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This study aimed to compare the effects of spirit vinegar and four types of natural fermented vinegar products (apple vinegar, brown rice vinegar, lemon vinegar, and balsamic vinegar) on the differentiation of 3T3-L1 cells and obesity in rats fed a high-fat diet (HFD). Vinegar inhibited the accumulation of lipid droplets during the differentiation of 3T3-L1 cells. Body weight gains, visceral fat pad weights, serum leptin and triglyceride levels, and hepatic lipogenic enzyme mRNA levels were significantly decreased in the HF-vinegar administered groups compared with those in the HF group. Furthermore, oral administration of vinegars significantly reduced the occurrence of fatty liver deposits and steatosis, and inhibited the HF diet-induced increase in adipocyte size. The anti-obesity and lipid-lowering effects were slightly greater in the HF-natural fermented vinegar groups than in the HF-spirit vinegar group. Apple vinegar had the strongest anti-obesity effects in 3T3-L1 cells and obese rats compared with the other tested vinegars. These findings indicated that vinegar administration may have potential for improving some obesity-related parameters in 3T3-L1 cells and obese rats.

This study examined the laxative effects of mulberry leaf extract (MLE) fermented by lactic acid bacteria (LAB), which contains high levels of polyphenolic and flavonoid compounds, against loperamide-induced constipation in rats. Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into a normal group (N) and three experimental groups; loperamide treated group (C), loperamide and LAB-fermented MLE 300 mg/kg treated group (MLEL), and loperamide and LAB-fermented MLE 600 mg/kg treated group (MLEH). After 33 d, fecal pellet amount, fecal weight, water content of fecal, gastrointestinal transit time and length, and serum lipid profiles were measured. Constipation was induced via subcutaneous injection of loperamide (2.0 mg/kg b.w., twice a day) for the final 5 d of the experiment. After loperamide administration, the LAB-fermented MLE groups showed a significantly increase in the fecal pellets number, wet weight, and water content in rats compared with the C group. Moreover, increases in the intestinal length and viable Lactobacillus numbers in the feces were observed in the LAB-fermented MLE groups. The intestinal transit time was shorter in the LAB-fermented MLE groups than in the C group. In addition, the LAB-fermented MLE groups showed a significant decrease in triglyceride and total cholesterol levels and an increase in HDL-cholesterol level. These results indicated that oral administration of LAB-fermented MLE shows laxative effect in loperamide-induced constipated rats.

We developed a graphene nanoplatelet-modified fluorine-doped tin oxide electrode (GNP/FTO) for the simultaneous detection of dopamine (DA) and uric acid (UA) in the presence of ascorbic acid (AA) and investigated the interaction mechanisms of DA, UA, and AA with GNPs considering their charging states at different pH values. Owing to the unique structure and properties originating from the oxygen and nitrogen functional groups at the edges, GNPs showed high electrocatalytic activity for the electrochemical oxidations of AA, DA, and UA with peak-to-peak potential separations (ΔEP) between AA-DA and DA-UA of ca. 0.23 and 0.17 V, respectively. These values are sufficiently high to allow the simultaneous detection of DA and UA without interference from AA. The highly sensitive and stable GNP/FTO sensor showed sensitivities of ca. 0.15 ± 0.004 and 0.14 ± 0.007 μA/μM, respectively, with detection limits of ca. 0.22 ± 0.009 and 0.28 ± 0.009 μM, respectively, for DA and UA. The sensor could detect DA and UA concentrations in human serum samples with excellent recoveries.

This study was conducted to develop calcium-fortified shank bone extract (SBE) and to determine the effect of adding calcium lactate on physico-chemical characteristics of SBE during cold storage. The following five experiment groups were used: Control (0%, no addition), T1 (0.05% calcium lactate), T2 (0.1% calcium lactate), T3 (0.5% calcium lactate), and T4 (1% calcium lactate). When the concentration of calcium lactate added to the SBE was increased, the pH, redness, and yellowness values were significantly reduced, whereas the salinity, sugar content, and turbidity of SBE were significantly increased. Sensory parameters such as aroma, flavor, and overall acceptability in the control, T1, and T2 had similar scores. The TBARS values of SBE was significantly increased when 1% of calcium lactate was added, and the VBN values of SBE with calcium lactate at day 7 were higher than that of control (p

Obesity has recently risen and become a serious health concern in Korea according to the westernized diet and altered lifestyle. Hence, there is a growing interest in the supplementation of phytochemicals to find a safe and effective functional ingredient to treat obesity. Spergularia marina Griseb (SM) has traditionally been used as a natural herb against chronic diseases in Korea. In this study, we investigated the antiobesity effects of SM in vitro and in vivo. SM ethanol extract (SME) inhibited proliferation and differentiation in murine adipocytes and primary porcine pre-adipocytes in a dose-dependent manner. In the in vivo study, supplementation of SM powder (SMP) remarkably attenuated fat accumulation in HFD-induced obese rats. In addition, SMP supplementation improved lipid profiles in the serum and tissues of high-fat induced obese rats. Collectively, these data indicated that SME exhibited antiobesity effects by modulating adipogenesis and lipolysis. Furthermore, SMP could be developed as an obesity-induced metabolic syndrome treatment.

