Development of an automated SILAR method for the sustainable fabrication of BiOI/TiO photoanodes.

BiOI is a promising material for use in photoelectrocatalytic water oxidation, renowned for its chemical inertness and safety in aqueous media. For device integration, BiOI must be fabricated into films. Considering future industrial applications, automated production is essential.

High Open-Circuit Voltage Cs AgBiBr Carbon-Based Perovskite Solar Cells via Green Processing of Ultrasonic Spray-Coated Carbon Electrodes from Waste Tire Sources.

Invited for this month cover is the group of Teresa Gatti at the Justus Liebig University (JLU) in Giessen, Germany, the group of Federico Bella at Politecnico di Torino (POLITO), Italy, and the group of Francesco Lamberti at the University of Padova (UNIPD), also in Italy. The image shows how waste tires can be converted in a conductive carbon powder that undergoes a green processing step to produce carbon electrodes for lead-free perovskite solar cells. Similar devices can be employed to harvest indoor light in order to power the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem.

Nanostructured 2D WS@PANI nanohybrids for electrochemical energy storage.

2D materials are interesting flat nanoplatforms for the implementation of different electrochemical processes, due to the high surface area and tunable electronic properties. 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) can be produced through convenient top-down liquid-phase exfoliation (LPE) methods and present capacitive behaviour that can be exploited for energy storage applications. However, in their thermodynamically stable 2H crystalline phase, they present poor electrical conductivity, being this phase a purely semiconducting one.

High Open-Circuit Voltage Cs AgBiBr Carbon-Based Perovskite Solar Cells via Green Processing of Ultrasonic Spray-Coated Carbon Electrodes from Waste Tire Sources.

Costs and toxicity concerns are at the center of a heated debate regarding the implementation of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) into commercial products. The first bottleneck could be overcome by eliminating the top metal electrode (generally gold) and the underlying hole transporting material and substituting both with one single thick layer of conductive carbon, as in the so-called carbon-based PSCs (C-PSCs). The second issue, related to the presence of lead, can be tackled by resorting to other perovskite structures based on less toxic metallic components.

A rare case of spontaneous rupture of epithelioid angiomyolipoma.

A male patient, 40 years of age, arrived at our Institute with diffuse abdominal tenderness, right flank pain, hematuria and early stage of hemorrhagic shock with anemia and initial hypotension. The immediate clinical history revealed no significant previous trauma, only subsequently was reported inconstant pain in the right flank for 4-5 days with pallor and asthenia, signs and symptoms that the patient had not investigated. Abdominal CT scan with angiographic evaluation was performed showing right kidney mass and perirenal fluid collection by blood component.

Lanthanide-Induced Photoluminescence in Lead-Free CsAgBiBr Bulk Perovskite: Insights from Optical and Theoretical Investigations.

Emphasis was recently placed on the CsAgBiBr double perovskite as a possible candidate to substitute toxic lead in metal halide perovskites. However, its poor light-emissive features currently make it unsuitable for solid-state lighting. Lanthanide doping is an established strategy to implement luminescence in poorly emissive materials, with the additional advantage of fine-tuning the emission wavelength.

Double Intracavernous Breakage of Sachse's Knife Blade: Management of a Rare Complication Performing Direct Vision Internal Urethrotomy.

Although the breakage of a Sachse's knife blade is already a rare event while performing optical internal urethrotomy, a double failure appears to be at the same time a unique and a challenging complication to manage since no reference has emerged from literature review. A male patient, 80 years of age, underwent retreatment of recurrent urethral stricture that occurred after transurethral resection of the prostate. The latter was complicated by severe intraoperative urethrorrhagia; this is the reason he was transferred from another institution where at first a suprapubic cystostomy was carried out, followed by urethral recanalization through internal urethrotomy and finally he underwent intracavernous Sachse's knife blade discharge.

Straightforward Micropatterning of Oligonucleotides in Microfluidics by Novel Spin-On ZrO₂ Surfaces.

DNA biochip assays often require immobilization of bioactive molecules on solid surfaces. A simple biofunctionalization protocol and precise spatial binding represent the two major challenges in order to obtain localized region specific biopatterns into lab-on-a-chip (LOC) systems. In this work, a simple strategy to anchor oligonucleotides on microstructured areas and integrate the biomolecules patterns within microfluidic channels is reported.

Biosensing with electroconductive biomimetic soft materials.

The development of smart biomaterials able to quantitatively analyse the dynamics of biological systems with high temporal resolution in biomimetic environments is of paramount importance in biophysics, biology and medicine. In this context, we develop a biosensing water-based soft biomaterial with tunable mechanical properties through the generation of an electroconductive nano-element network. As a proof of concept, in order to detect glucose concentration, we fabricate an electroconductive polyacrylamide glucose oxidase (GOx) loaded hydrogel (HY) modified with a small amount of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) (up to 0.

Flow biosensing and sampling in indirect electrochemical detection.

Miniaturization in biological analyses has several advantages, such as sample volume reduction and fast response time. The integration of miniaturized biosensors within lab-on-a-chip setups under flow conditions is highly desirable, not only because it simplifies process handling but also because measurements become more robust and operator-independent. In this work, we study the integration of flow amperometric biosensors within a microfluidic platform when analyte concentration is indirectly measured.

Nanotubes oxidation temperature controls the height of single-walled carbon nanotube forests on gold micropatterned thin layers.

We developed a simple methodology for a direct control of the height of carboxylated single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) forests. We found that the important step is a good control of the oxidation temperature of the nanotubes. SWNTs oxidation at different temperature was followed by Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies.