Surface Reconstruction Engineering with Synergistic Effect of Mixed-Salt Passivation Treatment toward Efficient and Stable Perovskite Solar Cells

Surface passivation treatment is a widely used strategy to resolve trap-mediated nonradiative recombination toward high-efficiency metal-halide perovskite photovoltaics. However, a lack of passivation with mixture treatment has been investigated, as well as an in-depth understanding of its passivation mechanism. Here, a systematic study on a mixed-salt passivation strategy of formamidinium bromide (FABr) coupled with different F-substituted alkyl lengths of ammonium iodide is demonstrated. It is obtained better device performance with decreasing chain length of the F-substituted alkyl ammonium iodide in the presence of FABr. Moreover, they unraveled a synergistic passivation mechanism of the mixed-salt treatment through surface reconstruction engineering, where FABr dominates the reformation of the perovskite surface via reacting with the excess PbI₂. Meanwhile, ammonium iodide passivates the perovskite grain boundaries both on the surface and top perovskite bulk through penetration. This synergistic passivation engineer results in a high-quality perovskite surface with fewer defects and suppressed ion migration, leading to a champion efficiency of 23.5% with mixed-salt treatment. In addition, the introduction of the moisture resisted F-substituted groups presents a more hydrophobic perovskite surface, thus enabling the decorated devices with excellent long-term stability under a high humid atmosphere as well as operational conditions.     

Distributed ledger technology in supply chains: a transaction cost perspective

With the emergence of distributed ledger technology (DLT), numerous practitioners and researchers have proclaimed its beneficial impact on supply chain transactions in the future. However, the vast majority of DLT initiatives are discontinued after a short period. With the full potential of DLT laying far down the road, especially managers in supply chain management (SCM) seek for short-term cost-saving effects of DLT in order to achieve long-term benefits of DLT in the future. However, the extant research has bypassed grounding long-term as well as short-term effects of DLT on supply chain transaction with empirical data. We address this shortcoming, following an abductive research approach and combining empirical data from a multiple case study design with the corresponding literature. Our study reveals that the effects of DLT on supply chain transactions are two-sided. We found six effects of DLT solutions that have a cost-reducing or cost avoidance impact on supply chain transactions. In addition, we found two effects that change the power distribution between buyers and suppliers in transactions and a single effect that reduces the dependency of supply chain transactions on third parties. While cost-reducing and avoidance as well as dependency-reducing effects are positive effects, the change in power distribution might come with disadvantages. With these findings, the paper provides the first empirical evidence of the impact of DLT on supply chain transactions, which will enable managers to improve their assessment of DLT usage in supply chains.     

Alteration of the Route to Menaquinone towards Isochorismate-Derived Metabolites

Chorismate and isochorismate constitute branch-point intermediates in the biosynthesis of many aromatic metabolites in microorganisms and plants. To obtain unnatural compounds, we modified the route to menaquinone in Escherichia coli. We propose a model for the binding of isochorismate to the active site of MenD ((1R,2S, 5S,6S)-2-succinyl-5-enolpyruvyl-6-hydroxycyclohex-3-ene-1-carboxylate (SEPHCHC) synthase) that explains the outcome of the native reaction with α-ketoglutarate. We have rationally designed variants of MenD for the conversion of several isochorismate analogues. The double-variant Asn117Arg–Leu478Thr preferentially converts (5S,6S)-5,6-dihydroxycyclohexa-1,3-diene-1-carboxylate (2,3-trans-CHD), the hydrolysis product of isochorismate, with a >70-fold higher ratio than that for the wild type. The single-variant Arg107Ile uses (5S,6S)-6-amino-5-hydroxycyclohexa-1,3-diene-1-carboxylate (2,3-trans-CHA) as substrate with >6-fold conversion compared to wild-type MenD. The novel compounds have been made accessible in vivo (up to 5.3 g L⁻¹). Unexpectedly, as the identified residues such as Arg107 are highly conserved (>94 %), some of the designed variations can be found in wild-type SEPHCHC synthases from other bacteria (Arg107Lys, 0.3 %). This raises the question for the possible natural occurrence of as yet unexplored branches of the shikimate pathway.     

Behaviour of Surface Defects in Wire Rod Rolling

Defects are often present in rolled products, such as wire rod. The market demand for wire rod without any defects has increased. In the final wire rod products, defects originating from steel making, casting, pre‐rolling of billets and during wire rod rolling can appear. In this work, artificial V‐shaped longitudinal surface cracks have been analysed experimentally and by means of FEM. The results indicate that the experiments and FEM calculations show the same tendency except in two cases, where instability due to fairly “round” false round bars disturbed the experiment. FE studies in combination with practical experiments are necessary in order to understand the behaviour of the material flows in the groove and to explain whether the crack will open up as a V‐shape or if it will be closed as an I‐shape.     