Nanostructured copper-cobalt oxide (CuxCo3-xO4, CCO) electrodes are grown directly on conducting substrates via electrochemical deposition; then, various factors (e.g., oxygen vacancies, electrochemically active surface area, and electrical conductivity) affecting their electrocatalytic activity for oxygen evolution reactions (OERs) are studied. The observed OER performance decreases when increasing the annealing temperature due to the nanostructure deformation and agglomeration and the decreased number of oxygen vacancies, electrochemically active surface area, and electrical conductivity. An optimized nanopetal structure of CuxCo3-xO4 (x = 0.95, annealed at 200 °C) shows a considerably high Faradaic efficiency (∼93%) with a remarkably low overpotential (∼230 mV) at a benchmark current density (J) of 10 mA cm-2; at the same J in an alkaline solution (1 M KOH) for OER, it also exhibits high durability (up to 100 h). This study provides a complete guide for designing efficient and robust spinel-type CCO electrocatalysts through a facile electrochemical route. - Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) - grant #NPRP 10 1210 160019. - National Research Foundations - grant #2019M1A2A2065616, 2019R1A2C2002602. - Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP)- grant #NRF-2015M1A2A2054996, NRF-2016M1A2A2940912.

Gaining deep insight into the operative mechanism of organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices made of perylene-diimide (PDI) electron acceptors is challenging. Herein we perform a comparative study of three different solution-processable PDI-based heterojunctions for identifying the parameters limiting their OPV device performance. In all three systems the PTB7-Th polymer serves as the electron donor mixed with one of the three derivatives of the EP-PDI monomer, and the C6-PDI2 and BG-PDI2 dimers. The obtained power conversion efficiency (PCE) of these PTB7-Th:PDI systems is PCEEP-PDI = 3.65%, PCEC6-PDI2 = 5.36%, and PCEBG-PDI2 = 4.12%. Despite the existing major differences in the molecular structure of the PDI acceptors the electron transport properties of all three PTB7-Th:PDI layers remain in the same order of ∼10−6 cm2 V−1 s−1. The electron mobility is found to have an activation energy close to ∼10kT thereby reflecting a high content of physical disorder in the three PDI acceptors. The endemic characteristic of trap-limited charge transport in PDI-based OPV layers is verified by (i) the dependence of open-circuit voltage on light intensity and (ii) the transient photovoltage characterization of the PTB7-Th:PDI devices. Based on GIWAXS measurements, the size of the well-ordered electron transporting domains in the OPV layers is between 4.0 and 6.8 nm, yet no evidence for PDI nanograin morphology features of the PDI multiadducts is found by scanning electron microscopy imaging. Photoluminescence spectroscopy reveals that all three PDI derivatives form emissive excimer-like states in the solid state, albeit with a different excimer stabilization energy. The losses induced by charge trapping are found to be increased in PTB7-Th:BG-PDI2, that is the derivative exhibiting the most stabilized excimer state and the smallest domain size. The optimum device efficiency of the C6-PDI2 heterojunction is attributed to its capability to form medium-sized electron transporting domains that are less disconnected by traps of disordered C6-PDI2 dimers. These findings signify the importance for PDI-dimer electron acceptors to maintain a three-dimensional configuration when used in OPV layers.

In this letter, we report on nanostructured NiOx with particle size ∼85 nm as an efficient hole transport material (HTM) for low temperature processed inverted planar perovskite solar cell (PSC) with power conversion efficiency of 15.64%. The homogenous NiOx HTM layer facilitated the growth of high quality CH3NH3PbI3 absorber with large crystal grains and the resulting PSC showed stable photovoltaic performance under continuous illumination.

Two NIR BODIPY dyes T′2P2A and T′′2P2A were synthesized and used as photosensitizers in dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). T′2P2A and T′′2P2A were designed by incorporation of bis-thienyl vinyl and thienothiophene vinyl side-arms in the structure. This leads to a red shift in the absorption spectra leading to an enhancement in the incident photon to current conversion efficiency (IPCE). A high IPCE value of 64% at 750 nm and a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 6.06% were observed for the T′2P2A based DSSC. Furthermore, based on the complementary absorption spectra of TP2A and T′2P2A, even more efficient co-sensitized DSSCs were fabricated. The DSSC based on TP2A + T′2P2A shows an enhancement in the IPCE from 47% to 74% at 550 nm compared to that based on the single dye system T′2P2A. Finally, a high PCE of 6.67% was obtained for the TP2A + T′2P2A co-sensitized DSSC, which was higher than the performances of each individual dye.

