| 1. |
- Barash, Uri, et al.
(author)
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Heparanase promotes glioma progression via enhancing CD24 expression
- 2019
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In: International Journal of Cancer. - : WILEY. - 0020-7136 .- 1097-0215. ; 145:6, s. 1596-1608
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Heparanase is an endo-beta-d-glucuronidase that cleaves heparan sulfate (HS) side chains of heparan sulfate proteoglycans. Compelling evidence tie heparanase levels with all steps of tumor formation including tumor initiation, growth, metastasis and chemo-resistance, likely involving augmentation of signaling pathways and gene transcription. In order to reveal the molecular mechanism(s) underlying the protumorigenic properties of heparanase, we established an inducible (Tet-on) system in U87 human glioma cells and applied gene array methodology in order to identify genes associated with heparanase induction. We found that CD24, a mucin-like cell adhesion protein, is consistently upregulated by heparanase and by heparanase splice variant devoid of enzymatic activity, whereas heparanase gene silencing was associated with decreased CD24 expression. This finding was further substantiated by a similar pattern of heparanase and CD24 immunostaining in glioma patients (Pearson's correlation; R = 0.66, p = 0.00001). Noteworthy, overexpression of CD24 stimulated glioma cell migration, invasion, colony formation in soft agar and tumor growth in mice suggesting that CD24 functions promote tumor growth. Likewise, anti-CD24 neutralizing monoclonal antibody attenuated glioma tumor growth, and a similar inhibition was observed in mice treated with a neutralizing mAb directed against L1 cell adhesion molecule (L1CAM), a ligand for CD24. Importantly, significant shorter patient survival was found in heparanase-high/CD24-high tumors vs. heparanase-high/CD24-low tumors for both high-grade and low-grade glioma (p = 0.02). Our results thus uncover a novel heparanase-CD24-L1CAM axis that plays a significant role in glioma tumorigenesis.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Bian, Qingzhen, 1988-, et al.
(author)
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Vibronic coherence contributes to photocurrent generation in organic semiconductor heterojunction diodes
- 2020
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In: Nature Communications. - : NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP. - 2041-1723. ; 11:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Charge separation dynamics after the absorption of a photon is a fundamental process relevant both for photosynthetic reaction centers and artificial solar conversion devices. It has been proposed that quantum coherence plays a role in the formation of charge carriers in organic photovoltaics, but experimental proofs have been lacking. Here we report experimental evidence of coherence in the charge separation process in organic donor/acceptor heterojunctions, in the form of low frequency oscillatory signature in the kinetics of the transient absorption and nonlinear two-dimensional photocurrent spectroscopy. The coherence plays a decisive role in the initial 200 femtoseconds as we observe distinct experimental signatures of coherent photocurrent generation. This coherent process breaks the energy barrier limitation for charge formation, thus competing with excitation energy transfer. The physics may inspire the design of new photovoltaic materials with high device performance, which explore the quantum effects in the next-generation optoelectronic applications.
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| 4. |
- Chen, Yani, et al.
(author)
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Tailoring Organic Cation of 2D Air-Stable Organometal Halide Perovskites for Highly Efficient Planar Solar Cells
- 2017
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In: Advanced Energy Materials. - : Wiley. - 1614-6832. ; 7:18
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- 2D perovskites have recently been shown to exhibit significantly improved environmental stability. Derived from their 3D analogues, 2D perovskites are formed by inserting bulky alkylammonium cations in-between the anionic layers. However, these insulating organic spacer cations also hinder charge transport. Herein, such a 2D perovskite, (iso-BA)2(MA)3Pb4I13, that contains short branched-chain spacer cations (iso-BA+) and shows a remarkable increase of optical absorption and crystallinity in comparison to the conventional linear one, n-BA+, is designed. After applying the hot-casting (HC) technique, all these properties are further improved. The HC (iso-BA)2(MA)3Pb4I13 sample exhibits the best ambient stability by maintaining its initial optical absorption after storage of 840 h in an environmental chamber at 20 °C with a relative humidity of 60% without encapsulation. More importantly, the out-of-plane crystal orientation of (iso-BA)2(MA)3Pb4I13 film is notably enhanced, which increases cross-plane charge mobility. As a result, the highest power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) measured from for current density versus voltage curves afford 8.82% and 10.63% for room-temperature and HC-processed 2D perovskites based planar solar cells, respectively. However, the corresponding steady-state PCEs are remarkably lower, which is presumably due to the significant hysteresis phenomena caused by low charge extraction efficiency at interfaces of C60/2D perovskites.
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| 5. |
- Luo, Yifei, et al.
