Longevity has been a long-standing concern for hybrid perovskite photovoltaics. We demonstrate high-resilience positive-intrinsic-negative perovskite solar cells by incorporating a piperidinium-based ionic compound into the formamidinium-cesium lead-trihalide perovskite absorber. With the bandgap tuned to be well suited for perovskite-on-silicon tandem cells, this piperidinium additive enhances the open-circuit voltage and cell efficiency. This additive also retards compositional segregation into impurity phases and pinhole formation in the perovskite absorber layer during aggressive aging. Under full-spectrum simulated sunlight in ambient atmosphere, our unencapsulated and encapsulated cells retain 80 and 95% of their peak and post-burn-in efficiencies for 1010 and 1200 hours at 60° and 85°C, respectively. Our analysis reveals detailed degradation routes that contribute to the failure of aged cells.

BROADER CONTEXTPerovskite solar cells, which promise to deliver the highest efficiency, lowest cost nextgeneration PV technology, have been largely advanced over the last few years by improvements in the polycrystalline thin film quality. So far, improvements in film uniformity and smoothness, have mainly been at the expense of crystalline grain-size, and charge recombination losses at defect sites. High luminescence efficiency, which is an indication of better optoelectronic quality, has generally been found in films with polycrystalline grains of many micrometres in scale. This suggests a current compromise between ideal morphology and ideal optoelectronic quality.For traditional semiconductors and crystalline solids, the influence of impurity ion doping has been studied extensively and can either alter the crystallisation or induced electronic positive or negative type doping. However, in the perovskite community, impurity doping has been largely unexplored. Here, we show that doping the perovskite solution with Al 3+ , which has a much smaller ionic radius than Pb 2+ , has profoundly positive influenced on the crystalline and optoelectronic quality of the perovskite absorber layer: We demonstrate a two-fold increase in the photoluminescence quantum efficiency and a significantly reduced electronic disorder, despite the films still having polycrystalline grains on the order of one micrometer is scale. This largely overcomes the trade-off between film smoothness and optoelectronic quality, and these improvements translate into highly efficient planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells.Our work paves the way for further improvement of the optoelectronic quality of perovskite thin films, and subsequent devices, via highlighting a new avenue for investigation of the role of dopant impurities upon crystallisation and controlling the electronic defect density in the perovskite thin films. ABSTRACTRealizing the theoretical limiting power conversion efficiency (PCE) in perovskite solar cells requires a better understanding and control over the fundamental loss processes occurring in the bulk of the perovskite layer and at the internal semiconductor interfaces in devices. One of the main challenges is to eliminate the presence of charge recombination centres throughout the film which have been observed to be most densely located at regions near the grain boundaries.Here, we introduce aluminium acetylacetonate to the perovskite precursor solution, which improves the crystal quality by reducing the microstrain in the polycrystalline film. At the same time, we achieve a reduction in the non-radiative recombination rate, a remarkable improvement in the photoluminescence quantum efficiency (PLQE) and a reduction in the electronic disorder deduced from an Urbach energy of only 12.6 meV in complete devices. As a result, we demonstrate a power-conversion efficiency (PCE) of 19.1% with negligible hysteresis in planar heterojunction solar cells comprising all organic p and n-type charge collection layers. Our work shows that...

Triglyceride-rich lipoproteins (TRLs) undergo lipolysis by lipoprotein lipase (LPL), an enzyme that is transported to the capillary lumen by an endothelial cell protein, GPIHBP1. For LPL-mediated lipolysis to occur, TRLs must bind to the lumen of capillaries. This process is often assumed to involve heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs), but we suspected that TRL margination might instead require GPIHBP1. Indeed, TRLs marginate along the heart capillaries of wild-type but not Gpihbp1−/− mice, as judged by fluorescence microscopy, quantitative assays with infrared-dye–labeled lipoproteins, and EM tomography. Both cell culture and in vivo studies showed that TRL margination depends on LPL bound to GPIHBP1. Of note, the expression of LPL by endothelial cells in Gpihbp1−/− mice did not restore defective TRL margination, implying that the binding of LPL to HSPGs is ineffective in promoting TRL margination. Our studies show that GPIHBP1-bound LPL is the main determinant of TRL margination.

