Optimization of Selenization Condition for Efficiency CIGSe Solar Cells Based on Postselenization of CuInGa Precursors.

The degree of selenization of the CIGSe absorbers is controlled by regulating the parameters of the selenization reaction. The structure, element distribution, phase composition of the CIGSe absorbers, and the performances of the solar cells with different selenization degrees are studied. Insufficient selenization will lead to residual CuSe phase on the surface and insufficient Na diffusion, which will affect the V on the surface and the recombination at the front interface.

Investigation on Preparation and Performance of High Ga CIGS Absorbers and Their Solar Cells.

Tandem solar cells usually use a wide band gap absorber for top cell. The band gap of CuInGaSe can be changed from 1.04 eV to 1.

Study on the Performance of Oxygen-Rich Zn(O,S) Buffers Fabricated by Sputtering Deposition and Zn(O,S)/Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se) Interfaces.

We developed a novel process for fabricating oxygen-rich Zn(O,S) buffer layers by magnetron reactive sputtering with a single oxygen-rich Zn(O,S) target, suitable for industrial all-dry production. Then, we successfully fabricated Cd-free Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se) (CIGSSe) solar cells. By varying the oxygen partial pressure during sputtering from 0 to 20%, we precisely controlled the Zn(O,S) composition, then systematically investigated its effects on the quality of oxygen-rich Zn(O,S) films, the properties of formed p-n junctions, and the performance of CIGSSe solar cells with Zn(O,S) buffer.

Paraquat Toxicogenetics: Strain-Related Reduction of Tyrosine Hydroxylase Staining in in Mice.

Paraquat (PQ) is a putative risk factor for the development of sporadic Parkinson's disease. To model a possible genetic basis for individual differences in susceptibility to exposure to PQ, we recently examined the effects of paraquat on tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-containing neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) of six members of the BXD family of mice ( = 2-6 per strain). We injected males with 5 mg/kg paraquat weekly three times.

Degeneration of Key Structural Components Resulting in Ageing of Supercapacitors and the Related Chemical Ageing Mechanism.

The research on supercapacitors (SCs) is one of the hot topics in the field of energy storage, and the intrinsic ageing mechanism of SCs is significant from both the economic and the scientific point of view. In this paper, the negative effects of decay of the key structural components on ageing of SCs were investigated by factorial design and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The ANOVA results showed that the degree of the negative influence on ageing of SCs could be ranked in descending order as anode > separator > cathode.

Genetic differences in ethanol consumption: effects on iron, copper, and zinc regulation in mouse hippocampus.

One common characteristic of neurodegenerative diseases is dysregulation of iron, usually with observed increases in its concentration in various regions. Heavy alcohol consumption is believed to contribute to such iron dysregulation in the brain with accompanying dementia. To examine this effect and related genetic-based individual differences in an animal model, we subjected female mice from 12 BXD recombinant inbred strains to 16 weeks of alcohol consumption using the drinking in the dark (DID) method.

Systems Genetics and Systems Biology Analysis of Paraquat Neurotoxicity in BXD Recombinant Inbred Mice.

Paraquat (PQ) is an herbicide used in many countries, including the United States. It is also implicated as a risk factor for sporadic Parkinson's disease, especially in those living in agricultural areas and drinking well water. Studies linking PQ to sporadic Parkinson's disease are not consistent however and there appears to be interindividual differential susceptibility.

Modeling the Genetic Basis of Individual Differences in Susceptibility to Gulf War Illness.

Between 25% and 30% of the nearly one million military personnel who participated in the 1991 Persian Gulf War became ill with chronic symptoms ranging from gastrointestinal to nervous system dysfunction. This disorder is now referred to as Gulf War Illness (GWI) and the underlying pathophysiology has been linked to exposure-based neuroinflammation caused by organophosphorous (OP) compounds coupled with high circulating glucocorticoids. In a mouse model of GWI we developed, corticosterone was shown to act synergistically with an OP (diisopropylflurophosphate) to dramatically increase proinflammatory cytokine gene expression in the brain.

Preparation of Lotus Root-Type Monolithic-Activated Carbons with an Hierarchical Pore Structure from Rice Husks and Their Adsorption of Vitamin B12.

