In recent years, organometal trihalide perovskites have emerged as promising materials for low-cost, flexible, and highly efficient solar cells. Despite their processing advantages, before the technology can be commercialized the poor stability of the organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite materials with regard to humidity, heat, light, and oxygen has be to overcome. Herein, we distill the current state-of-the-art and highlight recent advances in improving the chemical stability of perovskite materials by substitution of the A-cation and X-anion. Our hope is to pave the way for the rational design of perovskite materials to realize perovskite solar cells with unprecedented improvement in stability.

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Recent advances in additive engineering for improving the perovskite morphology, charge transport, and excitonic and optical properties have been reviewed.

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Thoracic aortic aneurysm/dissection (TAAD) is characterized by excessive smooth muscle cell (SMC) loss, extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation and inflammation. In response to certain stimuli, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is activated and regulates apoptosis and inflammation. Excessive apoptosis promotes aortic inflammation and degeneration, leading to TAAD. Therefore, we studied the role of ER stress in TAAD formation. A lysyl oxidase inhibitor, 3‐aminopropionitrile fumarate (BAPN), was administrated to induce TAAD formation in mice, which showed significant SMC loss (α‐SMA level). Excessive apoptosis (TUNEL staining) and ER stress (ATF4 and CHOP), along with inflammation, were present in TAAD samples from both mouse and human. Transcriptional profiling of SMCs after mechanical stress demonstrated the expression of genes for ER stress and inflammation. To explore the causal role of ER stress in initiating degenerative signalling events and TAAD, we treated wild‐type (CHOP +/+) or CHOP −/− mice with BAPN and found that CHOP deficiency protected against TAAD formation and rupture, as well as reduction in α‐SMA level. Both SMC apoptosis and inflammation were significantly reduced in CHOP −/− mice. Moreover, SMCs isolated from CHOP −/− mice were resistant to mechanical stress‐induced apoptosis. Taken together, our results demonstrated that mechanical stress‐induced ER stress promotes SMCs apoptosis, inflammation and degeneration, providing insight into TAAD formation and progression. © 2015 Authors. Journal of Pathology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland.

Aerogels with extraordinary mechanical properties attract a lot of interest for their wide spread applications. However, the required flexibility is yet to be satisfied, especially under extreme conditions. Herein, a boron nitride nanoribbon aerogel with excellent temperature-invariant super-flexibility is developed by high temperature amination of a melamine diborate precursor formed by hydrogen bonding assembly. The unique structure of the aerogel provides it with outstanding compressing/bending/twisting elasticity, cutting resistance, and recoverable properties. Furthermore, the excellent mechanical super-flexibility is maintained over a wide temperature range, from liquid nitrogen temperature (−196 °C) to higher than 1000 °C, which extends their possible applications to harsh environments.

A novel asymmetric radical aminotrifluoromethylation of alkenes has been developed for the first time, providing straightforward access to densely functionalized CF3-containing azaheterocycles bearing an α-tertiary stereocenter with excellent enantioselectivity. The key to success is not only the introduction of a Cu(I)/chiral phosphoric acid dual-catalytic system but also the use of urea with two acidic N-H as both the nucleophile and directing group. The utility of this method is illustrated by facile transformations of the products into other important compounds useful in organic synthesis and medicinal chemistry.

The management of perovskite intermediates to construct perovskite films with uniform perovskite crystals and controlled surface morphology was introduced.