Herein, we report a detailed study on the optoelectronic properties, photovoltaic performance, structural conformation, morphology variation, charge carrier mobility, and recombination dynamics in bulk heterojunction solar cells comprising a series of donor-acceptor conjugated polymers as electron donors based on benzodithiophene (BDT) and 5,8-bis(5-bromothiophen-2-yl)-6,7-difluoro-2,3-bis(3-(octyloxy)phenyl)quinoxaline as a function of the BDT's thienyl substitution (alkyl (WF3), alkylthio (WF3S), and fluoro (WF3F)). The synergistic positive effects of the fluorine substituents on the minimization of the bimolecular recombination losses, the reduction of the series resistances (

The aim of this study was to compare whether gochujang products prepared using giant embryo rice koji (rice gochujang, RG) and wheat koji (wheat gochujang, WG) have anti‐obesity effects on rats fed a high‐fat diet (HFD), who served as a model for obesity. The nutritional composition of RG and WG including proximate constituents, amino acid and fatty acid compositions were investigated. Consequently, the secondary fermented metabolites were analyzed in RG and WG by ultrahigh‐performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. Rats were fed a HFD containing 10% RG powder (HFD‐RG) or 10% WG powder (HFD‐WG) for 8 weeks. Body weight gain, weights of liver, epididymal, retroperitoneal, perirenal, and total white fat pads, and levels of serum triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol, low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol, and leptin were lower in all gochujang groups than in the HFD group. Furthermore, RG and WG treatment decreased the hepatic TG content and lipid accumulation and significantly reduced the size of epididymal adipocytes. These effects are probably mediated through inhibition of hepatic fatty acid synthase, acetyl CoA carboxylase, malic enzyme, and adipose tissue lipoprotein lipase activities. The anti‐obesity effect was slightly greater in the HFD‐RG group than in the HFD‐WG group. This effect may be attributed to secondary metabolites, such as capsaicin, genistein, daidzein, soyasaponin, and lysophosphatidylcholines, contained in gochujang prepared using giant embryo rice or wheat koji., The aim of this study was to compare whether gochujang products prepared using giant embryo rice koji (RG) and wheat koji (WG) have anti‐obesity effects on rats fed a high‐fat diet (HFD). Anti‐obesity effects were slightly greater in the HFD‐RG group than in the HFD‐WG group. These effects were attributed to secondary metabolites, such as capsaicin, genistein, daidzein, soyasaponin and lysophosphatidylcholines, contained in gochujang prepared using giant embryo rice or wheat koji.

In this study, nickel hydroxide nanoparticles (NPs) decorated with nitrogen doped multiwalled carbon nanotubes (N-MWCNT) hybrid composite was synthesized by thermal reduction process in the presence of cetyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) and urea. The as-synthesized Ni(OH)2@N-MWCNT hybrid composite was characterized by FTIR, Raman, XRD, BET, BJH and FE-TEM analyses. These prepared porous carbon hybrid composite materials possessed high specific surface area and sheet like morphology useful for active electrode materials. The maximum specific capacitance of Ni(OH)2@N-MWCNT hybrid nanocomposite in the two electrode system showed 350 Fg−1 at 0.5 A/g,energy density ~43.75 Wkg−1 and corresponds to power density 1500 W kg−1 with excellent capacity retention after 5000 cycles. The results suggest that the prepared two-dimensional hybrid composite is a promising electrode material for electrochemical energy storage applications.

The aim of this study was to investigate the ability of Lactobacillus plantarum EM as a starter culture to control cabbage–apple juice fermentation and to explore the cholesterol‐lowering effects of the fermented juice (EM juice) in rats. L. plantarum EM produced strong antimicrobial activities against bacteria and fungi, suppressing other microorganisms in the fermented juice, and was the dominant organism during fermentation and storage. The EM juice also showed strong and broad‐spectrum antimicrobial activity. Rats fed a high‐fat and high‐cholesterol diet and administered EM juice showed significantly reduced total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride, and LDL‐cholesterol levels, as well as a reduced atherogenic index, lower cardiac factors in serum, and lower TC levels in the liver, while total lipid and TC levels in the rat feces increased. Reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction analysis revealed that the hepatic mRNA expression of HMG‐CoA reductase decreased and the expressions of cholesterol 7α‐hydroxylase and low‐density lipoprotein receptor increased in rats administered EM juice. The effects of EM juice on rats included inhibition of cholesterol synthesis as well as enhancement of cholesterol uptake and cholesterol excretion. The results of this study indicate that the use of L. plantarum EM as a functional starter culture for juice fermentation exerts microbial control, enhances sanitary safety, and provides beneficial food effects against hypercholesterolemia.

Organic indoor photovoltaics (OIPVs) for the development of a wireless power supplier that allows the portable operation of Internet-of-things and low-energy consumption devices have received tremendous interest. Particularly, polythiophene represented by poly(3-hexylthiophene) has been considered as a promising photoactive material for OIPVs owing to their desirable optoelectrical properties and power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) that exceed Si-based PVs under low-intensity illumination. However, the polythiophene-based OIPVs suffer from an inadequate charge transporting ability in the out-of-plane direction and a low open-circuit voltage (VOC), which currently hinder the further improvement of OIPVs. Herein, we designed and synthesized a new polythiophene derivative by combining fluorination and random copolymerization strategies. The optimized polymer obtained by tuning the ratio of fluorinated and non-fluorinated bi-thiophene units showed an increased population of face-on oriented crystallites, a denser packing, and a deeper highest occupied molecule orbital energy level compared with its homopolymer analogue. The optimized polymer was also revealed to provide improved vertical charge transport than homopolymer analogue. As a result, when fabricated using the phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester as an electron-acceptor, the OIPVs with the optimized polymer showed high PCEs up to 13.4% with VOC of 0.68 V under 1000 lux white light-emitting diode illumination, which were improved values compared with the efficiencies observed in the devices with homopolymer (PCE = 5.6% and VOC = 0.57 V).

