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Low cost and printing friendly fabrication of organic solar cells (OSCs) require thick‐film devices with simply structured photoactive molecules. Thus, achieving high power conversion efficiency (PCE) for non‐fused ring acceptor‐based devices with high thickness is of great significance. Herein, by transforming traditional blend casting method to emerging sequential deposition (SD) method, D18:A4T‐16 active blend exhibits large efficiency improvement from 8.02% to 14.75% in 300 nm thick devices. Systematic morphological and photophysical characterizations showcase the effectiveness of SD processing in achieving sufficient donor/acceptor interpenetration and vertical stratification, which eliminates the dilemma of charge generation/transport in blend casting films. Meanwhile, D18 bottom layer is proven helpful in realizing fast evaporation of postdeposited poor solvent, resulting in naturally thickened active layer with well‐regulated crystallization. Furthermore, a new index to emphasize thick‐film devices based on nonfused ring acceptors, called figure‐of‐merit‐X (FoM‐X), has been defined. The SD processed D18:A4T‐16 devices herein, with 300 nm, 500 nm, and 800 nm thicknesses possess leading FoM‐X values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Se‐functionalized small molecule acceptors (SMAs) exhibit unique advantages in constructing materials with near‐infrared absorption, but their photovoltaic performance lags behind that of S‐containing analogs in organic solar cells (OSCs). Herein, two new Se‐containing SMAs, namely Se‐EH and Se‐EHp, are designed and synthesized by regulating bifurcation site of outer alkyl chain, which enables Se‐EH and Se‐EHp to form different 3D crystal frameworks from CH1007. Se‐EH displays tighter π–π stacking and denser packing framework with smaller‐sized pore structure induced by larger steric hindrance effect of outer alkyl chain branched at 2‐position, and a higher dielectric constant of PM6:Se‐EH active layer can be obtained. OSCs based on PM6:Se‐EH achieved very high PCEs of 18.58% in binary and 19.03% in ternary devices with a high FF approaching 80% for Se‐containing SMAs. A more significant alkyl chain steric hindrance effect in Se‐EH adjusts the molecular crystallization to form a favorable nanofiber interpenetrating network with an appropriate domain size to reduce rate of sub‐ns recombination and promote balanced transport of carriers. This work provides references for further design and development of highly efficient Se‐functionalized SMAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, 3D reconstruction methods in structured light are generally implemented in a pre-calibrated area. To realize a full-field reconstruction, the calibration plate can be moved to multiple positions in a time-consuming manner, or the whole field can be calibrated with the help of a large calibration plate, which is more costly. In this paper, we address this problem by proposing a method for obtaining a global phase-angle model under a locally calibrated region, and based on this relationship, we investigate and analyze the reconstruction inside and outside of the calibrated zone. The results show that the method can reconstruct the object outside of the calibration zone completely, and can keep the planarity error around 0.1 mm and the sphericity error below 0.06 mm. The method only requires local calibration of the projected fringes at the two calibration positions to realize the 3D reconstruction of the full-field, which makes the method more advantageous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive Summary: Fine‐tuning of the electron‐deficient unit in A‐DA1D‐A typed small‐molecule acceptors (SMAs) plays a crucial role in developing efficient SMAs for organic solar cells (OSCs). Here, we developed a SMA based on benzo[4,5]thieno[2,3‐b]quinoxaline, designated as QW1, as well as three SMAs based on 1‐methylindoline‐2,3‐dione, identified as QW2, QW3, and QW4. Compared with QW2, QW1 displays slightly blue‐shifted absorption spectra and a lower LUMO energy level due to the stronger electron‐withdrawing capability of BTQx in contrast to MDO. On the other hand, the introduction of a bromine atom in QW3 and QW4 causes a blue shift in absorption and a reduction in the LUMO energy level compared to QW2. Density functional theory analysis reveals that QW1 exhibits the best molecular planarity, which endows QW1 with larger electron mobility and tighter molecular stacking. Consequently, PM6:QW1 device affords a better efficiency of 15.63% than those of the devices based on QW2 (14.25%), QW3 (13.21%) and QW4 (15.03%). Moreover, the QW4‐based device yields the highest open‐circuit voltage of 0.933 V, and the PM6:L8‐BO:QW4 ternary device realizes a PCE of 19.03%. Overall, our work demonstrates that regulation of electron‐deficient central units is an effective strategy to improve the photovoltaic performance of the resulting A‐DA1D‐A SMAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Weak gravitational lensing induces flux-dependent fluctuations in the observed galaxy number density distribution. This cosmic magnification (magnification bias) effect in principle enables lensing reconstruction alternative to cosmic shear and cosmic microwave background lensing. However, the intrinsic galaxy clustering, which otherwise overwhelms the signal, has hindered its application. Through a scaling relation found by principal component analysis of the galaxy clustering in multiband photometry space, we design a minimum variance linear estimator to suppress the intrinsic galaxy clustering and to reconstruct the lensing convergence map. In combination of the CosmoDC2 galaxy mock and the CosmicGrowth simulation, we test this proposal for an LSST (Large Synoptic Survey Telescope)-like galaxy survey with ugrizY photometry bands. (1) The scaling relation holds excellently at multipole ℓ < 103, and remains reasonably well to ℓ ∼ 3000. (2) The linear estimator efficiently suppresses the galaxy intrinsic clustering, by a factor of ∼102. (3) For galaxies in the photo- z range 0.8 < z κ < 1.2, the reconstructed convergence map is cosmic variance limited per ℓ mode at ℓ < 102, and shot noise limited at |$\ell \gtrsim 200$|⁠. (4) Its cross-correlation with cosmic shear of galaxies can achieve |$\mathrm{ S/N}\gtrsim 200$|⁠. When the source redshift of cosmic shear galaxies z γ < z κ, the systematic error is negligible at all investigated scales (ℓ < 3000). When z γ ≥ z κ, the systematic error caused by the residual intrinsic galaxy clustering becomes non-negligible. We discuss possible mitigation of the residual intrinsic galaxy clustering required for accurate measurement at ℓ > 103. This work further demonstrates the potential of lensing measurement through cosmic magnification to enhance the weak lensing cosmology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic solar cell (OSC) development continues to demonstrate impressive device efficiency improvements. However, the materials synthetic simplicity essential to industrialization remains seriously lacking attention, imparting inferior performance records in low‐cost devices. Hence, low bandgap and completely non‐fused electron acceptors (CNFEAs) having simple molecular structures are investigated herein. In contrast to typically explored fused‐ring acceptors with smaller backbone conformational variations, minimizing the interface recombination sites through a greater extent of localized domains is identified as more critical in CNFEAs, leading to remarkable fill factors (FFs) approaching 75%, among the highest currently realized for low‐cost systems. However, this comes with diminishing charge generation efficiency. The general ternary blend optimization strategy modifying the morphology of host components is limited in preserving such remarkably high FFs. To suppress the trade‐off while keeping notable FFs, a new perspective of constructing functionally bridged components based on optical, electronic, and thermodynamic properties is introduced here. Specifically, charge generation is unrestrained from the host acceptor localized domains through the introduction of a "bridge" component while also taking advantage of the configuration to channel polarons toward the efficient transport moieties of the host components. Accordingly, this work incubates understanding‐guided optimizations toward the advancement of more practical devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: Alkyl-tailored Y-SMAs named YR-SeNF series with near-infrared absorption, different molecular crystallinity and self-assembly abilities are developed. The related organic solar cells (OSCs) with an active layer processed from halogen-free solvents and spin-coating-free technologies achieve a ~ 19% efficiency. Ternary OSCs offer a robust operating stability under MPP tracking and well-keep > 80% of the initial efficiency for even over 400 h. Power-conversion-efficiencies (PCEs) of organic solar cells (OSCs) in laboratory, normally processed by spin-coating technology with toxic halogenated solvents, have reached over 19%. However, there is usually a marked PCE drop when the blade-coating and/or green-solvents toward large-scale printing are used instead, which hampers the practical development of OSCs. Here, a new series of N-alkyl-tailored small molecule acceptors named YR-SeNF with a same molecular main backbone