Activated carbon is widely used in many fields because of its well-developed pore structure. Especially in hemoperfusion, activated carbon beads derived from macroporous resin spheres are the predominant adsorbents in hemoditoxifiers. In comparison, biomass-activated carbon attracts more extensive attention on account of its renewability and environmental protection.

Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of Laser Pretreatment on Strengthening the Heterojunction between Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Plastic and Aluminum Alloy.

Besides aluminum alloys, lightweight carbon fiber-reinforced plastics (CFRPs) have been adopted progressively in automobiles to save energy and reduce emission, so constructing a reliable heterojunction between aluminum alloys and CFRPs has come to be the key issue. In this study, ultrafast picosecond infrared (IR) and excimer ultraviolet (UV) lasers were introduced to pretreat the joint surface to enhance the adhesive strength. Scanning electron microscopy, white light interferometry, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy examinations indicated that because the energy absorptivities for the two lasers were different, the variation of the roughness, wettability, and chemical composition were a little different for the patterned surface.

A Review of the Role of Solvents in Formation of High-Quality Solution-Processed Perovskite Films.

Recently, perovskite solar cells have attracted great attention because of their outstanding photovoltaic performance and ease of fabrication. High-quality perovskite films hold a key in getting highly efficient perovskite solar cells. Solution-processed fabrication technique is the most widely adopted for preparing perovskite films because of its low cost.

Hierarchically Mesostructured Aluminum Current Collector for Enhancing the Performance of Supercapacitors.

Aluminum (Al) current collector is one of the most important components of supercapacitors, and its performance has vital effects on the electrochemical performance and cyclic stability of supercapacitors. In the present work, a scalable and low-cost, yet highly efficient, picosecond laser processing method of Al current collectors was developed to improve the overall performance of supercapacitors. The laser treatment resulted in hierarchical micro-nanostructures on the surface of the commercial Al foil and reduced the surface oxygen content of the foil.

Fabrication and molecular dynamics analyses of highly thermal conductive reduced graphene oxide films at ultra-high temperatures.

Thin films with high thermal conductivity are urgently needed as heat dissipation materials for electronic devices. In this study, we developed a readily scalable roller coating method followed by ultra-high temperature annealing to prepare large-sized, free-standing, and flexible reduced graphene oxide (rGO) films with high thermal conductivity. The in-plane thermal conductivity measured by a laser flash method for the sample annealed at 2800 °C was 826.

Improved Crystallization of Perovskite Films by Optimized Solvent Annealing for High Efficiency Solar Cell.

Organic-inorganic halide perovskite-based thin film solar cells show excellent light-to-power conversion efficiency. The high performance for the devices requires the preparation of well-crystallized perovskite absorbers. In this paper, we used the postannealing process to treat the perovskite films under different solvent vapors and observed that the solvent vapors have a strong effect on the film growth.

Suppression of PKG by PDGF or nitric oxide in differentiated aortic smooth muscle cells: obligatory role of protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B.

Treatment of aortic smooth muscle cells with PDGF induces the upregulation of protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B). PTP1B, in turn, decreases the function of several growth factor receptors, thus completing a negative feedback loop. Studies have reported that PDGF induces the downregulation of PKG as part of a repertoire of dedifferentiation of vascular smooth muscle cells.

Mechanisms related to NO-induced motility in differentiated rat aortic smooth muscle cells.

Nitric oxide (NO) is thought to play an important role as an inhibitor of vascular cell proliferation, motility, and neointima formation. This effect is mediated, in part, via the upregulation of protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP)1B. Conversely, studies have reported that in presumably hyperinsulinemic mice fed a high-fat diet, NO enhances vascular remodeling, whereas a deficit of NO attenuates vascular remodeling.

Chronic insulin treatment amplifies PDGF-induced motility in differentiated aortic smooth muscle cells by suppressing the expression and function of PTP1B.

Hyperinsulinemia plays a major role in the pathogenesis of vascular disease. Restenosis occurs at an accelerated rate in hyperinsulinemia and is dependent on increased vascular smooth muscle cell movement from media to neointima. PDGF plays a critical role in mediating neointima formation in models of vascular injury.

Double-walled carbon nanotube solar cells.

