUMS-exposed mice. Conclusions KXS exerted an antidepressant-like effect regulating the gut-brain axis, which included gut micro-environment modification, suppression of neuronal inflammation in the brain and inhibition of HPA axis activation in CUMS-induced depression-like mice.

We propose a Ni doped MoSe2/Ti2NTx MXene nanosheet heterostructure engineering (represented as Ni–MoSe2/Ti2NTx) with low cost and high efficiency as an electrocatalyst, which can stably perform bifunctional overall water splitting for a long time. Ti2NTx as a 2D conductive substrate can promote electron transfer and avoid MoSe2 agglomeration, and MoSe2 has rich active sites. The purpose of doping metal Ni is to adjust the electronic structure of the MoSe2/Ti2NTx heterojunction effectively and further improve the Ni–MoSe2/Ti2NTx catalytic activity. Therefore, the Ni–MoSe2/Ti2NTx catalyst in alkaline media exhibits excellent catalytic and synergistic effects in terms of the activities of both hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions (HER and OER). In short, Ni–MoSe2/Ti2NTx exhibits overpotential as low as 92 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm−2 and Tafel slope (79.7 mV dec−1) for HER performance in alkaline media. In terms of OER performance, Ni–MoSe2/Ti2NTx displays remarkable overpotential (270 mV at 50 mA cm−2) and Tafel slope (81.1 mV dec−1). In overall water splitting configuration, Ni–MoSe2/Ti2NTx electrodes used as bifunctional electrocatalysts only need 1.59 V at 10 mA cm−2. The Ni–MoSe2/Ti2NTx heterostructure engineering with excellent durability is instructive to the overall water splitting configuration.

We investigated the electrochemical performance of reduced graphene oxide (rGO)/carbon nanotube (CNT) hybrid papers as binder-free anodes for potassium-ion batteries. RGO/CNT hybrid papers were fabricated by vacuum filtration and thermal reduction. The potassium-ion storage ability of rGO paper was significantly enhanced by CNT incorporation and the electrochemical performance of the hybrid papers was related to the weight ratio of CNTs. The optimal rGO/CNT-30% paper can deliver an initial reversible discharge capacity of 351 and 223 mA h g−1 at a current density of 10 and 50 mA g−1, respectively. A capacity of 148 mA h g−1 was achieved after 200 cycles at a current density of 50 mA g−1. The enhanced performance of rGO/CNT hybrid papers is attributed to the formation of a 3D conductive carbon network, in which the graphene layers are bridged by CNTs. Such a structure could effectively facilitate the transport of electrons and potassium ions and provide more storage sites for potassium ions.

High temperature activates the transcription factor PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTOR4 (PIF4) to stimulate auxin signaling, which causes hypocotyl elongation and leaf hyponasty (thermomorphogenesis). HOOKLESS1 (HLS1) is a recently reported positive regulator of thermomorphogenesis, but the molecular mechanisms by which HLS1 regulates thermomorphogenesis remain unknown. In this study, we initially compared PIF4- and/or HLS1-dependent differential gene expression (DEG) upon high-temperature treatment. We found that a large number of genes are coregulated by PIF4 and HLS1, especially genes involved in plant growth or defense responses. Moreover, we found that HLS1 interacts with PIF4 to form a regulatory module and that, among the HLS1-PIF4-coregulated genes, 27.7% are direct targets of PIF4. We also identified 870 differentially alternatively spliced genes (DASGs) in wild-type plants under high temperature. Interestingly, more than half of these DASG events (52.4%) are dependent on both HLS1 and PIF4, and the spliceosome-defective mutant plantsexhibit a hyposensitive response to high temperature, indicating that DASGs are required for thermomorphogenesis. Further comparative analyses showed that the HLS1/PIF4-coregulated DEGs and DASGs exhibit almost no overlap, suggesting that high temperature triggers two distinct strategies to control plant responses and thermomorphogenesis. Taken together, these results demonstrate that the HLS1-PIF4 module precisely controls both transcriptional and posttranscriptional regulation during plant thermomorphogenesis., This study reveals that PIF4 and HOOKLESS1 coregulate a proportion of differential gene expression and alternative splicing events during thermomorphogenesis in Arabidopsis.

MXenes, a new class of two-dimensional materials, possessing high electrical conductivity and unique surface properties，have exhibited great potential as non-noble metal catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, due to poor oxidation resistance, they are easily oxidized in aqueous solution and high humidity environment, resulting in a great loss of electronic properties and surface reactivity. Herein, we report a simple and effective composite synthesis strategy with TiOF2 intercalation to improve the stability of MXenes materials. TiOF2@Ti3C2Tx prepared by this strategy shows ultra-long catalytic activity life of 1000 cycles in acid electrolyte. Besides，the catalyst also shows high HER activity with a low onset potential of 103 mV and a Tafel slope as low as 56.2 mV dec−1. Benefiting from the stabilization of TiOF2 and the physicochemical properties of Ti3C2Tx, TiOF2@Ti3C2Tx also exhibits excellent humidity sensitivity and stability.

ETHYLENE INSENSITIVE 2 (EIN2), an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) localized protein, plays a central role in relaying the ethylene signal from ER perception to the nucleus. Two recent reports reveal the novel role for EIN2 in translational control, providing another layer of regulation for ethylene signal transduction.