are developed by combining selenium-fused central-core and naphthalene-fused end-group. Thanks to the N-alkyl engineering, NIR-absorbing YR-SeNF series show different crystallinity, packing patterns, and miscibility with polymeric donor. The studies exhibit that the molecular packing, crystallinity, and vertical distribution of active layer morphologies are well optimized by introducing newly designed guest acceptor associated with tailored N-alkyl chains, providing the improved charge transfer dynamics and stability for the PM6:L8-BO:YR-SeNF-based OSCs. As a result, a record-high PCE approaching 19% is achieved in the blade-coating OSCs fabricated from a green-solvent o-xylene with high-boiling point. Notably, ternary OSCs offer robust operating stability under maximum-power-point tracking and well-keep > 80% of the initial PCEs for even over 400 h. Our alkyl-tailored guest acceptor strategy provides a unique approach to develop green-solvent and blade-coating processed high-efficiency and operating stable OSCs, which paves a way for industrial development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving both high open‐circuit voltage (Voc) and short‐circuit current density (Jsc) to boost power‐conversion efficiency (PCE) is a major challenge for organic solar cells (OSCs), wherein high energy loss (Eloss) and inefficient charge transfer usually take place. Here, three new Y‐series acceptors of mono‐asymmetric asy‐YC11 and dual‐asymmetric bi‐asy‐YC9 and bi‐asy‐YC12 are developed. They share the same asymmetric D1AD2 (D1=thieno[3,2‐b]thiophene and D2=selenopheno[3,2‐b]thiophene) fused‐core but have different unidirectional sidechain on D1 side, allowing fine‐tuned molecular properties, such as intermolecular interaction, packing pattern, and crystallinity. Among the binary blends, the PM6 : bi‐asy‐YC12 one has better morphology with appropriate phase separation and higher order packing than the PM6 : asy‐YC9 and PM6 : bi‐asy‐YC11 ones. Therefore, the PM6 : bi‐asy‐YC12‐based OSCs offer a higher PCE of 17.16 % with both high Voc and Jsc, due to the reduced Eloss and efficient charge transfer properties. Inspired by the high Voc and strong NIR‐absorption, bi‐asy‐YC12 is introduced into efficient binary PM6 : L8‐BO to construct ternary OSCs. Thanks to the broadened absorption, optimized morphology, and furtherly minimized Eloss, the PM6 : L8‐BO : bi‐asy‐YC12‐based OSCs achieve a champion PCE of 19.23 %, which is one of the highest efficiencies among these annealing‐free devices. Our developed unidirectional sidechain engineering for constructing bi‐asymmetric Y‐series acceptors provides an approach to boost PCE of OSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving both high open‐circuit voltage (Voc) and short‐circuit current density (Jsc) to boost power‐conversion efficiency (PCE) is a major challenge for organic solar cells (OSCs), wherein high energy loss (Eloss) and inefficient charge transfer usually take place. Here, three new Y‐series acceptors of mono‐asymmetric asy‐YC11 and dual‐asymmetric bi‐asy‐YC9 and bi‐asy‐YC12 are developed. They share the same asymmetric D1AD2 (D1=thieno[3,2‐b]thiophene and D2=selenopheno[3,2‐b]thiophene) fused‐core but have different unidirectional sidechain on D1 side, allowing fine‐tuned molecular properties, such as intermolecular interaction, packing pattern, and crystallinity. Among the binary blends, the PM6 : bi‐asy‐YC12 one has better morphology with appropriate phase separation and higher order packing than the PM6 : asy‐YC9 and PM6 : bi‐asy‐YC11 ones. Therefore, the PM6 : bi‐asy‐YC12‐based OSCs offer a higher PCE of 17.16 % with both high Voc and Jsc, due to the reduced Eloss and efficient charge transfer properties. Inspired by the high Voc and strong NIR‐absorption, bi‐asy‐YC12 is introduced into efficient binary PM6 : L8‐BO to construct ternary OSCs. Thanks to the broadened absorption, optimized morphology, and furtherly minimized Eloss, the PM6 : L8‐BO : bi‐asy‐YC12‐based OSCs achieve a champion PCE of 19.23 %, which is one of the highest efficiencies among these annealing‐free devices. Our developed unidirectional sidechain engineering for constructing bi‐asymmetric Y‐series acceptors provides an approach to boost PCE of OSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All‐polymer solar cells (all‐PSCs) have promising potential for industrial production due to their superior stability. Recently, the widespread application of the polymerized small molecule acceptor (PSMA) has led to a surge in the efficiency of all‐PSCs. However, the high efficiencies of these devices generally rely on the use of the highly volatile solvent, chloroform (CF). Furthermore, the molecular weights of PSMA are lower than polymer donors, yet their crystallinity is weaker than typical small molecules, making most PSMA‐based all‐PSCs suffer from low electron mobility. To improve device performance and facilitate large scale production of all‐PSCs, it is necessary to enhance electron mobility and avoid the use of CF. This paper investigates the use of sequential processing (SqP) for active layer preparation using toluene as the solvent to address these issues. This work reports 18.1% efficient all‐PSC devices, which is the highest efficiency of all‐PSCs prepared using non‐halogen solvents. This work systematically compares the conventional blend‐casting method with the SqP method using PM6 as the donor and PY‐V‐γ and PJ1‐γ as the acceptors, and compares the performance of binary and ternary blends in both methods. Finally, this work measures the device stability and finds that SqP can significantly improve the photostability of the device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Caulobacter phage CbK has been extensively studied as a model system in virology and bacteriology. Lysogeny‐related genes have been found in each CbK‐like isolate, suggesting a life strategy of both lytic and lysogenic cycles. However, whether CbK‐related phages can enter lysogeny is still undetermined. This study identified new CbK‐like sequences and expanded the collection of CbK‐related phages. A common ancestry with a temperate lifestyle was predicted for the group, however, which subsequently evolved into two clades of different genome sizes and host associations. Through the examination of phage recombinase genes, alignment of attachment sites on the phage and bacterial genomes (attP–attB pairing), and the experimental validation, different lifestyles were found among the different members. A majority of clade II members retain a lysogenic lifestyle, whereas all clade I members have evolved into an obligate lytic lifestyle via a loss of the gene encoding Cre‐like recombinase and the coupled attP fragment. We postulated that the loss of lysogeny may be a by‐product of the increase in phage genome size, and vice versa. Clade I is likely to overcome the costs through maintaining more auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs), particularly for those involved in protein metabolism, to strengthen host takeover and further benefit virion production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we investigate the effect of peripheral B doping on the electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) performance of N-doped graphene-supported single-metal atoms using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Our results showed that the peripheral coordination of B atoms could improve the stability of the single-atom catalysts (SACs) and weaken the binding of nitrogen to the central atom. Interestingly, it was found that there was a linear correlation between the change in the magnetic moment (μ) of single-metal atoms and the change in the limiting potential (UL) of the optimum NRR pathway before and after B doping. It was also found that the introduction of the B atom suppressed the hydrogen evolution reaction, thereby enhancing the NRR selectivity of the SACs. This work provides useful insights into the design of efficient SACs for electrocatalytic NRR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here, a near‐infrared (NIR)‐absorbing small‐molecule acceptor (SMA) Y‐SeNF with strong intermolecular interaction and crystallinity is developed by combining selenophene‐fused core with naphthalene‐containing end‐group, and then as a custom‐tailor guest acceptor is incorporated into the binary PM6:L8‐BO host system. Y‐SeNF shows a 65 nm red‐shifted absorption compared to L8‐BO. Thanks to the strong crystallinity and intermolecular interaction of Y‐SeNF, the morphology of PM6:L8‐BO:Y‐SeNF can be precisely regulated by introducing Y‐SeNF, achieving improved charge‐transporting and suppressed non‐radiative energy loss. Consequently, ternary polymer solar cells (PSCs) offer an impressive device efficiency of 19.28% with both high photovoltage (0.873 V) and photocurrent (27.88 mA cm−2), which is one of the highest efficiencies in reported single‐junction PSCs. Notably, ternary PSC has excellent stability under maximum‐power‐point tracking for even over 200 h, which is better than its parental binary devices. The study provides a novel strategy to construct NIR‐absorbing SMA for efficient and stable PSCs toward practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All‐polymer solar cells (all‐PSCs) are one of the most promising application‐oriented organic photovoltaic technologies due to their excellent operational and mechanical