We directly configured double-walled carbon nanotubes as energy conversion materials to fabricate thin-film solar cells, with nanotubes serving as both photogeneration sites and a charge carriers collecting/transport layer. The solar cells consist of a semitransparent thin film of nanotubes conformally coated on a n-type crystalline silicon substrate to create high-density p-n heterojunctions between nanotubes and n-Si to favor charge separation and extract electrons (through n-Si) and holes (through nanotubes). Initial tests have shown a power conversion efficiency of >1%, proving that DWNTs-on-Si is a potentially suitable configuration for making solar cells.

Counter-regulatory function of protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B in platelet-derived growth factor- or fibroblast growth factor-induced motility and proliferation of cultured smooth muscle cells and in neointima formation.

Objective: We have previously reported that vascular injury or treatment of cultured vascular smooth muscle cells with platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB) or fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF2) increases the levels of protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP)1B. The current study was designed to test the hypothesis that PTP1B attenuates PDGF- or FGF-induced motility and proliferation of cultured cells, as well as neointima formation in injured rat carotid arteries.

Methods And Results: Treatment of cultured cells with adenovirus expressing PTP1B decreased PDGF-BB- or FGF2-induced cell motility and blocked PDGF-BB- or FGF2-induced proliferation, whereas expression of dominant negative PTP1B (C215S-PTP1B) uncovered the motogenic effect of subthreshold levels of PDGF-BB or FGF2, increased neointimal and medial cell proliferation, and induced neointimal enlargement after balloon injury.

Nitric oxide attenuates IGF-I-induced aortic smooth muscle cell motility by decreasing Rac1 activity: essential role of PTP-PEST and p130cas.

Recent data support the hypothesis that reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a central role in the initiation and progression of vascular diseases. An important vasoprotective function related to the regulation of ROS levels appears to be the antioxidant capacity of nitric oxide (NO). We previously reported that treatment with NO decreases phosphotyrosine levels of adapter protein p130(cas) by increasing protein tyrosine phosphatase-proline, glutamate, serine, and threonine sequence protein (PTP-PEST) activity, which leads to the suppression of agonist-induced H(2)O(2) elevation and motility in cultured rat aortic smooth muscle cells (SMCs).

Foam cell death induced by 7beta-hydroxycholesterol is mediated by labile iron-driven oxidative injury: mechanisms underlying induction of ferritin in human atheroma.

Human atherosclerotic lesions typically contain large amounts of ferritin associated with apoptotic macrophages and foam cells, although the reasons are unknown. In the present investigation, we studied the relationship between ferritin induction and occurrence of apoptosis in 7beta-hydroxycholesterol (7beta-OH)-treated monocytic cells and macrophages. We found that 7beta-OH enlarges the intracellular labile iron pool, increases formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and induces ferritin and cytosolic accumulation of lipid droplets, lysosomal destabilization, and apoptototic macrophage death.

Cyclic mechanical strain increases reactive oxygen species production in pulmonary epithelial cells.

Overdistention of lung tissue during mechanical ventilation may be one of the factors that initiates ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI). We hypothesized that cyclic mechanical stretch (CMS) of the lung epithelium is involved in the early events of VILI through the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Cultures of an immortalized human airway epithelial cell line (16HBE), a human alveolar type II cell line (A549), and primary cultures of rat alveolar type II cells were cyclically stretched, and the production of superoxide (O2-) was measured by dihydroethidium fluorescence.

Essential role of protein kinase G and decreased cytoplasmic Ca2+ levels in NO-induced inhibition of rat aortic smooth muscle cell motility.

Hyperinsulinemia is a major risk factor for the development of vascular disease. We have reported that insulin increases the motility of vascular smooth muscle cells via a hydrogen peroxide-mediated mechanism and that nitric oxide (NO) attenuates insulin-induced motility via a cGMP-mediated mechanism. Events downstream of cGMP elevation have not yet been investigated.

Increase of PTP levels in vascular injury and in cultured aortic smooth muscle cells treated with specific growth factors.

Migration and proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells are key events in injury-induced neointima formation. Several growth factors and ANG II are thought to be involved in neointima formation. A recent report indicated that vascular injury is associated with increased mRNA levels of protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP)-1B (PTP-1B).