Objective To evaluate human glymphatics and meningeal lymphatics noninvasively. Methods This prospective study implemented 3‐dimensional (3D) isotropic contrast‐enhanced T2 fluid‐attenuated inversion recovery (CE‐T2‐FLAIR) imaging with a 3T magnetic resonance machine to study cerebral glymphatics and meningeal lymphatics in patients with reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome (RCVS) with (n = 92) or without (n = 90) blood–brain barrier (BBB) disruption and a diseased control group with cluster headache (n = 35). The contrast agent gadobutrol (0.2mmol/kg [0.2ml/kg]) was administered intravenously in all study subjects. Results In total, 217 patients (182 RCVS, 35 cluster headache) were analyzed and separated into 2 groups based on the presence or absence of visible gadolinium (Gd) leakage. Para‐arterial tracer enrichment was clearly depicted in those with overt BBB disruption, while paravenous and parasinus meningeal contrast enrichment was evident in both groups. Paravenous and parasinus contrast enrichment remained in RCVS patients in the remission stage and in cluster headache patients, suggesting that these meningeal lymphatic channels were universal anatomical structures rather than being phase‐ or condition‐specific. Additionally, we demonstrated nodular leptomeningeal enhancement in 32.3% of participants, which might represent potential lymphatic reservoirs. Four selected RCVS patients who received consecutive contrasted 3D isotropic FLAIR imaging after gadobutrol administration showed that the Gd persisted for at least 54 minutes and was completely cleared within 18 hours. Interpretation This large‐scale in vivo study successfully demonstrated the putative human para‐arterial glymphatic transports and meningeal lymphatics by clear depiction of para‐arterial, parasinus, and paravenous meningeal contrast enrichment using high‐resolution 3D isotropic CE‐T2‐FLAIR imaging noninvasively; this technique may serve as a basis for further studies to delineate clinical relevance of glymphatic clearance. ANN NEUROL 2021;89:111–124
The rapid development of wearable electronic devices has prompted a strong demand to develop stretchable organic solar cells (OSCs) to serve as the advanced powering systems. However, to realize an intrinsically stretchable OSC is challenging because it requires all the constituent layers to possess certain elastic properties. It thus necessitates a combined engineering of charge-transporting layers and photoactive materials. Herein, we first describe a stretchable electron-extraction layer using a blend of poly[(9,9-bis(3'-( N, N-dimethylamino)propyl)-2,7-fluorene)- alt-2,7-(9,9-dioctylfluorene)] (PFN) and nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR, Nipol 1072). This hybrid PFN/NBR layer exhibits a much lower Derjaguin-Muller-Toporov modulus (0.45 GPa) than the value (1.25 GPa) of the pristine PFN and could withstand a high strain (60% strain) without showing any cracks. Moreover, besides enriching the stretchability of PFN, the terminal carboxyl groups of NBR can ionize PFN to promote its solution-processability in polar solvents and to ensure the interfacial dipole formation at the corresponding interface in the device, as evidenced by the Fourier transform infrared and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy analyses. By further coupling the replacement of [6,6]-phenyl-C-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) with nonfullerene acceptors owing to better mechanical stretchability in the photoactive layer, OSCs with improved intrinsically stretchability and performance were demonstrated. An all-polymer OSC can exhibit a power conversion efficiency of 2.82% after 10% stretching, surpassing the PCBM-based device that can only withstand 5% strain.
Applying biomaterials in optoelectronic devices has recently received great research interests since they not only possess economic benefits but also can facilitate the sustainable development of technology. We herein investigated the effectiveness of glucose-based biopolymers as zinc oxide surface modifiers in inverted OPVs by rationally studying chitosan, methyl-cellulose, and dextrin. Owing to the proper side-group and configurational modification, these three biopolymers possess better solution processability and film-formation capability than the pristine cellulose. Besides, their abundant availability in the environment renders them to be easily accessible and more economical as compared to other commonly used polymeric interlayers. Our results reveal the critical structure–performance relationship of these glucose-based biopolymers and their derived OPVs. In particular, the “β-type” glucose-based polymer, methyl-cellulose, was demonstrated as the most efficient modifying interlayer for ZnO ETL, which enables 9.47% and 6.34% enhancement in PCE for the representative fullerene- and NFA-based BHJ systems (PTB7-Th:PC71BM and PBDB-T:ITIC), respectively, as compared to the control devices. Detailed functions of these glucose-based polymeric interlayers in the device were carefully analyzed. The study provides a new perspective of the interlayer design for OPVs, which can facilitate their sustainable development.