stability. However, the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) are mostly lower than 16%, restricting their core competitiveness. Furthermore, the improvement of mechanical durability is rarely paid attention to cutting‐edge all‐PSCs. This work deploys a low‐cost "technical grade" PCBM (incompletely separated but pure mixtures containing ≥90% [70]PCBM or [60]PCBM), into the efficient PM6:PY‐IT all‐polymer blend, successfully yielding a high‐performance ternary device with 16.16% PCE, among the highest PCE values for all‐PSCs. Meanwhile, an excellent mechanical property (i.e., crack onset strain = 11.1%) promoted from 9.5% for the ternary system is also demonstrated. The "technical grade" PCBM slightly disrupts the crystallization of polymers, and disperses well into the amorphous polymer regions of the all‐PSC blends, thus facilitating charge transport and improving film ductility simultaneously. All these results confirm introducing low‐cost "technical grade" PCBM with high electron mobility into all‐polymer blends can improve carrier mobility, reduce charge recombination, and optimize morphology of the amorphous polymer regions, thus yielding more efficient and mechanically durable all‐PSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationally utilizing and developing synthetic units is of particular significance for the design of high-performance non-fullerene small-molecule acceptors (SMAs). Here, a thieno[3 , 2- b ]pyrrole synthetic unit was employed to develop a set of SMAs (ThPy1, ThPy2, ThPy3 and ThPy4) by changing the number or the position of the pyrrole ring in the central core based on a standard SMA of IT-4Cl, compared to which the four thieno[3 , 2- b ]pyrrole-based acceptors exhibit bathochromic absorption and upshifted frontier orbital energy level due to the strong electron-donating ability of pyrrole. As a result, the polymer solar cells (PSCs) of the four thieno[3 , 2- b ]pyrrole-based acceptors yield higher open-circuit voltage and lower energy loss relative to those of the IT-4Cl-based device. What is more, the ThPy3-based device achieves a power conversion efficiency (PCE) (15.3%) and an outstanding fill factor (FF) (0.771) that are superior to the IT-4Cl-based device (PCE = 12.6%, FF = 0.758). The ThPy4-based device realizes the lowest energy loss and the smallest optical band gap, and the ternary PSC device based on PM6:BTP-eC9:ThPy4 exhibits a PCE of 18.43% and a FF of 0.802. Overall, this work sheds light on the great potential of thieno[3,2- b ]pyrrole-based SMAs in realizing low energy loss and high PCE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study isolated and characterized a new phage infecting the marine photoheterotrophic bacterium Citromicrobium bathyomarinum, which fills the gap in research on phages targeting this ecologically important species. The phage vB_CbaS-RXM (RXM) has a dsDNA genome with a length of 104,206 bp and G+C content of 61.64%. The taxonomic analysis found a close evolutionary relationship between RXM, Erythrobacter phage vB_EliS-L02, and Sphingobium phage Lacusarx, and we propose that RXM represents a new species of the Lacusarxvirus genus. A one-step growth curve revealed a burst size of 75 plaque-forming units (PFUs) per cell in a 3-hour infection cycle. The lysis profile of RXM showed an intraspecific lethal rate of 26.3% against 38 citromicrobial strains. RXM contains 15 auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) related to diverse cellular processes, such as putative metabolic innovation and hijacking of host nucleotide metabolism to enhance its biosynthetic capacity. An in-depth analysis showed that phage functional genes strongly rely on the host for translation, while the translation of unique phage genes with less host dependency may be complemented by phage tRNA. Overall, our study investigated the infection kinetics, genetic traits, taxonomy, and predicted roles of AMGs and tRNA genes of this new phage, which contributes to a better understanding of phage diversity and phage–bacterium interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anode modification is vital for improving device performance of organic solar cells (OSCs). PEDOT:PSS is the most widely applied hole transport layer (HTL) in OSCs. In this work, three kinds of modified HTLs, namely PEDOT:PSS‐PA, PEDOT:PSS‐TA, and PEDOT:PSS‐DA are readily prepared via simple doping of phenylethylamine derivatives into commercially available Al 4083, by modulating the number of hydroxyl groups on the adulterant molecules. All of them exhibit enhanced work functions (WFs) and conductivities. Matching with PM6:Y6 composed active layers, PEDOT:PSS‐TA based devices achieves the highest performance with a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 17.10%, while the PM6:ITC‐2Cl system demonstrates a highest PCE of 14.17% in devices with PEDOT:PSS‐DA, and the optimal PCE of PM6:PIDTC‐T based OSCs is equal to 9.55% while the HTL is PEDOT:PSS‐PA. Further investigations reveal that the different adulterants formed various amount of hydrogen bonds in HTLs, inducing dissimilar interfacial morphology and mobility, and thus unidentical degrees of change in recombination. Afterwards, the doping strategy is extended to a newly proposed high‐performance system PM6:PY‐IT, and successfully drags its efficiency from 14.78% to 15.62%, another world‐class breakthrough for all‐polymer solar cells. In summary, this study not only achieves a series of OSCs with improved PCEs, but also delivers a deep understanding of PEDOT:PSS improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemical modifications of non‐fullerene acceptors (NFAs) play vital roles in the development of high efficiency organic solar cells (OSCs). In this work, on the basis of the previously reported molecule named Y6‐1O, chlorination and inner side‐chain engineering are adopted to endow the corresponding devices with higher open‐circuit voltage (VOC) and short‐circuit current density (JSC) as well as good morphology for high fill factor (FF). As a result, the molecule named BTP1O‐4Cl‐C12 can help achieve a higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 17.1% than that of Y6‐1O (16.1%). Furthermore, the following comparisons between BTP1O‐4Cl‐C12 and the two symmetric acceptors named BTP2O‐4Cl‐C12 and BTP‐4Cl‐C12 demonstrate the effect of asymmetric alkoxy substitution on the outer side chains, which not only achieves a balance between VOC and JSC, but also help obtain appropriate morphology for efficient charge dissociation and suppressed charge recombination. Therefore, the asymmetric BTP1O‐4Cl‐C12 can achieve a higher PCE compared to the symmetric BTP2O‐4Cl‐C12 and BTP‐4Cl‐C12. The work not only reports an excellent NFA for high‐performance OSCs, but also puts forward a series of methods for consecutive chemical modifications on Y‐series acceptors, which can be further applied to boost the PCE of OSCs to a higher level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive Summary: In the last few years, organic solar cells (OSCs) have made significant progress in photovoltaic performance, mainly due to the innovative development of active layer materials, especially Y‐series and related derivatives as acceptors which have become the key factor that boosts the power conversion efficiency. Recently, to achieve high‐performance OSCs, an emerging molecular design strategy of applying flexible alkyl units as linkers to construct non‐fully conjugated acceptors has been developed and addressed great attention. This review highlights the non‐fully conjugated photovoltaic materials with Y‐series backbone that enable high‐performance OSCs. Impressive OSCs have been achieved by some representative non‐fully conjugated material systems. The related molecular design strategies are discussed in detail. Finally, a brief summary and future prospect are provided in advancing the non‐fully conjugated photovoltaic materials with Y‐series backbone towards the brighter future. Key Scientists: [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely recognized that subtle changes in the chemical structure of organic semiconductors can induce dramatic variations in their optoelectronic properties and device performance, especially for the nonfullerene small‐molecule acceptors (SMAs). For instance, halogenation of the end groups in the acceptor–donor–acceptor‐type SMAs is an effective strategy to modulate the properties of the end group and thus the entire SMA. While previous position modulations have focused on only one substituent, this study shows the development of three isomeric SMAs (BTP‐ClBr, BTP‐ClBr1, and BTP‐ClBr2) via manipulating the position of two halogen substituents (chlorine and bromine) on the terminal unit. BTP‐ClBr exhibits a blueshifted absorption, a shallower lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy level, and a weaker crystallization tendency relative to BTP‐ClBr1 and BTP‐ClBr2. A power conversion efficiency (16.82%) and an excellent fill factor (FF) (0.79) are realized in the optimal PM6:BTP‐ClBr organic solar cell device. The higher FF is consistent with the results of the characterization including a longer charge recombination lifetime, a faster photocurrent decay, a weaker bimolecular recombination, and a more favorable domain size for PM6:BTP‐ClBr, which all originate from a subtle change in the substitution sites that strongly influences the physicochemical properties of the