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Purpose. Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) frequently suffer from venous thromboembolic events, and the risk of thromboembolism increases along with disease activity. This study was conducted to discover novel thrombophilic markers using thromboelastography (TEG) and to evaluate the relation between the predisposing factors and the activity of disease in Chinese patients with Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). Methods. Thirty-four patients with CD, 29 patients with UC, and 53 healthy volunteers were enrolled into this study. Blood levels of R, K, α Angle, G, maximal amplitude (MA), and LY30 with TEG were determined. Results. Mean values of R, K, α Angle, G, and MA were significantly different in patients with CD and UC compared with the healthy individuals. Patients with active CD had different K, α Angle, G, and MA levels compared with patients in remission (P<0.05, P<0.001, P<0.001, and P<0.001). Levels of R, α Angle, G, and MA were also significantly different in active UC patients compared with those in remission (P<0.01, P<0.001, P<0.001, and P<0.001). Except for the G level in the CD group, differences in all TEG levels between healthy individuals and IBD patients in remission were not statistically significant. No statistical differences were observed in LY30 among patients with active phase, patients in remission, and the healthy individuals. Conclusion. Thrombophilic defects are common in Chinese patients with IBD, and TEG can be considered a new direction to anticoagulant thromboprophylaxis in IBD.

Compared with the crystalline Si solar cells, theJ-Vcharacteristics of CH3NH3PbI3perovskite solar cells are different under forward and reverse scan, and the CH3NH3PbI3film exhibits some polarization properties. To explore those performances of the mesoporous TiO2layer based perovskite solar cells, we focus on the effect of modulating the spin-coating rate of the TiO2precursor for mesoporous layer onJ-Vhysteresis of solar cells with the polar film byJ-Vcurves, atomic force microscopy topographic images, and piezoresponse force microscopy phase images. Firstly, the AFM images illustrate that the polarization behaviors exist and the deformation scale is large at the corresponding position when the DC bias voltage increases. Secondly, it is suggested that the polar films which applied the positive DC biases voltage show a tendency to 0° phase angle, while the polar films which applied the negative DC biases voltage show a tendency to −180° phase angle. Thirdly, a weak polar hysteresis loop relation for CH3NH3PbI3film was observed. Finally, the hysteresis index for the 1500 rpm mesostructured solar cell shows relatively lowJ-Vhysteresis compared with the 3000 rpm mesostructured and the planar-structured solar cell. Our experimental results bring novel routes for reducing the hysteresis and investigating the polar nature for CH3NH3PbI3material.

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have been developed rapidly in recent years. How to modify the photophysical properties of perovskite films has become the critical issue, affecting device performance. In this paper, NaI doping into the perovskite layer is attempted to modulate the photophysical properties to improve the performance of PSCs. The perovskite layer was prepared by using the one-step solution spin coating method with doping different concentrations of NaI into the perovskite precursor solution and chlorobenzene employed as the antisolvent. Experimental results show that the absorption band edge and the peak position of the PL spectrum of the doped perovskite thin film were red shifted; thus, the band gap of the semiconductor film became narrow. Doping NaI into perovskite is an effective way, by which the photophysical properties of perovskite films are well modified, thus improving device performance.

Autophagy plays an important role in tumor development because of its capacity to maintain energy homeostasis by recycling damaged intracellular proteins and organelles, and increased autophagy levels are reported to mediate drug resistance in many cancers. However, whether high autophagy levels negatively impact tumor cell growth is unknown. Herein, we found that cisplatin (ddp)-resistant cells were more sensitive to glutamine (Gln) deprivation than ddp-sensitive cells, and they showed significant G1 arrest and increased apoptosis rates under Gln-deficient conditions. Furthermore, ddp-resistant cells had a higher level of autophagy, which mediated ddp resistance. Further analysis indicated that Gln deficiency could trigger apoptosis by enhancing activation of the autophagy signaling pathway AMPK/ULK1 in ddp-resistant cells due to their high basal autophagy level. Interestingly, ddp-resistant cells were more sensitive to rapamycin, and rapamycin could efficiently suppress the growth of ddp-resistant cells in vivo. Taken together, our study demonstrated that ddp-resistant cells became vulnerable to Gln deprivation because of their increased level of autophagy, and for the first time, we showed that suppressing the growth of ddp-resistant cells via enhancing autophagy induction was possible with rapamycin treatment.