Antimicrobial peptides are postulated to disrupt microbial phospholipid membranes. The prevailing molecular model is based on the formation of stable or transient pores although the direct observation of the fundamental processes is lacking. By combining rational peptide design with topographical (atomic force microscopy) and chemical (nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry) imaging on the same samples, we show that pores formed by antimicrobial peptides in supported lipid bilayers are not necessarily limited to a particular diameter, nor they are transient, but can expand laterally at the nano-to-micrometer scale to the point of complete membrane disintegration. The results offer a mechanistic basis for membrane poration as a generic physicochemical process of cooperative and continuous peptide recruitment in the available phospholipid matrix.innate host defense | de novo protein design | nanometrology | antibiotics | nanoscopy

SummaryThe cellular and subcellular distributions of trace elements can provide important clues to understanding how the elements are transported and stored in plant cells, but mapping their distributions is a challenging task.The distributions of arsenic, iron, zinc, manganese and copper, as well as physiologically related macro-elements, were mapped in the node, internode and leaf sheath of rice (Oryza sativa) using synchrotron X-ray fluorescence (S-XRF) and high-resolution secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS).Although copper and silicon generally showed cell wall localization, arsenic, iron and zinc were strongly localized in the vacuoles of specific cell types. Arsenic was highly localized in the companion cell vacuoles of the phloem in all vascular bundles, showing a strong co-localization with sulfur, consistent with As(III)-thiol complexation. Within the node, zinc was localized in the vacuoles of the parenchyma cell bridge bordering the enlarged and diffuse vascular bundles, whereas iron and manganese were localized in the fundamental parenchyma cells, with iron being strongly co-localized with phosphorus in the vacuoles.The highly heterogeneous and contrasting distribution patterns of these elements imply different transport activities and/or storage capacities among different cell types. Sequestration of arsenic in companion cell vacuoles may explain the limited phloem mobility of arsenite.

Electricity produced by cadmium telluride (CdTe) photovoltaic modules is the lowest cost in the solar industry, and now undercuts fossil fuel-based sources in many regions of the world. This is due to recent efficiency gains brought about by alloying selenium into the CdTe absorber, which has taken cell efficiency from 19.5% to its current record of 22.1%. While the addition of selenium is known to reduce the bandgap of the absorber material and hence increase cell short-circuit current, this effect alone does not explain the performance improvement. Here, by means of cathodoluminescence (CL) and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), we show that selenium enables higher luminescence efficiency and longer diffusion lengths in the alloyed material, indicating that selenium passivates critical defects in the bulk of the absorber layer. This passivation effect explains the recordbreaking performance of selenium-alloyed CdTe devices, and provides a route for further efficiency improvement that can result in even lower costs for solar generated electricity.

3D printing is used extensively in product prototyping and continues to emerge as a viable option for the direct manufacture of final parts. It is known that dielectric materials with relatively high real permittivity—which are required in important technology sectors such as electronics and communications—may be 3D printed using a variety of techniques. Among these, the fused deposition of polymer composites is particularly straightforward but the range of dielectric permittivities available through commercial feedstock materials is limited. Here we report on the fabrication of a series of composites composed of various loadings of BaTiO3 microparticles in the polymer acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), which may be used with a commercial desktop 3D printer to produce printed parts containing user-defined regions with high permittivity. The microwave dielectric properties of printed parts with BaTiO3 loadings up to 70 wt% were characterised using a 15 GHz split post dielectric resonator and had real relative permittivities in the range 2.6–8.7 and loss tangents in the range 0.005–0.027. Permittivities were reproducible over the entire process, and matched those of bulk unprinted materials, to within ~1%, suggesting that the technique may be employed as a viable manufacturing process for dielectric composites.

Summary• Cereals are an important source of selenium (Se) to humans and many people have inadequate intakes of this essential trace element. Conversely, arsenic (As) is toxic and may accumulate in rice grain at levels that pose a health risk. Knowledge of the localization of selenium and arsenic within the cereal grain will aid understanding of their deposition patterns and the impact of processes such as milling.• High-resolution secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS) was used to determine the localization of Se in wheat (Triticum aestivum) and As in rice (Oryza sativa). Combined synchrotron X-ray fluorescence (S-XRF) and NanoSIMS analysis utilized the strengths of both techniques.• Selenium was concentrated in the protein surrounding the starch granules in the starchy endosperm cells and more homogeneously distributed in the aleurone cells but with Se-rich hotspots. Arsenic was concentrated in the subaleurone endosperm cells in association with the protein matrix rather than in the aleurone cells. NanoSIMS indicated that the high intensity of As identified in the S-XRF image was localized in micron-sized hotspots near the ovular vascular trace and nucellar projection.• This is the first study showing subcellular localization in grain samples containing parts per million concentrations of Se and As. There is good quantitative agreement between NanoSIMS and S-XRF.