The formation of a dense and uniform thin layer on the substrates is crucial for the fabrication of high-performance perovskite solar cells (PSCs) containing formamidinium with multiple cations and mixed halide anions. The concentration of defect states, which reduce a cell's performance by decreasing the open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current density, needs to be as low as possible. We show that the introduction of additional iodide ions into the organic cation solution, which are used to form the perovskite layers through an intramolecular exchanging process, decreases the concentration of deep-level defects. The defect-engineered thin perovskite layers enable the fabrication of PSCs with a certified power conversion efficiency of 22.1% in small cells and 19.7% in 1-square-centimeter cells.

The light-harvesting Sb 2 S 3 surface on mesoporous-TiO 2 in inorganic-organic heterojunction solar cells is sulfurized with thioacetamide (TA). The photovoltaic performances are compared before and after TA treatment, and the state of the Sb 2 S 3 is investigated by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS). Although there are no differences in crystallinity and composition, the TA-treated solar cells exhibit signifi cantly enhanced performance compared to pristine Sb 2 S 3 -sensitized solar cells. From DLTS analysis, the performance enhancement is mainly attributed to the extinction of trap sites, which are present at a density of (2-5) × 10 14 cm −3 in Sb 2 S 3 , by TA treatment. Through such a simple treatment, the cell records an overall power conversion effi ciency (PCE) of 7.5% through a metal mask under simulated illumination (AM 1.5G, 100 mW cm -2 ) with a very high open circuit voltage of 711.0 mV. This PCE is, thus far, the highest reported for fully solid-state chalcogenide-sensitized solar cells.

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Since the 2013-2014 incursion of the virulent G2b porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDV) pandemic strains in South Korea, frequent moderate-scale regional outbreaks have recurred. In particular, areas of Jeju Island with extensive swine production have faced repeated epidemics since the re-emergence in 2014. The current study reports the complete genome sequences and molecular characterization of the representative PEDV strains responsible for the 2018 endemic outbreaks on Jeju Island. All isolates were determined to belong genetically to the highly pathogenic pandemic G2b group. Full-length genome sizes of four isolates differed from that of the G2b epidemic field strain due to insertion or deletion (DEL) mutations in the non-structural protein (nsp)-or spike (S) protein-coding regions. The 2018 Jeju isolates shared 96.7%-98.7% and 98.5%-99.4% identity at the S gene and whole-genome levels, respectively, compared to global G2b PEDV strains. Genetic and phylogenetic analyses indicated that the 2018 isolates were closest to the 2014 G2b re-emergent Jeju strains, but appeared to have undergone substantial rapid independent evolution.Among the isolates, a notable nsp3 DEL variant strain, KOR/KNU-1807/2018, was isolated and propagated by continuous passages in Vero cells, and displayed typical PEDV-induced syncytia formation. Genomic sequencing identified a unique 8-nt DEL in the extreme C-terminal region of the S gene at the 4th passage (KNU-1807-P4) compared to its original sample. This DEL resulted in the premature termination of S by nine amino acid residues (EVFEKVHVQ), which contained a KxHxx motif that is a potential endoplasmic reticulum retrieval signal. In vivo animal studies showed that variant strain KNU-1807 had decreased virulence in suckling piglets. These results advance our knowledge regarding the genetic variation and pathogenicity of the G2b PEDV endemic strains prevalent in Jeju swine herds in South Korea. K E Y W O R D S endemic outbreaks, genome analysis, pathogenicity, PEDV, virus isolation | 1895 LEE Et aL.

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