In order to optimize the charge transfer path in quantum dot sensitized solar cells (QDSCs), we employed successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction method to dope CdSe with Co for fabricating CdS/Co-doped-CdSe QDSCs constructed with CdS/Co-doped-CdSe deposited on mesoscopic TiO2film as photoanode, Pt counter electrode, and sulfide/polysulfide electrolyte. After Co doping, the bandgap of CdSe quantum dot decreases, and the conduction band and valence band all improve, forming a cascade energy level which is more conducive to charge transport inside the solar cell and reducing the recombination of electron-hole thus improving the photocurrent and ultimately improving the power conversion efficiency. This work has not been found in the literature.

The morphology of compact TiO2 film used as an electron-selective layer and perovskite film used as a light absorption layer in planar perovskite solar cells has a significant influence on the photovoltaic performance of the devices. In this paper, the spin coating speed of the compact TiO2 is investigated in order to get a high-quality film and the compact TiO2 film exhibits pinhole- and crack-free films treated by 2000 rpm for 60 s. Furthermore, the effect of annealing process, including annealing temperature and annealing program, on CH3NH3PbI3-XClX film morphology is studied. At the optimal annealing temperature of 100°C, the CH3NH3PbI3-XClX morphology fabricated by multistep slow annealing method has smaller grain boundaries and holes than that prepared by one-step direct annealing method, which results in the reduction of grain boundary recombination and the increase of Voc. With all optimal procedures, a planar fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate/compact TiO2/CH3NH3PbI3-XClX/Spiro-MeOTAD/Au cell is prepared for an active area of 0.1 cm2. It has achieved a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 14.64%, which is 80.3% higher than the reference cell (8.12% PCE) without optimal perovskite layer. We anticipate that the annealing process with optimal compact TiO2 layer would possibly become a promising method for future industrialization of planar perovskite solar cells.

For the perovskite solar cells (PSCs), the performance of the PSCs has become the focus of the research by improving the quality of the perovskite absorption layer. So far, the performance of the large-area PSCs is lower than that of small-area PSCs. In the paper, the experiments were designed to improve the photovoltaic performance of the large-area PSCs by improved processing technique. Here we investigated the optoelectronic properties of the prototypical CH3NH3PbI3(MAPbI3) further modulated by introducing other extrinsic ions (specifically codoped Cl−and 5-AVA+). Moreover, we used inorganic electron extraction layer to achieve very rapid photogenerated carrier extraction eliminating local structural defects over large areas. Ultimately, we fabricated a best-performing perovskite solar cell based on codoping Cl anion and 5-AVA cation which uses a double layer of mesoporous TiO2and ZrO2as a scaffold infiltrated with perovskite and does not require a hole-conducting layer. The experiment results indicated that an average efficiency of double-mesoporous layer-based devices with codoping Cl anion and 5-AVA cation was obtained with exceeding 50% enhancement, compared to that of pure single-mesoporous layer-based device.

Quantum dots have emerged as a material platform for low-cost high-performance sensitized solar cells. And doping is an effective method to improve the performance of quantum dot sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs). Since Kwak et al. from South Korea proved the incorporation of Mg in the CdSe quantum dots (QDs) in 2007, the Mg-doped CdSe QDs have been thoroughly studied. Here we report a new attempt on CdS/Mg-doped CdSe quantum dot cosensitized solar cells (QDCSSC). We analyzed the performance of CdS/Mg-doped CdSe quantum dot cosensitized solar cells via discussing the different doping concentration of Mg and the different SILAR cycles of CdS. And we studied the mechanism of CdS/Mg-doped CdSe QDs in detail for the reason why the energy conversion efficiency had been promoted. It is a significant instruction on the development of Mg-doped CdSe quantum dot sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs).