Reducing the cost of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) by replacing the expensive platinum (Pt) counter electrode (CE) with low-cost and earth-abundant materials without sacrificing their power conversion efficiency (PCE) is a topic of high interest. Herein, we prepared graphene nanoplatelets/nickel nanoparticles (GnPs/NiNPs) hybrid as a CE for DSSCs by electrochemical deposition of NiNPs onto fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) followed by spin coating of GnPs onto NiNPs/FTO electrodes. The optimal GnPs/NiNPs-CE with homogeneously distributed NiNPs with well-defined crystallinity exhibited excellent catalytic activity toward the I−/I3 − redox mediator with low charge transfer resistance at the electrode∣electrolyte interface. The DSSCs with an optimized GnPs/NiNPs-CE electrode exhibited a substantial improvement in efficiency to 7.24%, which is similar to the PCE of the cells with Pt-CE (ca. 7.99%). The GnPs/NiNPs-CE is a promising replacement for the expensive Pt used in DSSCs.

Additive doping improves the morphology and stability of tin (Sn)-based perovskite films under ambient conditions. However, the role of additives in the perovskite layer is not clearly understood, especially when two or more additives are incorporated. In this study, the effect of binary additives composed of 2-phenylethylammonium iodide (PEAI) and ethylenediammonium diiodide (EDAI2) on formamidinium tin iodide (FASnI3) perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is studied. PEAI plays an important role in reducing the dimensionality of the perovskite crystals from 3D to mixed 2D/3D, whereas EDAI2 resides on the grain periphery as a linker to improve the interconnection between neighboring grains. Overall, the optimum blending of the two additives, 8 and 1 mol % of PEAI and EDAI2, produces pinhole-free, compact perovskite film with superior crystallinity and preferential orientation, exhibiting very low background charge carrier density, reduced trap states and suppressed recombination losses. The reduced dimensionality and favored perovskite layer stacking lead to a better interlayer coupling that improves charge transfer at the interfaces. Consequently, the best PSC exhibits a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.47% with an open-circuit voltage (VOC) of 0.634 V and the device stability is enhanced up to 5 days in ambient conditions without any additional encapsulation.

Cellulose nanofiber (CNF) and hybrid zeolite imidazole framework (HZ) are an emerging biomaterial and a porous carbonous material, respectively. The composite of these two materials could have versatile physiochemical characteristics. A cellulose nanofiber and cobalt-containing zeolite framework-based composite was prepared using an in-situ and eco-friendly chemical method followed by pyrolysis. The composite was comprised of cobalt nanoparticles decorated on highly graphitized N-doped nanoporous carbons (NPC) wrapped with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) produced from the direct carbonization of HZ. By varying the ratio of CNF in the composite, we determined the optimal concentration and characterized the derived samples using sophisticated techniques. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirmed the functionalization of CNF in the metallic cobalt-covered N-doped NPC wrapped with CNTs. The CNF–HZNPC composite electrodes show superior electrochemical performance, which is suitable for supercapacitor applications, its specific capacitance is 146 F/g at 1 A/g. Furthermore, the composite electrodes retain a cycling stability of about 90% over 2000 charge–discharge cycles at 10 A/g. The superior electrochemical properties of the cellulose make it a promising candidate for developing electrodes for energy storage applications.

The conventional iodine-based (I−/I3 −) electrolyte used in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) presents several limitations, such as ∼30% absorption of visible light in the wavelength range of 300–500 nm and a large potential difference between the Fermi level of I−/I3 − and the HOMO level of the dye. This has a negative impact on the characteristics of DSSC such as transparency and open circuit voltage (Voc). In the present work, a series of transparent electrolytes are prepared using various additives such as I2, LiI, guanidine thiocyanate/guanidine nitrate (GuSCN/GuNO3), and Br2 to obtain highly transparent and high voltage DSSCs. The results demonstrate that the usage of the optimized electrolyte consisting of 0.003 M Br2, 0.01 M LiI, and 0.1 M GuNO3, with the binary redox couple (I−, Br−)/(I3 −, I2Br−), contributes to an ∼25% increase in transmittance compared to that of the conventional electrolyte, while the concentration of I3 − is significantly reduced. Furthermore, the downward shift in the Fermi level of the binary redox system is shown to provide an ∼100 mV enhancement in the Voc of the DSSC compared with that of the conventional electrolyte based DSSC. In addition, the devices with the optimized binary redox system achieve a power conversion efficiency of ∼7.94% which is closely comparable to the performance of conventional (I−/I3 −) electrolyte-based DSSCs. Thus, the present study could provide immense insights toward the fabrication of high-voltage and transparent DSSCs for the application in transparent photovoltaic windows. Furthermore, by using a binary redox electrolyte, the DSSCs that operative under a 2000 lux compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) were also successfully fabricated and yielded a promising efficiency of 23.6%.

