12. |
- Xu, Husen, et al.
(author)
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Synergistically boosting performances of organic solar cells from dithieno[3,2-b]benzo[1,2-b;4,5-b′]dithiophene-based copolymers via side chain engineering and radical polymer additives
- 2024
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In: Journal of Materials Chemistry C. - 2050-7526 .- 2050-7534. ; 12:10, s. 3644-3653
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- As a notable analogue of benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene (BDT), dithieno[2,3-d:2′,3′-d′]benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene (DTBDT) is expected to be a more promising building block for polymer photovoltaic donor materials due to its larger coplanar core and extended conjugation length as well as a similar electron donor ability to BDT. However, the performance of organic solar cells (OSCs) from DTBDT-based copolymers is much lower than that of OSCs from BDT-based copolymers, which is attributed to the higher voltage loss of the OSCs from DTBDT-based polymers as compared to that from BDT-based polymers. In this study, approaches such as increasing the donor (D) and acceptor (A) spacing by lengthening the side chains of the polymer donors and use of radical conjugated polymer additives are synergistically employed in OSCs from 2-alkyl-3-chlorothiophene flanked DTBDT-alt-1,3-bis(thiophen-2-yl)-5,7-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-4H,8H-benzo[1,2-c:4,5-c′]dithiophene-4,8-dione (BDD) polymers paired with Y6. Compared to the OSCs from the DTBDT-alt-BDD polymer with 2-ethylhexyl side chains (PBDT-Cl) paired with Y6, the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of the counterpart OSCs from the DTBDT-alt-BDD polymer with 2-butyloctyl side chains (PDBT-Cl-BO) increased from 12.67% to 14.58%, with a remarkable improvement of the open circuit voltage (VOC). The reduction of non-radiative energy loss of the OSCs from PBDT-Cl-BO:Y6, ascribed to the increase of the DA spacing by lengthening the side chains, is supported through detailed studies such as Fourier-transform photocurrent spectroscopy external quantum efficiency (FTPS-EQE), electroluminescence (EL), electroluminescence external quantum efficiency (EQEEL), and molecular dynamics simulations (MD). Afterwards, the PCEs of the OSCs from the blends of PDBT-Cl-BO:Y6 were further improved from 14.58% to 15.93% with a notable improvement of short circuit densities (JSCs) and fill factors (FFs), along with a small improvement in VOC upon the addition of the radical conjugated polymer GDTA as an additive. For comparison, the PCEs of the OSCs from the blends of PDBT-Cl:Y6 remained almost unchanged upon the addition of GDTA. This work suggests a wise strategy to synergistically utilize side-chain engineering and radical conjugated polymer additives to reduce the non-radiative energy loss, thus improving the performance of OSCs from DTBDT-based polymer donors.
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13. |
- Yu, Meijuan, et al.
(author)
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3D local structure around Zn in Kti11p as a representative Zn-(Cys)4 motif as obtained by MXAN
- 2008
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In: Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications - BBRC. - : Elsevier BV. - 0006-291X .- 1090-2104. ; 374:1, s. 28-32
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Zinc is an important component of many proteins that play key roles in transcription, translation, and catalysis. Kti11p, DESR1, both belonging to a protein family characterized by a CSL zinc finger domain, and the co-catalytic zinc-protein PML containing a Zn2+ binding domain called RING or C3HC4 finger are all structurally determined by NMR although the zinc sites are silent to this spectroscopical method. The comparison of X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES) data for the three proteins demonstrates that fingerprints effect is a reliable method for a primary characterization of ligand species. Ab initio full MS Calculations performed by MAN are applied to obtain chemical and stereo structural information around the Zn ion in Kti11p. For the first time this high-spatial resolution technique confirms the formation of a stable Zn tetrahedral configuration with four sulfur ligands, and returns extremely accurate bond angle information between ligands.
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14. |
- Zhan, Chunjun, 1986, et al.
(author)
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Reprogramming methanol utilization pathways to convert Saccharomyces cerevisiae to a synthetic methylotroph
- 2023
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In: Nature Catalysis. - 2520-1158. ; 6:5, s. 435-450
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Methanol, an organic one-carbon (C1) compound, represents an attractive alternative carbon source for microbial fermentation. Despite considerable advancements in methanol utilization by prokaryotes such as Escherichia coli, engineering eukaryotic model organisms such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae into synthetic methylotrophs remains challenging. Here, an engineered module circuit strategy combined with adaptive laboratory evolution was applied to engineer S. cerevisiae to use methanol as the sole carbon source. We revealed that the evolved glyoxylate-based serine pathway plays an important role in methanol-dependent growth by promoting formaldehyde assimilation. Further, we determined that the isoprenoid biosynthetic pathway was upregulated, resulting in an increased concentration of squalene and ergosterol in our evolved strain. These changes could potentially alleviate cell membrane damage in the presence of methanol. This work sets the stage for expanding the potential of exploiting S. cerevisiae as a potential organic one-carbon platform for biochemical or biofuel production. [Figure not available: see fulltext.].
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