In this study, an efficient ternary bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) organic solar cell (OSC) is demonstrated by incorporating two acceptors, PC61BM and ITC6-4F, with a polymer donor (PM6). This reveals that the addition of PC61BM not only enhances the electron mobility of the derived BHJ blend but also facilitates exciton dissociation, resulting in a more balanced charge transport alongside with reduced trap-assisted charge recombination. Consequently, as compared to the pristine PM6/ITC6-4F device, the optimal ternary OSC is revealed to deliver an improved power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 15.11% with a boosted J SC, V OC, and fill factor (FF) simultaneously. The resultant V OC and FF are among the highest values recorded in the literature for the ternary OSCs with a PCE exceeding 15%. This result thus suggests that besides improving the charge transport characteristics in devices, incorporating a fullerene derivative as part of the acceptor can also improve the resultant V OC, which can reduce the energy loss to realize efficient organic photovoltaics.
The chemical compositions of seven essential oils from Taiwan were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The eluates were identified by matching the mass fragment patents to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 08 database. The quantitative analysis showed that the major components of lemon verbena are geranial (26.9%) and neral (23.1%); those of sweet marjoram are γ-terpinene (18.5%), thymol methyl ether (15.5%), and terpinen-4-ol (12.0%); those of clove basil are eugenol (73.6%), and β-(Z)-ocimene (15.4%); those of patchouli are carvacrol (47.5%) and p-cymene (15.2%); those of rosemary are α-pinene (54.8%) and 1,8-cineole (22.2%); those of tea tree are terpinen-4-ol (33.0%) and 1,8-cineole (27.7%); and those of rose geranium are citronellol (28.9%) and 6,9-guaiadiene (20.1%). These components are somewhat different from the same essential oils that were obtained from other origins. Lemon verbena has the same major components everywhere. Tea tree, rose geranium, and clove basil have at least one major component throughout different origins. The major components and their amounts in sweet marjoram, patchouli, and rosemary vary widely from one place to another. These results demonstrate that essential oils have a large diversity in their composition in line with their different origins. The antibacterial activity of essential oils against Escherichia coli was evaluated using the optical density method (turbidimetry). Patchouli is a very effective inhibitor, in that it completely inhibits the growth of E. coli at 0.05%. Clove basil and sweet marjoram are good inhibitors, and the upper limit of their minimum inhibitory concentration is 0.1%.
Organic solar cells (OSCs) can achieve greatly improved power conversion efficiency (PCE) by incorporating suitable additives in active layers. Their structure design often faces the challenge of operation generality for more binary blends. Herein, a simple dithieno[3,2‐b:2′,3′‐d]pyrrole‐rhodanine molecule (DR8) featuring high compatibility with polymer donor PM6 is developed as a cost‐effective third component. By employing classic ITIC‐like ITC6‐4Cl and Y6 as model nonfullerene acceptors (NFAs) in PM6‐based binary blends, DR8 added PM6:ITC6‐4Cl blends exhibit significantly promoted energy transfer and exciton dissociation. The PM6:ITC6‐4Cl:DR8 (1:1:0.1, weight ratio) OSCs contribute an exciting PCE of 14.94% in comparison to host binary devices (13.52%), while PM6:Y6:DR8 (1:1.2:0.1) blends enable 16.73% PCE with all simultaneously improved photovoltaic parameters. To the best of the knowledge, this performance is among the best for ternary OSCs with simple small molecular third components in the literature. More importantly, DR8‐added ternary OSCs exhibit much improved device stability against thermal aging and light soaking over binary ones. This work provides new insight on the design of efficient third components for OSCs.
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