Three flower-like and one rod-shape cubic Cu 2 S nanostructures were successfully synthesized from a facile hydrothermal method employing CuCl 2 ·2H 2 O and thiourea as Cu and S source with different volume ratio of ethanol and distilled water, respectively. Hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium Bromide (CTAB) plays an important role in forming the nanorod. After thermal annealing treatment, tetragonal Cu 1.81 S nanoflower and nanorod were obtained for the first time. Field emission (FE) properties of these nanostructures were investigated for the first time. The results indicated that the tetragonal Cu 1.81 S nanorods had excellent field emission performance with turn-on field of ∼2.2 V μm −1 , threshold field of ∼5.1 V μm −1 and enhancement factor of 1532. It showed that the tetragonal Cu 1.81 S nanostructures were competitive material in field emission applications.

Three pure V 2 O 5 micro/nano-structures including rods, hierarchical wires and porous tubes are synthesized via a chemical vapor deposition process by adjusting the oxidation temperature. Their surface-to-volume ratio increases significantly because of particle size decrease, pore quantity increase and hollow structure formation. Lithium-ion storage investigation in aqueous electrolyte indicates that the enlargement of surface area can suppress irreversible phase transition and lead to significant improvement of cycling stability, storage capacity and electrochemical kinetics. Furthermore, scan-rate dependence cyclic voltammetry analysis demonstrates that both pseudocapacitive and bulk Li + storage are within these V 2 O 5 electrodes and the relative contributions of them depend strongly on the scan rate. In porous V 2 O 5 micro/nano-tubes, the surface pseudocapacitive storage dominates the total storage capacity at scan rates above 0.06 V s −1 , whereas the bulk Li + storage is the domination effect for V 2 O 5 micro/nano-rods at the scan rate ranging from 0.02 to 0.3 V s −1 . At the special scan rate, the maximum and minimum capacity is observed in V 2 O 5 porous micro/nano-tubes and micro/nano-rods, respectively. These studies should be useful for elucidating the morphological effects on Li-ion storage for V 2 O 5 -based electrodes. By varying key morphological parameters, the pseudocapacitive properties of V 2 O 5 micro/nano-structure electrodes are expected to be affected.

Interlayer exchange coupling (IEC) in a series model diluted magnetic semiconductor (DMS) multilayer consisting of two magnetic (Ga, Co)N layers separated by non-doped or Mg-doped GaN non-magnetic spacers has been studied by first-principles calculations. The effects of the spacer thickness and hole doping to the IEC were studied systematically. It is observed that (1) for the GaN spacers without Mg doping, the IEC between two magnetic (Ga, Co)N layers is always ferromagnetic, which is clarified as an intrinsic character of the Ruderman–Kittle–Kasuya–Yoshida (RKKY) interaction based on a two-band model for a gapped system; and (2) for the Mg-doped GaN spacers, the IEC is tunable from ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic by varying the spacer’s thickness and the dopant’s site.

The effects of annealing temperature on the structures, ferroelectric and magnetic properties of Aurivillius layer-structured Bi 5 Ti 3 FeO 15 (BTF) films were investigated. It was found that an annealing temperature above 625 °C can lead to the appearance of Bi 4 Ti 3 O 12 (BiT) secondary phase on Pt substrates. The reduction of the grain sizes was simultaneously confirmed by X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy with the introduction of the BiT phase. Moreover, the remanent polarization and coercive field of the BTF films were dramatically enhanced with the introduction of the BiT phase. Improved ferromagnetism for the BTF films was demonstrated upon increasing annealing temperature. Our data indicated that the ferroelectricity strongly correlated with the growth orientation of the BTF films. Finally, the possible factors for the obvious increase of the remanent polarization and coercive field, and the possible reasons for the enhanced ferromagnetic properties were discussed with increasing annealing temperature.

A novel method for the synthesis of water-soluble CdSe and CdSe/CdS quantum dots (QDs) under the assistance of high-intensity ultrasonic irradiation is reported. As-prepared CdSe/CdS QDs were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction and high-resolution transmission electronmicroscopy. The absorption and fluorescence emission spectra were measured to investigate the effect of CdS passivation on the electronic structure of the quantum dots. After the growth of CdS shell, the photoluminescence quantum yields of CdSe/CdS core–shell quantum dots increased three times more than that of the original CdSe QDs. The QDs were successfully used for the fluorescence imaging of cells and blood capillary.

A facile method for synthesizing color-tunable magnetic and luminescent hybrid bifunctional nanoparticles is presented. A series of CdSe/ZnS core–shell quantum dots (QDs) with different sizes were successfully fabricated and self-assembled to Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles (MNP), which were subsequently coated with a polyethyleneimine (PEI) layer to prevent large aggregates. The hydrophobic QDs capped with trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO) formed a coating surrounding MNP, and were transferred into hydrophilic phase by PEI with high efficiency. The samples were characterized by TEM, FT-IR, XRD, EDS, UV–vis spectrophotometer, fluorescent spectrophotometer and PPMS. Results show that the original properties of the nanoparticles were well-preserved in the hybrid structure. All MNP-QDs hybrid nanoparticles showed paramagnetic behavior and the nanocomposites were still highly luminescent with no shift in the PL peak position.

A highly sensitive and stable l -lactate sensor based on the synergic action of multi-wall carbon nanotube (MWCNTs) and ZnO nanoparticles has been developed. The unique sandwich-like layer structure (PDDA/LOD/ZnO/MWCNTs) provides a favorable microenvironment to keep the bioactivity of LOD and prevent enzyme molecule leakage. Therefore, the proposed l -lactate biosensor exhibited good analytical performances including high sensitivity and selectivity with satisfactory stability to amperometric determination of l -lactate. The results indicated that the proposed PDDA/LOD/ZnO/MWCNTs film was an attractive matrix for the immobilization of LOD enzymes to fabricate biosensors.