In this article, we demonstrated the development of highly water-stable and conductive poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS)/graphene nanoplatelet (GNP) [PPG] composites on a fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) electrode for the detection of dopamine (DA) in the presence of ascorbic acid (AA) and uric acid (UA) in aqueous medium. PPG was deposited on FTO via the electrospray technique from a mixture solution of PEDOT:PSS and GNPs, which was subsequently treated with sulfuric acid (H2SO4, 98%). Acid treatment enabled stabilisation of the GNPs on FTO in water, due to the removal of insulating and hydrophilic PSS (68%) from the composites, and concurrently increased the conductivity (105 S cm−1), owing to the presence of a high percentage of hydrophobic and conductive PEDOT, as well as strong π–π interactions between PEDOT and GNPs. The untreated PPG electrode exhibited low water stability of GNPs and low conductivity (23 S cm−1). Accordingly, the acid-treated PPG/FTO electrode showed very high electrochemical stability, low charge transfer resistance (Rct) at the electrode∣electrolyte interface, and improved catalytic activity for the oxidation of DA in aqueous buffer solution with very high sensitivity. It showed sufficiently high anodic peak-to-peak potential separations (ΔEpa) between DA and AA (0.27 V) and DA and UA (0.11 V) for the interference-free detection of DA with a detection limit (S/N = 3) and sensitivity of ∼105 nM and 27.7 μA μM−1 cm−2, respectively.

We devised a straightforward spin-assisted successive precipitation and anion exchange reaction (spin-SPAER) process in order to deposit relatively uniform PbS quantum dots (QDs) on mesoporous TiO2 (mp-TiO2). For the spin-SPAER process, we used PbX2 (X = I, Br, and Cl) precursors instead of a Pb(NO3)2 precursor and consequently deposited individual PbS QDs on mp-TiO2 due to the suppressed overgrowth of PbS QDs, whereas the conventional spin-assisted successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (spin-SILAR) process formed aggregated PbS QDs on the mp-TiO2 surface due to continuous adsorption and reaction. In addition, the PbS QDs prepared by spin-SPAER showed better air stability than the PbS QDs prepared by spin-SILAR possibly due to the passivation by halogen elements such as I and Br. Accordingly, we could improve the overall power conversion efficiency of PbS QD-SSCs prepared by the spin-SPAER process using PbI2 and PbBr2 precursors to ∼26.7% and ∼44.2%, respectively, compared to the PbS QD-SSCs prepared by spin-SILAR using the Pb(NO3)2 precursor.

Poly(thionine) (PTH)-modified glassy carbon (PTH-S/GCE and PTH-D/GCE) and gold (PTH-S/Au) electrodes were prepared for the label-free detection of DNA hybridizations and their performances in terms of sensitivity and selectivity were compared. Single-strand probe DNA (pDNA) was immobilized on the PTH films via covalent bonding between the amine (−NH2 ) group of PTH and the phosphate (PO4 3 −) group at the 5' end of the pDNA. The PTH oxidation current was decreased because of the increase in the stiffness of PTH films. The current was further decreased after the duplex was formed by the hybridization of the target complementary DNA (cDNA). The pDNA/PTH-S/GCE, pDNA/PTH-D/GCE, and pDNA/PTH-S/Au sensors showed excellent sensitivities of ca. 2.1, 55, and 1.9 μA/cm2/nM, respectively, and the detection limits (S/N = 3) were ca. 40.6, 1.5, and 45 pM, respectively, for the hybridization of target cDNA.

We first report the GaAs/ZnSe and InxGa1–xAs/ZnSe core/shell structured colloidal quantum dots (CQDs). GaAs based CQD, which are hard to obtain by the chemical synthetic method, can be prepared successfully using the acetylacetonate complex of indium and gallium as cationic precursors. We control the indium contents, and the photoluminescence emission is tuned from orange to deep red. In0.2Ga0.8As/ZnSe core/shell QDs show the best quantum yield of 25.6%. A ZnSe outer shell protects the core and improves quantum yield, and it shows a large red shift owing to the quasi-type-I band structure.

A 120 days trial was conducted to investigate the effect of sea squirt (Halocynthia roretzi, Drasche 1884) tunic’s carotenoid to sea-reared rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss, Walbaum 1792) growth and muscle color. Sea-rearing was done at Tongyeong sea area, Korea. Three dietary treatments, namely control (C), CT, and AT, were administered to 6 groups of fish (n = 490-520). C was given basal diet which has contained 40 mg kg−1 of astaxanthin. A further inclusion of 10 mg kg−1 canthaxanthin was added to diet of CT, while AT’s feed was supplemented with 10 mg kg−1 H. roretzi tunics carotenoids extract. The result revealed that AT has the highest final weight (1119.2 ± 82.4 g) compare to those of C (881.0 ± 121.2 g) and CT (1068.2 ± 4.3 g). The specific growth rate (SGR) of AT (1.0 ± 0.07%/day) was significantly higher than C (0.7 ± 0.22%/day) and CT (0.7 ± 0.25%/day) while the feed conversion ratio (FCR) were 1.5 ± 0.6, 1.4 ± 0.6, and 1.2 ± 0.1 for C, CT and AT respectively. The hepatosomatic index (HSI) and Viscerosomatic index (VSI) of all groups showed no significant difference (p > 0.05). The muscle color was also positively affected by the treatments, CT and AT were significantly different from C (p