SMA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prosperous period of polymer solar cells (PSCs) has witnessed great progress in molecule design methods to promote power conversion efficiency (PCE). Designing asymmetric structures has been proved effective in tuning energy level and morphology, which has drawn strong attention from the PSC community. Two hepta‐ring and octa‐ring asymmetric small molecular acceptors (SMAs) (IDTP‐4F and IDTTP‐4F) with S‐shape and C‐shape confirmations are developed to study the relationship between conformation shapes and PSC efficiencies. The similarity of absorption and energy levels between two SMAs makes the conformation a single variable. Additionally, three wide‐bandgap polymer donors (PM6, S1, and PM7) are chosen to prove the universality of the relationship between conformation and photovoltaic performance. Consequently, the champion PCE afforded by PM7: IDTP‐4F is as high as 15.2% while that of PM7: IDTTP‐4F is 13.8%. Moreover, the S‐shape IDTP‐4F performs obviously better than their IDTTP‐4F counterparts in PSCs regardless of the polymer donors, which confirms that S‐shape conformation performs better than the C‐shape one. This work provides an insight into how conformations of asymmetric SMAs affect PCEs, specific functions of utilizing different polymer donors to finely tune the active‐layer morphology and another possibility to reach an excellent PCE over 15%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Future industrialization of organic photovoltaics (OPVs) requires OPVs' processing to be more energy‐efficient and streamlined. Currently, only MoO3 and PEDOT:PSS are commonly used as the anode interface layer (AIL). The processing of MoO3 typically involves vacuum thermal evaporation with stringent thickness requirements. PEDOT:PSS necessitates separate processing and thermal annealing at temperatures exceeding 100 °C to eliminate moisture. This work utilized 3,4,5‐trichlorobenzoic acid (3CBA) as the AIL material. The distinct advantage of 3CBA over PEDOT:PSS and MoO3 is the in situ self‐assembly of 3CBA eliminates the need for separate solution processing, thermal evaporation, or thermal annealing. Remarkably, OPV devices incorporating PM6, BTP‐eC9, and the 3CBA AIL exhibited a superior efficiency of 18.2% compared to those with PEDOT:PSS (17.7%). By using nonhalogenated solvent, o‐xylene, to meet industrialization requirements, the devices achieved an exceptional efficiency of 18.8%, the highest reported value among devices with in situ self‐assembled interface layers. Furthermore, semi‐transparent devices with 3CBA displayed higher PCE and AVT values (13.1% and 25.7%) than their PEDOT: PSS counterparts, due to the weak absorption of the 3CBA AIL. This work contributes significantly to the high‐throughput production of OPVs by streamlining the AIL processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the use of next-generation semiconductors, notably organic and perovskite materials with remarkable optoelectronic and mechanical properties, thin-film photodiodes are progressing rapidly to rival their inorganic counterparts. However, to ensure a trustworthy comparison among the reported works, it is imperative that the measurement techniques for the figure of merits be unified and standardized. In this Letter, the possible causes of misrepresentation in the linear dynamic range (LDR) values are thoroughly discussed. The role of unity slope in defining the deviation point is examined, and the chances of misinterpretation when adopting different definitions are explained using a representative organic photodiode system. Furthermore, certain criteria are put out to standardize the LDR representation, which could be a crucial step toward facilitating the progress in this promising field via a more rational comparison of literature reports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regulating molecular packing and aggregation of photoactive layer is a critical but challenging issue in developing high‐performance organic solar cells. Herein, two structurally similar analogues of anthra[2,3‐b : 6,7‐b′]dithiophene (ADT) and naphtho[1,2‐b : 5,6‐b′]dithiophene (NDT) are developed as solid additive to exploit their effect in regulating the molecular aggregation and π‐stacking of photoactive layer. We clarify that the perpendicular arrangements of NDT can enlarge the molecular packing space and improve the face‐on stacking of Y6 during the film formation, favoring a more compact and ordered long‐range π‐π stacking in the out‐of‐plane direction after the removal of NDT under thermal annealing. The edge‐to‐face stacked herringbone‐arrangement of ADT along with its non‐volatilization under thermal annealing can induce the coexistence of face‐on and edge‐on stacking of blend film. As a result, the NDT treatment shows encouraging effect in improving the photovoltaic performance of devices based on various systems. Particularly, a remarkable PCE of 18.85 % is achieved in the PM6 : L8‐BO‐based device treated by NDT additive, which is a significant improvement with regard to the PCE of 16.41 % for the control device. This work offers a promising strategy to regulate the molecular packing and aggregation of photoactive layer towards significantly improved performance and stability of organic solar cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regulating molecular packing and aggregation of photoactive layer is a critical but challenging issue in developing high‐performance organic solar cells. Herein, two structurally similar analogues of anthra[2,3‐b : 6,7‐b′]dithiophene (ADT) and naphtho[1,2‐b : 5,6‐b′]dithiophene (NDT) are developed as solid additive to exploit their effect in regulating the molecular aggregation and π‐stacking of photoactive layer. We clarify that the perpendicular arrangements of NDT can enlarge the molecular packing space and improve the face‐on stacking of Y6 during the film formation, favoring a more compact and ordered long‐range π‐π stacking in the out‐of‐plane direction after the removal of NDT under thermal annealing. The edge‐to‐face stacked herringbone‐arrangement of ADT along with its non‐volatilization under thermal annealing can induce the coexistence of face‐on and edge‐on stacking of blend film. As a result, the NDT treatment shows encouraging effect in improving the photovoltaic performance of devices based on various systems. Particularly, a remarkable PCE of 18.85 % is achieved in the PM6 : L8‐BO‐based device treated by NDT additive, which is a significant improvement with regard to the PCE of 16.41 % for the control device. This work offers a promising strategy to regulate the molecular packing and aggregation of photoactive layer towards significantly improved performance and stability of organic solar cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simultaneously Enhanced Efficiency and Mechanical Durability in Ternary Solar Cells Enabled by Low-Cost Incompletely Separated Fullerenes Tech-PCBM slightly disrupts the crystallization of polymers, and disperses well into the amorphous polymer regions of the all-PSC blends, thus facilitating charge transport and improving film ductility simultaneously. B Front Cover b : Article 2200139 by Yuanyuan Kan, Ke Gao and co-workers shows that both improved mechanical durability and efficiency are achieved in the all-PSCs with low-cost incompletely separated fullerenes. [Extracted from the article]

Spinal cord injury (SCI) has become a significant social and economic burden for patients and their families. The effect of acupuncture on neurological recovery in individuals with SCI remains inconclusive despite previous studies and meta-analyses. The aim of the current study was to perform a more rigorous systematic review and bias-adjusted meta-analysis of studies so that the overall impact of acupuncture on neurological recovery in SCI can be determined. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) only were included and were searched for in seven databases through to August 2014. Four key outcomes were assessed: neurological recovery, motor function, sensory function, and functional recovery. Several statistical approaches were compared, models were tested for robustness using sensitivity analysis, and results are presented as weighted mean difference (WMD) or standardized mean difference (SMD) for continuous outcomes and relative risk (RR) for binary outcomes. The included studies' susceptibility to bias was also assessed. A total of 12 studies were included after exclusions were applied. Heterogeneity was evident among the studies included. Pooled analyses showed that acupuncture may have a beneficial effect on neurological recovery (RRs: 1.28, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.12-1.50), motor function (WMD: 6.86, 95% CI: 0.41-13.31), and functional recovery (SMD: 0.88, 95% CI: 0.56-1.21) and all statistical approaches concurred. Sensitivity analyses suggested that the smaller studies (sample size <30), those with acute disease, and studies that used varying acupuncture sessions demonstrated a larger magnitude of effect. However, studies were generally of poor quality and publication bias favoring positive studies was evident. Therefore, the benefit of acupuncture we report is by no means definitive and well-designed future studies are recommended to confirm this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The central core in A‐DA1D‐A‐type small‐molecule