Reducing Defects in Halide Perovskite Nanocrystals for Light-Emitting Applications.

The large specific surface area of perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) increases the likelihood of surface defects compared to that of bulk single crystals and polycrystalline thin films. It is thus crucial to comprehend and control their defect population in order to exploit the potential of perovskite NCs. This Perspective describes and classifies recent advances in understanding defect chemistry and avenues toward defect density reduction in perovskite NCs, and it does so in the context of the promise perceived in light-emitting devices.

What would it take for renewably powered electrosynthesis to displace petrochemical processes?

Electrocatalytic transformation of carbon dioxide (CO) and water into chemical feedstocks offers the potential to reduce carbon emissions by shifting the chemical industry away from fossil fuel dependence. We provide a technoeconomic and carbon emission analysis of possible products, offering targets that would need to be met for economically compelling industrial implementation to be achieved. We also provide a comparison of the projected costs and CO emissions across electrocatalytic, biocatalytic, and fossil fuel-derived production of chemical feedstocks.

Perovskites for Next-Generation Optical Sources.

Next-generation displays and lighting technologies require efficient optical sources that combine brightness, color purity, stability, substrate flexibility. Metal halide perovskites have potential use in a wide range of applications, for they possess excellent charge transport, bandgap tunability and, in the most promising recent optical source materials, intense and efficient luminescence. This review links metal halide perovskites' performance as efficient light emitters with their underlying materials electronic and photophysical attributes.

N-heterocyclic carbene-functionalized magic-number gold nanoclusters.

Magic-number gold nanoclusters are atomically precise nanomaterials that have enabled unprecedented insight into structure-property relationships in nanoscience. Thiolates are the most common ligand, binding to the cluster via a staple motif in which only central gold atoms are in the metallic state. The lack of other strongly bound ligands for nanoclusters with different bonding modes has been a significant limitation in the field.

Contactless measurements of photocarrier transport properties in perovskite single crystals.

The remarkable properties of metal halide perovskites arising from their impressive charge carrier diffusion lengths have led to rapid advances in solution-processed optoelectronics. Unfortunately, diffusion lengths reported in perovskite single crystals have ranged widely - from 3 μm to 3 mm - for ostensibly similar materials. Here we report a contactless method to measure the carrier mobility and further extract the diffusion length: our approach avoids both the effects of contact resistance and those of high electric field.

A Facet-Specific Quantum Dot Passivation Strategy for Colloid Management and Efficient Infrared Photovoltaics.

Colloidal nanocrystals combine size- and facet-dependent properties with solution processing. They offer thus a compelling suite of materials for technological applications. Their size- and facet-tunable features are studied in synthesis; however, to exploit their features in optoelectronic devices, it will be essential to translate control over size and facets from the colloid all the way to the film.

Electro-Optic Modulation in Hybrid Metal Halide Perovskites.

Rapid and efficient conversion of electrical signals to optical signals is needed in telecommunications and data network interconnection. The linear electro-optic (EO) effect in noncentrosymmetric materials offers a pathway to such conversion. Conventional inorganic EO materials make on-chip integration challenging, while organic nonlinear molecules suffer from thermodynamic molecular disordering that decreases the EO coefficient of the material.

In Situ Back-Contact Passivation Improves Photovoltage and Fill Factor in Perovskite Solar Cells.

Organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have seen a rapid rise in power conversion efficiencies in recent years; however, they still suffer from interfacial recombination and charge extraction losses at interfaces between the perovskite absorber and the charge-transport layers. Here, in situ back-contact passivation (BCP) that reduces interfacial and extraction losses between the perovskite absorber and the hole transport layer (HTL) is reported. A thin layer of nondoped semiconducting polymer at the perovskite/HTL interface is introduced and it is shown that the use of the semiconductor polymer permits-in contrast with previously studied insulator-based passivants-the use of a relatively thick passivating layer.

Reliability of clinical diagnosis of masses of the cerebellopontine angle: A retrospective multi-institutional study.

Objectives: To assess the accuracy of pre-operative diagnosis of masses of the cerebellopontine angle (CPA) when compared to surgical pathology.

Design: Retrospective chart review.

Participants: Patients who underwent surgery for CPA masses at two tertiary care institutions from 2007 to 2017.

Learning-in-Templates Enables Accelerated Discovery and Synthesis of New Stable Double Perovskites.

In the past three years, machine learning (ML) in combination with density functional theory (DFT) has enabled computational screening of compounds with the goal of accelerated materials discovery. Unfortunately, DFT+ML has, until now, either relied on knowledge of the atomic positions at DFT energy minima, which are a priori unknown, or been limited to chemical spaces of modest size. Here we report a strategy that we term learning-in-templates (LiT), wherein we first define a series of space group and stoichiometry templates corresponding to hypothesized compounds and, orthogonally, we allow any list of atoms to take on any template.

Spectrally Resolved Ultrafast Exciton Transfer in Mixed Perovskite Quantum Wells.

Solution-processed perovskite quantum wells have been used to fabricate increasingly efficient and stable optoelectronic devices. Little is known about the dynamics of photogenerated excitons in perovskite quantum wells within the first few hundred femtoseconds-a crucial time scale on which energy and charge transfer processes may compete. Here we use ultrafast transient absorption and two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy to clarify the movement of excitons and charges in reduced-dimensional perovskite solids.

A Practical Do-It-Yourself Recruitment Framework for Concurrent eHealth Clinical Trials: Identification of Efficient and Cost-Effective Methods for Decision Making (Part 2).

Background: The ability to successfully recruit participants for electronic health (eHealth) clinical trials is largely dependent on the use of efficient and effective recruitment strategies. Determining which types of recruitment strategies to use presents a challenge for many researchers.

Objective: The aim of this study was to present an analysis of the time-efficiency and cost-effectiveness of recruitment strategies for eHealth clinical trials, and it describes a framework for cost-effective trial recruitment.

Pulsed axial epitaxy of colloidal quantum dots in nanowires enables facet-selective passivation.

Epitaxially stacking colloidal quantum dots in nanowires offers a route to selective passivation of defective facets while simultaneously enabling charge transfer to molecular adsorbates - features that must be combined to achieve high-efficiency photocatalysts. This requires dynamical switching of precursors to grow, alternatingly, the quantum dots and nanowires - something not readily implemented in conventional flask-based solution chemistry. Here we report pulsed axial epitaxy, a growth mode that enables the stacking of multiple CdS quantum dots in ZnS nanowires.

Prismatic Deflection of Live Tumor Cells and Cell Clusters.

The analysis of heterogeneous subpopulations of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) is critical to enhance our understanding of cancer metastasis and enable noninvasive cancer diagnosis and monitoring. The phenotypic variability and plasticity of these cells-properties closely linked to their clinical behavior-demand techniques that isolate viable, discrete fractions of tumor cells for functional assays of their behavior and detailed analysis of biochemical properties. Here, we introduce the Prism Chip, a high-resolution immunomagnetic profiling and separation chip which harnesses a cobalt-based alloy to separate a flowing stream of nanoparticle-bound tumor cells with differential magnetic loading into 10 discrete streams.

Efficient and stable emission of warm-white light from lead-free halide double perovskites.

Lighting accounts for one-fifth of global electricity consumption. Single materials with efficient and stable white-light emission are ideal for lighting applications, but photon emission covering the entire visible spectrum is difficult to achieve using a single material. Metal halide perovskites have outstanding emission properties; however, the best-performing materials of this type contain lead and have unsatisfactory stability.

Copper adparticle enabled selective electrosynthesis of n-propanol.

The electrochemical reduction of carbon monoxide is a promising approach for the renewable production of carbon-based fuels and chemicals. Copper shows activity toward multi-carbon products from CO reduction, with reaction selectivity favoring two-carbon products; however, efficient conversion of CO to higher carbon products such as n-propanol, a liquid fuel, has yet to be achieved. We hypothesize that copper adparticles, possessing a high density of under-coordinated atoms, could serve as preferential sites for n-propanol formation.

Picosecond Charge Transfer and Long Carrier Diffusion Lengths in Colloidal Quantum Dot Solids.