We present analyses of ~1250 variable sources identified in a 20 square degree field toward NGC 2784 by the KMTNet Supernova Program. We categorize the variable sources into three groups based on their B-band variability. The first group consists of 31 high variability sources with their B-band RMS variability greater than 0.3 magnitudes. The second group of medium variability contains 265 sources with RMS variability between 0.05 and 0.3 magnitudes. The remaining 951 sources belong to the third group of low variability with an RMS variability smaller than 0.05 magnitudes. Of the entire ~1250 sources, 4 clearly show periods of variability greater than 100 days, while the rest have periods shorter than ~51 days or no reliable periods. The majority of the sources show either rather irregular variability or short periods faster than 2 days. Most of the sources with reliable period determination between 2 and 51 days belong to the low-variability group, although a few belong to the medium-variability group. All the variable sources with periods longer than 35 days appear to be very red with B-V > 1.5 and V-I > 2.1 magnitudes. We classify candidates of 51 Cepheids, 17 semi-regular variables, 3 Mira types, 2 RV(B) Tauri stars, 26 eclipsing binary systems and 1 active galactic nucleus. The majority of long-term variables in our sample belong to either Mira or semi-regular types, indicating that long-term variability may be more prominent in post-main sequence phases of late-type stars. The depth of the eclipsing dips of the 26 candidates for eclipsing binaries is equivalent to ~0.61 as the average relative size of the two stars in the binary system. Our results illustrate the power of the KMTNet Supernova Program for future studies of variable objects.

In this report, we demonstrate a novel approach of introducing hierarchically arranged light-scattering layers (LSLs) into the TiO2 photoelectrodes of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) to enhance the light-harvesting efficiency (LHE) in the visible region of light. The increase of LHE extended the photocurrent onset from higher wavelength in the incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) spectra of the DSSCs with LSLs. Further, the LHE of the TiO2 photoelectrode was maximized when the LSLs were hierarchically arranged in the regular TiO2 photoelectrodes. The optimized hierarchical LSLs enhanced the optical density inside the film by the effect of producing higher wavelength light gradually with an increase in scattering particle size. The IPCE of the cells was increased up to ca. 35% for wavelengths ranging from 550 to 800 nm as compared with cells without LSLs, which contributed to the enhancement of the PCE of the DSSCs from 7.08% to 9.37% with ca. 32% improvement over cells without scattering layers.

A photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell composed of a WO 3 /dye-sensitized solar cell (WO 3 /DSSC) and copper oxide (Cu x O, where x =1 and 2) wire arrays as a dual-absorber photoanode and cathode, respectively, is demonstrated as a stand-alone, durable device for CO 2 photoconversion. The Cu x O wire arrays, which have high surface-to-volume ratios, exhibit promising electrocatalytic activity for CO 2 conversion to CO at Faradaic efficiencies of ~80% and ~60% at E=−0.2 and −0.4 V vs . RHE, respectively, and H 2 production is minimized at a Faradaic efficiency vs . RHE. The single-absorber cell of a WO 3 photoanode and Cu x O wire array cathode couple (WO 3 -Cu x O) requires a minimum overpotential of ~0.7 V to drive CO 2 conversion. For stand-alone CO 2 conversion, a DSSC is coupled to the WO 3 -Cu x O system. In the dual-absorber cell (WO 3 /DSSC-Cu x O), the long-wave band (λ > ca . 450 nm) passed through the semitransparent WO 3 film is absorbed by the dye-sensitized TiO 2 electrode of the DSSC. The WO 3 /DSSC-Cu x O shows a potential gain of ~0.7 V and is able to successfully drive CO 2 conversion on Cu x O and simultaneously oxidize water on WO 3 without an external power supply. In this stand-alone system, the primary CO 2 conversion product is CO, with a solar-to-chemical energy efficiency of ~2.5%; H 2 and formate are obtained with energy efficiencies of 0.7% and 0.25%, respectively, in 5 h (overall efficiency ~3.45%). Neither CO 2 conversion product nor H 2 is found using the single-absorber system.

The objective of this study was to investigate the nutritional composition and antioxidant activity of a mixture of rice bran and bodies of Sparassis crispa fermented with lactic acid bacteria (LAB). LAB-fermented S. crispa mixture had higher water, crude lipid and crude ash content than that of S. crispa. Insoluble dietary fiber contents of the dried powder of S. crispa and LAB-fermented S. crispa mixture were 46.13% and 33.46%, respectively. β-glucan was higher in dried S. crispa (38.03%) than in LAB-fermented S. crispa mixture (5.44%). Dried S. crispa contained mainly fructose and glucose instead of containing sucrose in LAB-fermented S. crispa mixture. No significant differences in the total polyphenol contents were found in between dried S. crispa and LAB-fermented S. crispa mixture. Total flavonoid content was significantly higher in LAB-fermented S. crispa mixture than in dried S. crispa. No significant differences were found in the DPPH radical scavenging activity and in the antioxidant index between dried S. crispa and LAB-fermented S. crispa mixture. Finally, ABTS radical scavenging activity of LAB-fermented S. crispa mixture was significantly higher than that of dried S. crispa. These results may provide the basic data for future studies for a better understanding of the biological activities of LAB-fermented S. crispa mixture.