acceptor (SMAs) plays an important role in determining the efficiency of organic solar cells (OSCs), while the principles governing the efficient design of SMAs remain elusive. Herein, we developed a series of SMAs with pyrido[2,3‐b]quinoxaline (PyQx) as new electron‐deficient unit by combining with the cascade‐chlorination strategy, namely Py1, Py2, Py3, Py4 and Py5. The introduction of chlorine atoms reduces the intramolecular charge transfer effects but elevates the LUMO values. Density functional theory (DFT) reveals that Py2 with ortho chlorine substituted PyQx and Py5 with two chlorine atoms yield larger dipole moments and smaller π⋅⋅⋅π stacking distances, as compared with the other three acceptors. Moreover, Py2 shows the strongest light absorption capability induced by extended orbit overlap lengths and more efficient packing structures in the dimers. These features endow the best device performance of Py2 due to the better molecular packing and aggregation behaviors, more suitable domain sizes with better exciton dissociation and charge recombination. This study highlights the significance of incorporating large dipole moments, small π⋅⋅⋅π stacking distances and extended orbit overlap lengths in dimers into the development of high‐performance SMAs, providing insight into the design of efficient A‐DA1D‐A‐type SMAs for OSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The central core in A‐DA1D‐A‐type small‐molecule acceptor (SMAs) plays an important role in determining the efficiency of organic solar cells (OSCs), while the principles governing the efficient design of SMAs remain elusive. Herein, we developed a series of SMAs with pyrido[2,3‐b]quinoxaline (PyQx) as new electron‐deficient unit by combining with the cascade‐chlorination strategy, namely Py1, Py2, Py3, Py4 and Py5. The introduction of chlorine atoms reduces the intramolecular charge transfer effects but elevates the LUMO values. Density functional theory (DFT) reveals that Py2 with ortho chlorine substituted PyQx and Py5 with two chlorine atoms yield larger dipole moments and smaller π⋅⋅⋅π stacking distances, as compared with the other three acceptors. Moreover, Py2 shows the strongest light absorption capability induced by extended orbit overlap lengths and more efficient packing structures in the dimers. These features endow the best device performance of Py2 due to the better molecular packing and aggregation behaviors, more suitable domain sizes with better exciton dissociation and charge recombination. This study highlights the significance of incorporating large dipole moments, small π⋅⋅⋅π stacking distances and extended orbit overlap lengths in dimers into the development of high‐performance SMAs, providing insight into the design of efficient A‐DA1D‐A‐type SMAs for OSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimizing the interface between the perovskite and transport layers is an efficient approach to promote the photovoltaic performance of inverted perovskite solar cells (IPSCs). Given decades of advances in bulk materials optimization, the performance of IPSCs has been pushed to its limits by interface engineering with a power conversion efficiency (PCE) over 25% and excellent stability. Herein, an n‐type polymeric semiconducting material, PY‐IT, that has shown remarkable performance in organic photovoltaics, is introduced as an interface regulator between perovskite and ETL. Encouragingly, this polymerized small molecular acceptor (PSMA) exhibits significant effectiveness in both passivation defects and electron transfer facilitation properties with the merits of strong planarity and rotatable linkers, which significantly optimizes perovskite grain growth orientation and added charge transport channels. As a result, the PSMA‐treated IPSC devices obtain an optimal efficiency of 23.57% with a fill factor of 84%, among the highest efficiency among PSMA‐based IPSCs. Meanwhile, the photo‐stability of PSMA devices is eye‐catching, maintaining ≈80% of its initial PCE after 1000 h of simulated 1‐sun illumination under maximal power point tracking. This work combines the achievements of polymer science and IPSC device engineering to provide a new insight into interface regulation of efficient and stable devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two novel donor polymers, namely PBQxBE and PBQxTE, with an identical molecular backbone but different ester side chains onto quinoxaline (Qx) acceptor units were firstly developed. Combined with n-type polymer acceptor PIDTC-T, the chloroform-processed all-PSCs based on PBQxBE achieved a high PCE of up to 10.17%, which is by far the highest values for the all-PSCs based on the Qx type donor polymers. [Display omitted] • Two novel different ester side chains substituted copolymers (PBQxBE and PBQxTE) were developed. • The effects of different ester side chains on the properties of polymers and related active layers were studied. • The binary all-PSCs based on PBQxBE as donor polymer gained a high device efficiency of up to 10.17%. • The PCE of 10.17% is by far the highest values for the all-PSCs with the Qx-based copolymers as donor. The simple ester side-chains strategy has been an effective approach in fine regulating electronic levels, intermolecular interaction, and aggregation morphology of organic photovoltaic materials, which makes for promoting the photovoltaic performance of organic solar cells (OSCs). Herein, two novel D-A conjugated polymers, namely PBQxBE and PBQxTE, are designed and synthesized, derived from an alkylthiothiophene benzodithiophene (BDTTS) as donor moiety, thiophene as the π-bridges, and an identical molecular skeleton but different side chains based on quinoxaline (Qx) as acceptor units. The PBQxBE with ester engineered benzene side chains on the Qx unit exhibits better molecular flatness, stronger intermolecular interaction, and higher hole mobility than the analogous PBQxTE with ester engineered thiophene side chains. After combined with polymer acceptor PIDTC-T, the blend film of PBQxBE:PIDTC-T presented higher and balanced hole/electron mobility, better favorable aggregation morphology, as well as less charge carrier recombination. Thus, the all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) based on PBQxBE:PIDTC-T delivered a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 10.17% with simultaneously increased basic parameters, which is much higher than that of 7.40% for the PBQxTE-based ones. The PCE of 10.17% is by far the highest values reported for all-PSCs from the Qx-based polymers as donor. The results demonstrate that the ester side-chains engineering of Qx-based polymers is an effective strategy to improve their photovoltaic performance of all-PSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Opioids are considered the most effective analgesics for the treatment of both acute and chronic pain. However, prolonged opioid use can induce a certain level of tolerance to its analgesic effects, leading to a reduction in its effectiveness, addiction and abuse. A better understanding of the mechanisms underlying opioid tolerance may provide insights into this phenomenon and aid in the development of novel methods to combat the side effects of opioid tolerance. The present review focused on two major contributors to tolerance, opioid receptors and inflammatory mediators. The molecular mechanisms involved in the desensitization of the opioid receptors were briefly described, including their phosphorylation, internalisation and recycling. Subsequently, the effects of Toll like receptor 4/NOD-like receptor family pyrin domain containing 3-mediated proinflammatory responses in opioid tolerance were discussed, aiming in supporting the identification of novel therapeutic targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Total variation (TV) is broadly utilized in image processing because it is able to preserve sharp edges and object boundaries, which are usually the most important parts of an image. Recently, the non-convex functions such as the smoothly clipped absolute deviation, the minimax concave penalty, the capped ℓ 1 -norm penalty and the ℓ p quasi-norm with 0 < p < 1 have been shown remarkable advantages in sparse learning due to the fact that they can overcome the over-penalization associated with the ℓ 1 -norm. In this paper, an efficient non-convex total variation approach for image deblurring and denoising model has been proposed, which combines a non-convex regularization term and a non-convex data fitting term perfectly. Firstly, the non-convex functions are employed into the regularization term and the fidelity term for enhancing the sensitivity to sharp edges and object boundaries. Secondly, the optimizing minimization method based on the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) is proposed to solve the non-convex total variation optimization problem. The resulting subproblems either have closed-form solutions or can be solved by fast solvers, which makes the ADMM particularly efficient. In theory, with the help of the smoothing technique and Kurdyka-Lojasiewicz function, we prove that the sequence generated by the ADMM converges to a stationary point when the penalty parameter is above a computable threshold. The numerical experiments illustrate that our proposed non-convex total variation model outperforms the existing convex and non-convex total variation models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though