Production of proteinase A by Saccharomyces cerevisiae in a cell-recycling fermentation system: experiments and computer simulations

Overproduction of proteinase A by recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae was investigated by cultivations in a cell-recycling bioreactor. Membrane filtration was used to separate cells from the broth. Recycling ratios and dilution rates were varied and the effect on enzyme production was studied both experimentally and by computer simulations. Experiments and simulations showed that cell mass and product concentration were enhanced by high ratios of recycling. Additional simulations showed that the proteinase A concentration decreased drastically at high dilution rates and the optimal volumetric productivities were at high dilution rates just below washout and at high ratios of recycling. Cell-recycling fermentation gave much higher volumetric productivities and stable product concentrations in contrast to simple continuous fermentation.     

A new method for manufacturing nanostructured electrodes on glass substrates

The present paper describes a new method for manufacturing a nanostructured porous layer of TiO₂ on a conducting glass substrate for use in a dye-sensitized photoelectrochemical cell. The method involves deposition of a layer of semiconductor particles onto a conducting substrate and compression of the particle layer to form a mechanically stable, electrically conducting, and porous nanostructured film at room temperature. Photoelectrochemical characteristics and morphology of the resulting nanostructured films are presented. The potential use of the new manufacturing method in the future applications of nanostructured systems is discussed.     

Manufacturing method for monolithic dye-sensitised solar cells permitting long-term stable low-power modules

A manufacturing technique for monolithic dye-sensitised solar cells is presented. Encapsulated modules designed for indoor low-power applications have been prepared using industrial methods and equipment. Under certain conditions (light intensity <5000 lx, temperature between –10°C and 50°C, and relative humidity of appr. 50%), the modules have performed well and shown excellent long-term stability. Moreover, modules withstand illumination in combination with storage at 100% relative humidity. However, a certain degradation of the module performance takes place at illuminations exceeding 5000 lx and temperatures exceeding 50°C.     

Pharmacokinetic and bioequivalence study of two gemfibrozil preparations

A comparative pharmacokinetic study has been performed in 19 healthy male volunteers in a single-dose, randomized, two way cross-over design with two preparations of gemfibrozil (CAS 25812-30-0) capsules each of them containing 300 mg active ingredient. The test preparation was Innogem 300 mg capsule. The plasma concentration of gemfibrozil was determined by a validated HPLC-UV analytical method. The statistical comparison of individual pharmacokinetic parameters (AUC0-16, AUC0-oc Cmax, tmax) of the two capsule preparations was performed by three-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Wilcoxon's, Westlake's, Schuirmann's and Hanck-Anderson's method as well as by the calculation of confidence intervals on the ratio of test/reference. The relative bioavailability of the test preparation with respect to the reference preparation in terms of the AUC0-oc was 104.06 +/- 21.61%. No statistically significant difference was found between the pharmacokinetic parameters, calculated from plasma concentration-time curves, indicating that the two preparations were bioequivalent.     

Evaluation of the completion of influenza vaccination

OBJECTIVE: To find the reasons which determine failures to comply with anti-flu vaccinations, so that these can be corrected and the coverage of this preventive action be increased. DESIGN: Observational crossover study, done by means of a telephone survey of people over 65. A questionnaire with closed questions, composed after a pilot study and validated by Cronbach's alpha. SETTING: Primary Care Centre (PCC). PATIENTS: We calculated a population sample for qualitative variables (_ = 0.05; p = 0.60; e = 0.05) of 294 people over 65, chosen from the PCC records, by means of random sampling (K = 4) stratified for age and discounting the telephone selection bias. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: The proportion of vaccinated patients (60.9%) obtained in our study did not significantly differ from that in the general population. The percentage of patients included in the programme for the first time was 14%. Level of satisfaction among those vaccinated was 89.4%, with 8.9% of problems detected being light. Main causes of non-vaccination were: thinking that they didn't need it (63.5%), ignorance of the campaign (35.7%), fear of the reaction (24.3%), forgetting (10.4%). The main form of access to the campaign information was from the PCC, both through individuals and posters. Lack of information was statistically significant (p < 0.00001) as a determinant of non-vaccination, without other factors (age, sex, associated pathologies...) explaining these differences. CONCLUSIONS: Individualised and on-going health education by the PCC is fundamental. This would enable the identification of the group not vaccinated due to their express refusal and the recovery of non-vaccinated patients.