We use the successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method for the preparation of quantum dot sensitized solar cells, to improve the performance of solar cells by doping quantum dots. We tested the UV-Vis absorption spectrum of undoped CdS QDSCs and Cu doped CdS QDSCs with different doping ratios. The doping ratios of copper were 1 : 100, 1 : 500, and 1 : 1000, respectively. The experimental results show that, under the same SILAR cycle number, Cu doped CdS quantum dot sensitized solar cells have higher open circuit voltage, short circuit current density photoelectric conversion efficiency than undoped CdS quantum dots sensitized solar cells. Refinement of Cu doping ratio are 1 : 10, 1 : 100, 1 : 200, 1 : 500, and 1 : 1000. When the proportion of Cu and CdS is 1 : 10, all the parameters of the QDSCs reach the minimum value, and, with the decrease of the proportion, the short circuit current density, open circuit voltage, and the photoelectric conversion efficiency are all increased. When proportion is 1 : 500, all parameters reach the maximum values. While with further reduction of the doping ratio of Cu, the parameters of QDSCs have a decline tendency. The results showed that, in a certain range, the lower the doping ratio of Cu, the better the performance of quantum dot sensitized solar cell.

Semiconductor sensitized NiO photocathodes have been fabricated by successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method depositing CdTeO3quantum dots onto mesoscopic NiO films. A solar cell using CdTeO3deposited NiO mesoporous photocathode has been fabricated. It yields a photovoltage of 103.7 mV and a short-circuit current density of 0.364 mA/cm2. The incident photon to current conversion efficiency (IPCE) value is found to be 12% for the newly designed NiO/CdTeO3solar cell. It shows that the p-type NiO/CdTeO3structure could be successfully utilized to fabricate p-type solar cell.

Cadmium sulfide (CdS) quantum dots (QDs) are assembled onto the TiO2films by chemical bath deposition method (CBD). And the QDs size is controlled by the times of CBD cycles. They are characterized by UV-visible absorption. To avoid the photo corrosion and electrolyte corrosion, CdS and N719 are sequentially assembled onto the nanocrystalline TiO2films to prepare a CdS/N719 cosensitized photo electrode for the dye-sensitized solar cells. In the structure of TiO2/CdS/N719 electrode, the reorganization of energy levels between CdS and N719 forms a stepwise structure of band-edge levels which is advantageous to the electron injection and hole recovery of CdS and N719 QDs. The open circuit voltage (Voc), short circuit current density (Jsc), and efficiency are increased.

A suitable method is necessary for the high performance of dyes-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). In this paper, photoanodes of DSSCs have been fabricated through electrodeposition and combination with hydrothermal method. The results of mix method showed better performance than the single one. After the second step electrodeposition, the ZnO films formed flack finally. With the increase of hydrothermal time, ZnO films become thicker and bigger, which can offer large surface area to absorb much more dyes. The short-circuit current (2.4 mA/cm2) and open-circuit voltage (0.67 V) were greater than the single one, alternating current impedance indicating that electrodeposition and hydrothermal mix are a more suitable method for high performance DSSCs. We expected to obtain higher conversion efficiency of DSSCs by this method.

Cosensitized solar cells (CSSCs) have recently become an active subject in the field of sensitized solar cells (SSCs) due to their increasing electronic utilization. However, because of the dye molecules, layer must be single, dye-SSCs cannot be co-sensitized with two different dyes to form two different molecules layer. But it is possible to be cosensitized with quantum dots (QDs) and dyes. Here we designed novel photoanode architecture, namely, PbS QDs and N719 dyes are used as co-sensitizers of the TiO2mesoporous film. The experimental result shows that PbS QDs/N719 dyes co-sensitized structure can make PbS QDs and N719 dyes mutual improvement. Taking the advantage of PbS not only achieved higher transfer efficiency of photo-excited electron, but also achieved obviously wider range and higher intensity of absorption. The PbS QDs which have been deposited on the TiO2film was coated by N719 dyes, which can effectively prevent PbS QDs from corroding byI-/I3-electrolyte and light. As we expected, the solar energy-conversion efficiency which is showed by CSSCs fabricated following these photoanodes is relatively higher than the PbS QDs or N719 dyes, single-sensitized solar cells under the illumination of one sun.