the application-promising photovoltaic technology named organic solar cells (OSCs) have been close to 20% benchmark power conversion efficiency (PCE) within fabrication friendly single-junction devices, these achievements are enabled by polymer donors based on benzodithiophene cores, requiring toxic production steps. Whilst, the bio-renewable benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]difuran unit constructed polymer donors cannot yield comparable efficiency, though their lower steric hindrance is widely appreciated. OSC field has paid great attention on optimizing their performance by chemistry design, yet the device engineering is relatively neglected compared to what have been done on the benzodithiophene side. Here we report a new dual additive strategy of simultaneously applying volatile (2-CN) and non-volatile (MF) solid additives to reduce non-radiative voltage loss and boost charge generation, via an occupying evaporated left vacancies in polymer matrix process. Consequently, the target system D18-Fu:L8-BO's efficiency is promoted to 19.11%, representing the cutting-edge level of this research topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, two emerging device optimization methods, solid additive and layer‐by‐layer (LBL) process, for organic solar cells (OSCs) are simultaneously studied. Through traditional blend cast and recently proposed identical solvent LBL cast, BDCB (2‐monobromo‐1,3‐dichloro‐bezene), a benzene derivative, is used to improve the device performance based on celebrity combination PM6:L8‐BO. The results reveal that finely optimized BDCB concentration in PM6 solution can push the efficiency of LBL to 19.03% compared to blend cast with only 18.12% while the power conversion efficiency (PCE) changing trend is determined by BDCB's ratio in L8‐BO's precursor. The morphology characterizations confirm there exists no significant stratification for LBL‐processed devices, supported by a previously reported swelling‐intercalation‐phase separation (SIPS) model. Thereby, the solid additive's 2D optimization is considered a smart strategy for finely tuning the SIPS process, which results in various final morphology states. This work not only reports a cutting‐edge efficiency for binary OSCs, but also new insight and deep understanding for LBL method‐based morphology optimization strategy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Members of the Roseobacter lineage are a major group of marine heterotrophic bacteria because of their wide distribution, versatile lifestyles and important biogeochemical roles. Bacteriophages, the most abundant biological entities in the ocean, play important roles in shaping their hosts' population structures and mediating genetic exchange between hosts. However, our knowledge of roseophages (bacteriophages that infect Roseobacter) is far behind that of their host counterparts, partly reflecting the need to isolate and analyze the phages associated with this ecologically important bacterial clade. Methods: vB_DshS-R4C (R4C), a novel virulent roseophage that infects Dinoroseobacter shibae DFL12T, was isolated with the double-layer agar method. The phage morphology was visualized with transmission electron microscopy. We characterized R4C in-depth with a genomic analysis and investigated the distribution of the R4C genome in different environments with a metagenomic recruitment analysis. Results: The double-stranded DNA genome of R4C consists of 36,291 bp with a high GC content of 66.75%. It has 49 genes with low DNA and protein homologies to those of other known phages. Morphological and phylogenetic analyses suggested that R4C is a novel member of the family Siphoviridae and is most closely related to phages in the genus Cronusvirus. However, unlike the Cronusvirus phages, R4C encodes an integrase, implying its ability to establish a lysogenic life cycle. A terminal analysis shows that, like that of λ phage, the R4C genome utilize the 'cohesive ends' DNA-packaging mechanism. Significantly, homologues of the R4C genes are more prevalent in coastal areas than in the open ocean. Conclusions: Information about this newly discovered phage extends our understanding of bacteriophage diversity, evolution, and their roles in different environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobility is a critical parameter influencing the overall performance of organic solar cells (OSCs). Herein, we innovatively elucidated the intricate interrelation between the photovoltaic molecular structures and the methodologies employed for the extraction of charge carrier mobility in OSCs. We proposed a simple yet effective principle to accurately extract charge carrier mobility values using the standard space-charge-limited current (SCLC) measurement, while critically assessing theoretical and experimental deficiencies through the drift-diffusion analysis. It was found that field-dependent charge transport is necessitated to describe the prominent long-range intrachain hopping carrier behavior in polymers, while short-range intermolecular hopping results in trap-involved charge transport within small molecular acceptors. Based on the above understanding, a synergetic inter/intra-molecular hopping strategy was proposed to fabricate thick-film all-polymer OSCs, and an unprecedented power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 16.61 % was achieved in the 300 nm PM6:PY-IT OSC. This work not only presents a precise and straightforward approach for measuring mobility values, but also provides a significant reference about charge carrier transport to make optimal decisions regarding photovoltaic material design and device fabrication process of high-performance OSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fluorine side chain functionalization of non‐fullerene acceptors (NFAs) represents an effective strategy for enhancing the performance of organic solar cells (OSCs). However, a knowledge gap persists regarding the relationship between structural changes induced by fluorine functionalization and the resultant impact on device performance. In this work, varying amounts of fluorine atoms were introduced into the outer side chains of Y‐series NFAs to construct two acceptors named BTP‐F0 and BTP‐F5. Theoretical and experimental investigations reveal that side‐chain fluorination significantly increase the overall average electrostatic potential (ESP) and charge balance factor, thereby effectively improving the ESP‐induced intermolecular electrostatic interaction, and thus precisely tuning the molecular packing and bulk‐heterojunction morphology. Therefore, the BTP‐F5‐based OSC exhibited enhanced crystallinity, domain purity, reduced domain spacing, and optimized phase distribution in the vertical direction. This facilitates exciton diffusion, suppresses charge recombination, and improves charge extraction. Consequently, the promising power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 17.3 % and 19.2 % were achieved in BTP‐F5‐based binary and ternary devices, respectively, surpassing the PCE of 16.1 % for BTP‐F0‐based OSCs. This work establishes a structure‐performance relationship and demonstrates that fluorine functionalization of the outer side chains of Y‐series NFAs is a compelling strategy for achieving ideal phase separation for highly efficient OSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fluorine side chain functionalization of non‐fullerene acceptors (NFAs) represents an effective strategy for enhancing the performance of organic solar cells (OSCs). However, a knowledge gap persists regarding the relationship between structural changes induced by fluorine functionalization and the resultant impact on device performance. In this work, varying amounts of fluorine atoms were introduced into the outer side chains of Y‐series NFAs to construct two acceptors named BTP‐F0 and BTP‐F5. Theoretical and experimental investigations reveal that side‐chain fluorination significantly increase the overall average electrostatic potential (ESP) and charge balance factor, thereby effectively improving the ESP‐induced intermolecular electrostatic interaction, and thus precisely tuning the molecular packing and bulk‐heterojunction morphology. Therefore, the BTP‐F5‐based OSC exhibited enhanced crystallinity, domain purity, reduced domain spacing, and optimized phase distribution in the vertical direction. This facilitates exciton diffusion, suppresses charge recombination, and improves charge extraction. Consequently, the promising power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 17.3 % and 19.2 % were achieved in BTP‐F5‐based binary and ternary devices, respectively, surpassing the PCE of 16.1 % for BTP‐F0‐based OSCs. This work establishes a structure‐performance relationship and demonstrates that fluorine functionalization of the outer side chains of Y‐series NFAs is a compelling strategy for achieving ideal phase separation for highly efficient OSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving a more balanced charge transport by morphological control is crucial in reducing bimolecular and trap‐assisted recombination and enhancing the critical parameters for efficient organic solar cells (OSCs). Hence, a facile strategy is proposed to reduce the crystallinity difference between donor and acceptor by incorporating a novel multifunctional liquid crystal small molecule (LCSM) BDTPF4‐C6 into the