Quantum dots (QDs) are promising candidates for solution-processed thin-film optoelectronic devices. Both the diffusion length and the mobility of photoexcited charge carriers in QD solids are critical determinants of solar cell performance; yet various techniques offer diverse values of these key parameters even in notionally similar films. Here we report diffusion lengths and interdot charge transfer rates using a 3D donor/acceptor technique that directly monitors the rate at which photoexcitations reach small-bandgap dot inclusions having a known spacing within a larger-bandgap QD matrix.

Traumatic versus Idiopathic Benign Positional Vertigo: Analysis of Disease, Treatment, and Outcome Characteristics.

Objective: To compare characteristics between traumatic and idiopathic benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) focusing on outcomes.

Study Design: Retrospective chart review.

Setting: High-volume tertiary otology center.

The quantum-confined Stark effect in layered hybrid perovskites mediated by orientational polarizability of confined dipoles.

The quantum-confined Stark effect (QCSE) is an established optical modulation mechanism, yet top-performing modulators harnessing it rely on costly fabrication processes. Here, we present large modulation amplitudes for solution-processed layered hybrid perovskites and a modulation mechanism related to the orientational polarizability of dipolar cations confined within these self-assembled quantum wells. We report an anomalous (blue-shifting) QCSE for layers that contain methylammonium cations, in contrast with cesium-containing layers that show normal (red-shifting) behavior.

Perovskite light-emitting diodes with external quantum efficiency exceeding 20 per cent.

Metal halide perovskite materials are an emerging class of solution-processable semiconductors with considerable potential for use in optoelectronic devices. For example, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) based on these materials could see application in flat-panel displays and solid-state lighting, owing to their potential to be made at low cost via facile solution processing, and could provide tunable colours and narrow emission line widths at high photoluminescence quantum yields. However, the highest reported external quantum efficiencies of green- and red-light-emitting perovskite LEDs are around 14 per cent and 12 per cent, respectively-still well behind the performance of organic LEDs and inorganic quantum dot LEDs.

A Surface Reconstruction Route to High Productivity and Selectivity in CO Electroreduction toward C Hydrocarbons.

Electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction (CO ) is a promising technology to use renewable electricity to convert CO into valuable carbon-based products. For commercial-scale applications, however, the productivity and selectivity toward multi-carbon products must be enhanced. A facile surface reconstruction approach that enables tuning of CO -reduction selectivity toward C products on a copper-chloride (CuCl)-derived catalyst is reported here.

Butylamine-Catalyzed Synthesis of Nanocrystal Inks Enables Efficient Infrared CQD Solar Cells.

The best-performing colloidal-quantum-dot (CQD) photovoltaic devices suffer from charge recombination within the quasi-neutral region near the back hole-extracting junction. Graded architectures, which provide a widened depletion region at the back junction of device, could overcome this challenge. However, since today's best materials are processed using solvents that lack orthogonality, these architectures have not yet been implemented using the best-performing CQD solids.

Multibandgap quantum dot ensembles for solar-matched infrared energy harvesting.

As crystalline silicon solar cells approach in efficiency their theoretical limit, strategies are being developed to achieve efficient infrared energy harvesting to augment silicon using solar photons from beyond its 1100 nm absorption edge. Herein we report a strategy that uses multi-bandgap lead sulfide colloidal quantum dot (CQD) ensembles to maximize short-circuit current and open-circuit voltage simultaneously. We engineer the density of states to achieve simultaneously a large quasi-Fermi level splitting and a tailored optical response that matches the infrared solar spectrum.

Precise Control of Thermal and Redox Properties of Organic Hole-Transport Materials.

We report design principles of the thermal and redox properties of synthetically accessible spiro-based hole transport materials (HTMs) and show the relevance of these findings to high-performance perovskite solar cells (PSCs). The chemical modification of an asymmetric spiro[fluorene-9,9'-xanthene] core is amenable to selective placement of redox active triphenylamine (TPA) units. We therefore leveraged computational techniques to investigate five HTMs bearing TPA groups judiciously positioned about this asymmetric spiro core.