Guanidine nitrate (GuNO3) was introduced as an additive in I−/I3−-based electrolyte to investigate its photoelectrochemical effects on dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). GuNO3 induced the enhancement of the power conversion efficiency (PCE) up to ca. 21% by increasing both the photocurrent density and the open circuit voltage (Voc) of the DSSCs relative to that without additives. Meanwhile the adsorption of guanidinium cation (Gu+) induced a positive shift in the conduction band edge of the TiO2 nanoparticles (ECB,TiO2), toward electrochemical potentials by up to ∼110 mV, the presence of NO3− instead of SCN− in the electrolyte resulted in the shift in ECB,TiO2 in the opposite direction by up to ca. 40 mV, which corresponded to an additional increase in the Voc up to ca. 30 mV in the DSSCs with GuNO3 relative to that with GuSCN. The use of GuNO3 instead of GuSCN as an additive improved the PCE of DSSCs by up to ca. 6% owing to the relatively high values of Voc and the significant increase of the fill factor (FF) by enhancement of ionic conductivity of electrolyte.

Objective To evaluate the accuracy and clinical efficacy of a hybrid Greulich-Pyle (GP) and modified Tanner-Whitehouse (TW) artificial intelligence (AI) model for bone age assessment. Materials and Methods A deep learning-based model was trained on an open dataset of multiple ethnicities. A total of 102 hand radiographs (51 male and 51 female; mean age ± standard deviation = 10.95 ± 2.37 years) from a single institution were selected for external validation. Three human experts performed bone age assessments based on the GP atlas to develop a reference standard. Two study radiologists performed bone age assessments with and without AI model assistance in two separate sessions, for which the reading time was recorded. The performance of the AI software was assessed by comparing the mean absolute difference between the AI-calculated bone age and the reference standard. The reading time was compared between reading with and without AI using a paired t test. Furthermore, the reliability between the two study radiologists' bone age assessments was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs), and the results were compared between reading with and without AI. Results The bone ages assessed by the experts and the AI model were not significantly different (11.39 ± 2.74 years and 11.35 ± 2.76 years, respectively, p = 0.31). The mean absolute difference was 0.39 years (95% confidence interval, 0.33–0.45 years) between the automated AI assessment and the reference standard. The mean reading time of the two study radiologists was reduced from 54.29 to 35.37 seconds with AI model assistance (p < 0.001). The ICC of the two study radiologists slightly increased with AI model assistance (from 0.945 to 0.990). Conclusion The proposed AI model was accurate for assessing bone age. Furthermore, this model appeared to enhance the clinical efficacy by reducing the reading time and improving the inter-observer reliability.

By 2050, the scale of installed solar panels must reach about 100 TWp in order to make a tangible impact on our energy mix and carbon emissions. Thin-film amorphous silicon panels are the only technology today capable of 100 TWp installation. Wafer silicon panels could reach 100 TWp if the silver in silicon panels is replaced with copper or aluminum. Cadmium telluride and copper indium gallium selenide would become technologies of insignificance in the big picture. For energy-efficient production of silicon panels, research is needed in energy-efficient purification of silicon, low kerf loss wafering of silicon, and an Earth-abundant top cell on silicon. Alternatively we can pursue a new cell technology which is more energy efficient than silicon and utilizes only Earth-abundant materials. For any cell technology, research is needed to improve the cost, efficiency, and sustainability including storage technologies for daily to multiyear storage and for regional and global trade of solar electricity, recycling technologies to minimize cost and maximize revenue from waste panels, and systems and applications for real-time and in situ consumption of solar electricity.

Chemically sintered, mesoporous TiO2 electrodes were prepared at low-temperature (≤150 °C) using polymeric- binder free TiO2 paste consisting of binary-liquid mixture of 1-octanol and a series of chlorinated hydrocarbons (CHCs), such as carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), tetrachloroethylene (C2Cl4) or chloroform (CHCl3). In this work, CHCs were introduced to lower the boiling point of the mixture and to perform as an active agent for chemical treatment of TiO2 paste. Long chain alcohol 1-octanol increased the viscosity and diminished the surface tension of TiO2 paste to the hydrophobic surface of the substrate, which promoted the paste adhesion. A maximum power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of c.a. 6.66 and 4.30% (under 1 sun illumination –100 mW cm-2) were obtained for the rigid dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) with fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) and the flexible one with indium tin oxide-polyethylene naphthalate (ITO/PEN) substrates, respectively. Under LED daylight illumination, maximum PCEs of 10.10% at 3.39 mW cm-2 and 8.35% at 1.87 mW cm-2 have also achieved for DSSCs prepared on FTO substrate. The improved chemical bonding of particle network and strong adhesion to the substrates facilitated the electron transfer from TiO2 photoelectrodes to charge collectors, which played an important role for the significant enhancement of photocurrent density as well as PCE of DSSCs. The effect of CHCs on TiO2 is found to be a promising strategy to prepare well-connected TiO2 film for other applications.

Dye Sensitized Solar Cells(DSSCs) is the next generation solar cell that has various advantages different from existing solar cells such as high transmittance, various colors, and High PCE in low light. Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) is getting a lot of attention by using DSSCs. The blocking layers in DSSCs improve the adhesion between the conductive substrate and the semiconductor electrode, and also reduce the recombination and back reaction by prevent the loss of electrons generated by light. In general blocking layer solution;TiCl4 dip coat, is used for making unit cells. However, in the large-area module manufacturing process, the solution process is not suitable. In addition, screen printing is applied by pasting the blocking layer material rather than the conventional solution process because selective coating is necessary for the part that does not need blocking layer such as Ag grid of Z-type module or Pt electrode part of W-type module. In this study, we developed the blocking layer paste, which enables a large-area screen printing process with a higher transparent(77.6%) than the TiCl4 dip coating(71.1%) / spin coating method(74.8%) by controlling Ti precursor/vehicle. Through these studies, it can be used not only the application of large area modules but also replacing exist unit cell solution processes (TiCl4 dip coat, etc.).