binary blend. BDTPF4‐C6 is the first LCSM based on a tetrafluorobenzene unit and features a low liquid crystal phase transition temperature and strong self‐assembly ability, conducive to regulating the active layer morphology. When BDTPF4‐C6 is introduced as a guest molecule into the PM6 : Y6 binary, it exhibits better compatibility with the donor PM6 and primarily resides within the PM6 phase because of the similarity‐intermiscibility principle. Moreover, systematic studies revealed that BDTPF4‐C6 could be used as a seeding agent for PM6 to enhance its crystallinity, thereby forming a more balanced and favourable charge transport with suppressed charge recombination. Intriguingly, dual Förster resonance energy transfer was observed between the guest molecule and the host donor and acceptor, resulting in an improved current density. This study demonstrates a facile approach to balance the charge mobilities and offers new insights into boosting the efficiency of single‐junction OSCs beyond 20 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving a more balanced charge transport by morphological control is crucial in reducing bimolecular and trap‐assisted recombination and enhancing the critical parameters for efficient organic solar cells (OSCs). Hence, a facile strategy is proposed to reduce the crystallinity difference between donor and acceptor by incorporating a novel multifunctional liquid crystal small molecule (LCSM) BDTPF4‐C6 into the binary blend. BDTPF4‐C6 is the first LCSM based on a tetrafluorobenzene unit and features a low liquid crystal phase transition temperature and strong self‐assembly ability, conducive to regulating the active layer morphology. When BDTPF4‐C6 is introduced as a guest molecule into the PM6 : Y6 binary, it exhibits better compatibility with the donor PM6 and primarily resides within the PM6 phase because of the similarity‐intermiscibility principle. Moreover, systematic studies revealed that BDTPF4‐C6 could be used as a seeding agent for PM6 to enhance its crystallinity, thereby forming a more balanced and favourable charge transport with suppressed charge recombination. Intriguingly, dual Förster resonance energy transfer was observed between the guest molecule and the host donor and acceptor, resulting in an improved current density. This study demonstrates a facile approach to balance the charge mobilities and offers new insights into boosting the efficiency of single‐junction OSCs beyond 20 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: This study aimed to investigate the effect of perineuronal net (PNN) and neurocan (NCAN) on spinal inhibitory parvalbumin interneuron (PV‐IN), and the mechanism of electroacupuncture (EA) in promoting spinal cord injury (SCI) repair through neurocan in PNN. Methods: A mouse model of SCI was established. Sham‐operated mice or SCI model mice were treated with chondroitin sulfate ABC (ChABC) enzyme or control vehicle for 2 weeks (i.e., sham+veh group, sham+ChABC group, SCI+veh group, and SCI+ChABC group, respectively), and then spinal cord tissues were taken from the T10 lesion epicenter for RNA sequencing (RNA‐seq). MSigDB Hallmark and C5 databases for functional analysis, analysis strategies such as differential expression gene analysis (DEG), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA), and protein–protein interaction (PPI). According to the results of RNA‐seq analysis, the expression of NCAN was knocked down or overexpressed by virus intervention, or/and EA intervention. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), immunofluorescence, western blot, electrophysiological, and behavioral tests were performed. Results: After the successful establishment of SCI model, the motor dysfunction of lower limbs, and the expression of PNN core glycan protein at the epicenter of SCI were reduced. RNA‐seq and PCR showed that PNN core proteoglycans except NCAN showed the same expression trend in normal and injured spinal cord treated with ChABC. KEGG and GSEA showed that PNN is mainly associated with inhibitory GABA neuronal function in injured spinal cord tissue, and PPI showed that NCAN in PNN can be associated with inhibitory neuronal function through parvalbumin (PV). Calcium imaging showed that local parvalbumin interneuron (PV‐IN) activity decreased after PNN destruction, whether due to ChABC treatment or surgical bruising of the spinal cord. Overexpression of neurocan in injured spinal cord can enhance local PV‐IN activity. PCR and western blot suggested that overexpression or knockdown of neurocan could up‐regulate or down‐regulate the expression of GAD. At the same time, the activity of PV‐IN in the primary motor cortex (M1) and the primary sensory cortex of lower (S1HL) extremity changed synchronously. In addition, overexpression of neurocan improved the electrical activity of the lower limb and promoted functional repair of the paralyzed hind limb. EA intervention reversed the down‐regulation of neurocan, enhanced the expression of PNN in the lesioned area, M1 and S1HL. Conclusion: Neurocan in PNN can regulate the activity of PV‐IN, and EA can promote functional recovery of mice with SCI by upregulating neurocan expression in PNN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: A novel fluoro-methoxylated end group for Y-series acceptors is produced, and asymmetric substitution strategy is applied as a step-by-step optimization. 19.24% power conversion efficiency is achieved for industrially compatible solvent ortho-xylene processed organic solar cells. Underlying morphological and photo-physical variation is revealed for device performance difference brought by solvent selection, which could set up a template for future research on similar topics. With plenty of popular and effective ternary organic solar cells (OSCs) construction strategies proposed and applied, its power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) have come to a new level of over 19% in single-junction devices. However, previous studies are heavily based in chloroform (CF) leaving behind substantial knowledge deficiencies in understanding the influence of solvent choice when introducing a third component. Herein, we present a case where a newly designed asymmetric small molecular acceptor using fluoro-methoxylated end-group modification strategy, named BTP-BO-3FO with enlarged bandgap, brings different morphological evolution and performance improvement effect on host system PM6:BTP-eC9, processed by CF and ortho-xylene (o-XY). With detailed analyses supported by a series of experiments, the best PCE of 19.24% for green solvent-processed OSCs is found to be a fruit of finely tuned crystalline ordering and general aggregation motif, which furthermore nourishes a favorable charge generation and recombination behavior. Likewise, over 19% PCE can be achieved by replacing spin-coating with blade coating for active layer deposition. This work focuses on understanding the commonly met yet frequently ignored issues when building ternary blends to demonstrate cutting-edge device performance, hence, will be instructive to other ternary OSC works in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, wide bandgap (WBG) two-dimensional (2D) copolymer donors (DZ1, DZ2, and DZ3) based on benzodithiophene (BDT) on alkoxyphenyl conjugated side chains without and with different amounts of chlorine atoms and difluorobenzotriazole (FBTZ) are designed and synthesized successfully for efficient non-fullerene polymer solar cells (PSCs). Three polymer donors DZ1, DZ2, and DZ3 display similar absorption spectra at 300–700 nm range with optional band-gap (Egopt) of 1.84, 1.92, and 1.97 eV, respectively. Compared with reported DZ1 without chlorine substitution, it is found that introducing chlorine atoms into the meta-position of the alkoxyphenyl group affords polymer possessing a deeper the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy level, which can increase open circuit voltage (VOC) of PSCs, as well as improve hole mobility. Non-fullerene bulk heterojunction PSCs based on DZ2:MeIC demonstrate a relatively high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 10.22% with a VOC of 0.88 V, a short-circuit current density (JSC) of 17.62 mA/cm2, and a fill factor (FF) of 68%, compared with PSCs based on DZ1:MeIC (a PCE of 8.26%) and DZ3:MeIC (a PCE of 6.28%). The results imply that adjusting chlorine atom amount on alkoxyphenyl side chains based on BDT polymer donors is a promising approach of synthesizing electron-rich building block for high performance of PSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving an ideal morphology is an imperative avenue for enhancing key parameters toward high‐performing organic solar cells (OSCs). Among a myriad of morphological‐control methods, the strategy of incorporating a third component with structural similarity and crystallinity difference to construct ternary OSCs has emerged as an effective approach to regulate morphology. A nematic liquid‐crystalline benzodithiophene terthiophene rhodamine (BTR) molecule, which possesses the same alkylthio‐thienyl‐substituted benzo moiety but obviously stronger crystallinity compared to classical medium‐bandgap polymeric donor PM6, is employed as a third component to construct ternary OSCs based on a PM6:BTR:Y6 system. The doping of BTR (5 wt%) is found to be enough to improve the OSC morphology—significantly enhancing the crystallinity of the photoactive layer