(author)
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Technology Roadmap for Flexible Sensors
- 2023
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In: ACS Nano. - : American Chemical Society. - 1936-0851 .- 1936-086X. ; 17:6, s. 5211-5295
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Humans rely increasingly on sensors to address grand challenges and to improve quality of life in the era of digitalization and big data. For ubiquitous sensing, flexible sensors are developed to overcome the limitations of conventional rigid counterparts. Despite rapid advancement in bench-side research over the last decade, the market adoption of flexible sensors remains limited. To ease and to expedite their deployment, here, we identify bottlenecks hindering the maturation of flexible sensors and propose promising solutions. We first analyze challenges in achieving satisfactory sensing performance for real-world applications and then summarize issues in compatible sensor-biology interfaces, followed by brief discussions on powering and connecting sensor networks. Issues en route to commercialization and for sustainable growth of the sector are also analyzed, highlighting environmental concerns and emphasizing nontechnical issues such as business, regulatory, and ethical considerations. Additionally, we look at future intelligent flexible sensors. In proposing a comprehensive roadmap, we hope to steer research efforts towards common goals and to guide coordinated development strategies from disparate communities. Through such collaborative efforts, scientific breakthroughs can be made sooner and capitalized for the betterment of humanity.
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| 6. |
- Pan, Dong, et al.
(author)
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Dimension Engineering of High-Quality InAs Nanostructures on a Wafer Scale
- 2019
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In: Nano Letters. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1530-6984 .- 1530-6992. ; 19:3, s. 1632-1642
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Low-dimensional narrow-band-gap III-V semiconductors are key building blocks for the next generation of high-performance nanoelectronics, nanophotonics, and quantum devices. Realizing these various applications requires an efficient methodology that enables the material dimensional control during the synthesis process and the mass production of these materials with perfect crystallinity, reproducibility, low cost, and outstanding electronic and optoelectronic properties. Although advances in one- and two-dimensional narrow-band-gap III-V semiconductors synthesis, the progress toward reliable methods that can satisfy all of these requirements has been limited. Here, we demonstrate an approach that provides a precise control of the dimension of InAs from one-dimensional nanowires to wafer-scale free-standing two-dimensional nanosheets, which have a high degree of crystallinity and outstanding electrical and optical properties, using molecular-beam epitaxy by controlling catalyst alloy segregation. In our approach, two-dimensional InAs nanosheets can be obtained directly from one-dimensional InAs nanowires by silver-indium alloy segregation, which is much easier than the previously reported methods, such as the traditional buffering technique and select-area epitaxial growth. Detailed transmission electron microscopy investigations provide solid evidence that the catalyst alloy segregation is the origination of the InAs dimensional transformation from one-dimensional nanowires to two-dimensional nanosheets and even to three-dimensional complex crosses. Using this method, we find that the wafer-scale free-standing InAs nanosheets can be grown on various substrates including Si, MgO, sapphire, GaAs, etc. The InAs nanosheets grown at high temperature are pure-phase single crystals and have a high electron mobility and a long time-resolved terahertz kinetics lifetime. Our work will open up a conceptually new and general technology route toward the effective controlling of the dimension of the low-dimensional III-V semiconductors. It may also enable the low-cost fabrication of free-standing nanosheet-based devices on an industrial scale.
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| 7. |
- Su, Xiaojun, et al.
(author)
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Effect of hydrogen chloride etching on carrier recombination processes of indium phosphide nanowires
- 2019
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In: Nanoscale. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 2040-3364 .- 2040-3372. ; 11:40, s. 18550-18558
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Introduction of in situ HCl etching to an epitaxial growth process has been shown to suppress radial growth and improve the morphology and optical properties of nanowires. In this paper, we investigate the dynamics of photo-generated charge carriers in a series of indium phosphide nanowires grown with varied HCl fluxes. Time resolved photo-induced luminescence, transient absorption and time resolved terahertz spectroscopy were employed to investigate charge trapping and recombination processes in the nanowires. Since the excitation photons generate charges predominantly in less than a half length of the nanowires, we can selectively assess the charge carrier dynamics at their top and bottom. We found that the photoluminescence decay is dominated by the decay of the mobile hole population due to trapping, which is affected by the HCl etching. The hole trapping rate is in general faster at the top of the nanowires than at the bottom. In contrast, electrons remain highly mobile until they recombine non-radiatively with the trapped holes. The slowest hole trapping as well as the least efficient non-radiative recombination was recorded for etching using the HCl molar fraction of χHCl = 5.4 × 10-5
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| 8. |
- Su, Xiaojun, et al.