An emerging important class of photovoltaics for the next generation, the dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) has attracted great attention due to its low-cost, simple fabrication process and good performance. Though, one of the major loss mechanisms leads to lowering the power energy conversion efficiency is thermalization of charge carriers generated by the absorption of high energy photons. One promising novel strategy to decrease such thermalization loss is the use of downconversion (DC) luminescent materials as spectral converters. The rare-earth doped downshifting materials can converts higher energy photons into lower energy photons based on energy transfer from lanthanide ions to Yb3+ ions. In addition, the downconversion nanoparticles (DCNPs) are also act as scattering centers which can facilitates the light capture in photo-absorbing layer. With this aim, the rare earth doped downconversion SrF2: Pr3+-Yb3+ nanoparticles were synthesized by facile template free hydrothermal method. X-ray diffraction analysis confirms the formation cubic SrF2 phase. The prepared SrF2: Pr3+-Yb3+ down-shifting nanophosphor shows strong absorption in UV region and broad luminescence band emission in visible region evidenced from absorption and photoluminescence studies respectively. The enhancement in power conversion efficiency (PCE) was achieved by employing the synthesized downconverting nanomaterial as bottom layer in DSSC photoanode (Fig.1). The photovoltaic performance of the device was studied using standard solar simulator at 1 Sun intensity (AM 1.5 G) and DSSC with SrF2: Pr3+-Yb3+ shows improved efficiency of 9.066% than bare TiO2 based device (8.395%). The down-shifting nanophosphor material enhanced the efficiency of DSSC by 7.4% with 7.5% increment in photocurrent density compared to bare TiO2 based device. Figure 1

The conventional iodine-based electrolytes of DSSCs has several limitations such as ~30% absorption of visible light in the range of 300 to 500 nm wavelength by itself and large potential difference between the Fermi level of I−/I3− and the HOMO level of dye, which creates negative impact on both transparent and high-voltage DSSCs. In this work, a series of transparent electrolytes are prepared with the variation of additives of I2, LiI, GuSCN (guanidine thiocyanate)/GuNO3 and Br2 for high transparent and high voltage DSSCs. From the results of this study, it is found that the use of optimized electrolyte with binary redox couples (I, Br)/(I3,I2Br) (instead of single I/I3 couple), 0.003 M Br2, 0.01 M LiI, and 0.1 M GuNO3 contributes to increase the transmittance of ~25% compared with the conventional electrolyte as the content of I3 decreased significantly in binary redox system. Furthermore, the downward shifting in Fermi level of the binary redox system induces the enhancement of the open circuit voltage (Voc) of the cell by ca. 120 mV compared with the conventional electrolyte. The devices with the optimized binary redox system achieved a high efficiency of ~ 6.22 % with a least sacrifice compared with the conventional one. It indicates that the present study could play an essential role to fabricate high voltage and transparent DSSCs for the application of see-through photovoltaic windows.

Dye-sensitized solar cell has a unique property such as transparent, colorful characteristics and good performance under low/diffused light intensities, compared to other type of solar cells. Here, we have investigated effects of TiO2 particle size(14, 22, 50nm) and the thickness(2 to 20 μm) on nanocrystalline TiO2 films on photovoltaic performance in dye-sensitized solar cell under 1 sun, compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) and light-emitting diode (LED 3200K, 5000K) at 200 to 1000 lux. Further, the DSSCs fabricated using a TiO2 (22nm) film of 13.73 μm thickness at 1sun condition exhibited the best photovoltaic performance with highest power conversion efficiency (7.22%). However, the DSSC efficiency essentially follows the same trend with TiO2 film thickness, exhibiting the maximum efficiency value of 13.26 % for the 16.72 μm thickness of TiO2 (50nm) film at LED 3200K (1000 lux).

The low-cost and low-toxic copper-cobalt oxide, CuCo2O4 have attracted a great deal of research interest owing to their wide range of applications such as oxygen evolution reaction, oxygen reduction reaction, hydrogen evolution reaction, alcohols oxidation, H2O2 decomposition, urea oxidation, and energy storage. Their controllable composition, electronic structure, valence states or redox characteristics, morphology, and high catalytic property have made them suitable as universal catalysts. However, their low intrinsic electrical conductivity still overshadows their practical application to some degree. In addition, The conventional preparation procedures of copper-cobalt oxide result in relatively low catalytic activity or large OER overpotential for catalytic reactions. In the present report, we have grown a series of surface functionalized Cu x Co3 - x O4 nanostructures directly on a charge-collecting substrate (e.g., Ni Foam) using a straightforward electrochemical deposition process and investigated the effects of its surface functionalization, morphology, content of oxygen vacancies, electrochemically active surface area (ECSA), and electrical conductivity on the performance of water splitting.