while slightly reducing the donor/acceptor phase separation scale simultaneously. Rarely is such a morphology evolution reported. It positively affects the electronic properties of the device—prolongs the carrier lifetime, shortens the photocurrent decay time, facilitates exciton dissociation, charge transport, and collection, and ultimately boosts the power conversion efficiency from 15.7% to 16.6%. This result demonstrates that the successful synergy of liquid‐crystalline small‐molecule and polymeric donors delicately adjusts the active‐layer morphology and refines device performance, which brings vibrancy to the OSC research field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) has been is applied as hole transport material in organic electronic devices for more than 20 years. However, the redundant sulfonic acid group of PEDOT:PSS has often been overlooked. Herein, PEDOT:PSS‐DA is prepared via a facile doping of PEDOT:PSS with dopamine hydrochloride (DA·HCl) which reacts with the redundant sulfonic acid of PSS. The PEDOT:PSS‐DA film exhibits enhanced work function and conductivity compared to those of PEDOT:PSS. PEDOT:PSS‐DA‐based devices show a power conversion efficiency of 16.55% which is the highest in organic solar cells (OSCs) with (poly[(2,6‐(4,8‐bis(5‐(2‐ethylhexyl)‐4‐fluorothiophen‐2‐yl)benzo[1,2‐b:4,5‐b′]dithio‐phene))‐co‐(1,3‐di(5‐thiophene‐2‐yl)‐5,7‐bis(2‐ethylhexyl)‐benzo[1,2‐c:4,5‐c′]dithiophene‐4,8‐dione))] (PM6):(2,2′‐((2Z,2′Z)‐((12,13‐bis(2‐ethylhexyl)‐3,9‐diundecyl‐12,13‐dihydro‐[1,2,5]thiadiazolo[3,4‐e]thieno[2′′,3′:4′,5′]thieno[2′,3′:4,5]pyrrolo[3,2‐g]thieno[2′,3′:4,5]thieno[3,2‐b]indole‐2,10‐diyl)bis(methanylylidene))bis(5,6‐difluoro‐3‐oxo‐2,3‐dihydro‐1H‐indene‐2,1‐diylidene))dimalononitrile) (Y6) as the active layer. Furthermore, PEDOT:PSS‐DA also exhibits enhanced performance in three other donor/acceptor systems, exhibiting high compatibility in OSCs. This work demonstrates that doping PEDOT:PSS with various amino derivatives is a potentially efficient strategy to enhance the performance of PEDOT:PSS in organic electronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Both experimental and clinical studies have shown that electroacupuncture (EA) administration ameliorates chronic inflammatory pain (CIP). However, the multifaceted mechanism underlying the effects of EA on CIP is poorly understood. In this study, the mRNA transcriptome was used to study various therapeutic targets of EA. Methods. Using RNA-sequencing, protein-coding mRNA expression profiles of the L4-L5 dorsal root ganglion (DRG) were examined in the control (CN), complete Freund's adjuvant- (CFA-) induced CIP, and EA-treated CIP groups. A series of bioinformatics analyses was performed; "EA-reversed upregulated genes with CIP" (up-DEGs) and "EA-reversed downregulated genes with CIP" (down-DEGs) were identified. Thereafter, based on up-DEGs and down-DEGs, biological functions and signaling pathways were enriched using gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses. Results. In total, 189 DEGs were identified, including 134 up- and 55 down-DEGs, which were enriched in arachidonic acid metabolism (rno00590), glutamatergic synapse (rno04724), serotonergic synapse (rno04726), FoxO signaling pathway (rno04068), insulin signaling pathway (rno04910), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (rno05014), cholinergic synapse (rno04725), ECM-receptor interaction (rno04512), and choline metabolism in cancer (rno05231). Conclusion. We identified a few GOs, pathways, and genes that could play key roles in the amelioration of CIP by EA. Hence, this study may provide a theoretical basis for CIP amelioration by EA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inflammation and glutamate (GLU) are widely thought to participate in the pathogenesis of depression, and current evidence suggests that the development of depression is associated with the activation of the kynurenine pathway (KP). However, the exact mechanism of KP among the inflammation, GLU and depression remain poorly understood. In this study, we examined the involvement of KP, inflammation and GLU in depressive phenotype induced by chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) in C57B/6 J mice. Our results showed that CUMS caused depressive like-behavior in the sucrose preference test, tail suspension test and forced swimming test. From a molecular perspective, CUMS upregulated the peripheral and central inflammatory response and activated indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), the rate-limiting enzyme of KP, which converts tryptophan (TRP) into kynurenine (KYN). KYN is a precursor for QA in microglia, which could activate the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR), increasing the GLU release, mirrored by increased IDO activity, quinolinic acid and GLU levels in the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex and serum. However, intervention with IDO inhibitor 1-methyl-DL-tryptophan (50 mg/kg/s.c.) and 1-methyl-L-tryptophan (15 mg/kg/i.p.) reversed the depressive-like behaviors and adjusted central and peripheral KP's metabolisms levels as well as GLU content, but the inflammation levels were not completely affected. These results provide certain evidence that KP may be a vital pathway mediated by IDO linking inflammation and glutamate, contributing to depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A family of Y-series NFA with different chalcogen-containing heterocycles are developed. • A decent device performance of 16.8% was achieved for BTP-Th-based organic solar cells. • BTP-Th-based devices exhibit suitable morphology and balanced charge mobility. In recent years, the emergence of Y-series non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs) has received extensive attention in the field of organic solar cells (OSCs). Among various structural features, the side chains play a key role in fine-tuning the molecular properties of Y-series NFAs that can affect the device performance. Herein, three Y-series NFAs named BTP-Fu, BTP-Th and BTP-Se with furan, thiophene, and selenophene-based conjugated side chains, respectively, were synthesized and systematically compared. The results demonstrate that different chalcogen-heterocycle substitutions lead to altered opto-electronic properties and molecular packing of the NFAs. Combined with the low-cost donor polymer PTQ10, the BTP-Th-based solar cells obtained a decent device performance of 16.8%, which is higher than that of the BTP-Fu-based ones (4.8%) and that of the BTP-Se-based ones (15.3%). The best performance of the BTP-Th based devices can be attributed to the higher energy levels of BTP-Th, the suitable blend-film morphology, and balanced charge mobility. In addition to the deep energy levels of BTP-Fu, the extremely low electron mobility and the severe trap-assisted charge recombination combined leads to the poor performance of the BTP-Fu-based devices. These results reveal that the different substitutions on the β-position of the thieno[3,2-b]thiophene units in Y-series NFAs can cause a dramatic change in molecular properties and photovoltaic performance, which provides new insights into the molecular design toward highly efficient NFAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Photovoltaic Polymer (J71) was firstly applied as photosensitizer in PDT process. • A donor–acceptor system nano-photosensitizer (ADS2008P/J71 NPs) was designed. • Nanoparticles exhibited promising photo-stability, stable red emission and low dark toxicity. • They showed excellent fluorescence imaging capability and notable anti-tumor ability. For tumor imaging guided photodynamic therapy process, the conundrum of achieving high fluorescence efficiency and singlet oxygen generation efficiency concurrently under the excitation condition of visible light has become a major obstacle to the integration of diagnosis and treatment. For lack of effective methods to resolve this issue, constructing a single photosensitizer with high quantum yield, efficient singlet oxygen generation, stable red emission, excellent photo-stability and low dark toxicity is challenging. In this research, the performance bottleneck is broken by designing an effective donor–acceptor system with excellent imaging and great photodynamic therapy capability through judiciously incorporating a novel polymer (J71) into a hydrophobic conjugated polymer, which is the first time of utilizing this celebrity photovoltaic material as a photosensitizer in photodynamic therapy process. Through fluorescence resonance energy transfer from conjugated polymer to J71, the singlet oxygen production rate of nanoparticles can be enhanced to 0.704. The nanoparticle also exhibits relatively high quantum yield of 0.255. The relatively strong singlet oxygen yield and relatively high fluorescence efficiency of nanoparticle was competitive with other inorganic and organic photosensitizers. Moreover, the J71 as a novel photosensitizer is a kind of 2D-conjugated polymer, which displayed promising photo-stability than traditional porphyrin photosensitizer. The prepared nanoparticles present all desired properties. A series of in vivo and in vitro results revealed the excellent fluorescence imaging capability and noteworthy anti-tumor ability, indicative of this system has great potential application in tumor imaging guided photodynamic therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]