(author)
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Understanding of photophysical processes in dio additive-treated ptb7:Pc71 bm solar cells
- 2021
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In: Crystals. - : MDPI AG. - 2073-4352. ; 11:9
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- 1,8-diiodooctane (DIO) additive is an important method for optimizing the morphology and device performance of polythieno[3,4-b]-thiophene-co-benzodithiophene (PTB7)-based polymer solar cells. However, the effect of DIO additive on charge photogeneration dynamics of PTB7-based polymer solar cells is still poorly understood. In this work, the effect of DIO additive on the carrier photogeneration dynamics, as well as device performance of PTB7: [6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC71 BM) solar cells was studied. Bias-dependent photoluminescence (PL) experiments of a neat PTB7 device show that the exciton cannot be dissociated by the electric field in the device within the operating voltage range, but it can be effectively dissociated by the high electric field. PL and time-resolved PL studies show that DIO additive reduces the phase size of PTB7 in the blend film, resulting in an increased exciton dissociation efficiency. The carrier recombination processes were studied by transient absorption, which shows geminate carrier recombination was suppressed in the DIO-treated PTB7:PC71 BM device in ultrafast time scale. The increased exciton dissociation efficiency and suppressed carrier recombination in ultrafast time scale play an important role for DIO-treated PTB7:PC71 BM solar cells to attain a higher power conversion efficiency.
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| 9. |
- Wen, Guanzhao, et al.
(author)
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Excited-state properties of Y-series small molecule semiconductors
- 2021
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In: Dyes and Pigments. - : Elsevier BV. - 0143-7208. ; 192
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The emergence of the Y series small molecule semiconductors, Y6 and its derivatives, have significantly improved the performance of polymer solar cells (PSCs). However, the excited-state properties of these Y-series small molecule semiconductors which are highly important for designing high-performance PSCs, need to be illustrated. In this work, the excited-state properties and electronic structures of the Y-series small molecules (Y5, Y6, Y10, N3, Y6-BO-4F, and Y6-BO-4Cl) have been systematically studied by using steady-state and time-resolved spectroscopies and quantum chemical calculations. It is shown that the influence of alkyl chains at the nitrogen atom of the pyrrole ring is weak for the electron affinities, ionization potentials, electron and hole reorganization energies and singlet exciton lifetime of Y molecules. Meanwhile, these parameters are found to be varied with the types of electron-deficient termini. Moreover, we find that Y10 and Y5 have the shortest singlet exciton lifetime in solution and the longest singlet exciton lifetime in film (~1100 ps), suggesting the engineering of electron-deficient termini can significantly influence the excited-state lifetime in solution and film. Our work could provide a guideline for designing Y-series acceptor materials for high-performance polymer solar cells.
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| 10. |
- Zeng, Xulu, et al.
(author)
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In situ passivation of GaxIn(1−x)P nanowires using radial AlyIn(1−y)P shells grown by MOVPE
- 2021
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In: Nanotechnology. - : IOP Publishing. - 0957-4484 .- 1361-6528. ; 32:42
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- GaxIn(1−x)P nanowires with suitable bandgap (1.35-2.26 eV) ranging from the visible to near-infrared wavelength have great potential in optoelectronic applications. Due to the large surface-to-volume ratio of nanowires, the surface states become a pronounced factor affecting device performance. In this work, we performed a systematic study of GaxIn(1−x)P nanowires' surface passivation, utilizing AlyIn(1−y)P shells grown in situ by using a metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy system. Time-resolved photoinduced luminescence and time-resolved THz spectroscopy measurements were performed to study the nanowires' carrier recombination processes. Compared to the bare Ga0.41In0.59P nanowires without shells, the hole and electron lifetime of the nanowires with the Al0.36In0.64P shells are found to be larger by 40 and 1.1 times, respectively, demonstrating effective surface passivation of trap states. When shells with higher Al composition were grown, both lifetimes of free holes and electrons decreased prominently. We attribute the acceleration of PL decay to an increase in the trap states' density due to the formation of defects, including the polycrystalline and oxidized amorphous areas in these samples. Furthermore, in a separate set of samples, we varied the shell thickness. We observed that a certain shell thickness of approximately ∼20 nm is needed for efficient passivation of Ga0.31In0.69P nanowires. The photoconductivity of the sample with a shell thickness of 23 nm decays 10 times slower compared with that of the bare core nanowires. We concluded that both the hole and electron trapping and the overall charge recombination in GaxIn(1−x)P nanowires can be substantially passivated through growing an AlyIn(1−y)P shell with appropriate Al composition and thickness. Therefore, we have developed an effective in situ surface passivation of GaxIn(1−x)P nanowires by use of AlyIn(1−y)P shells, paving the way to high-performance GaxIn(1−x)P nanowires optoelectronic devices.
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