Recent progress of efficient flexible solar cells based on nanostructures

Flexible solar cells are important photovoltaics (PV) technologies due to the reduced processing temperature,less ma-terial consumption and mechanical flexibility,thus they have promising applications for portable devices and building-integ-rated applications.However,the efficient harvesting of photons is the core hindrance towards efficient,flexible PV.Light man-agement by nanostructures and nanomaterials has opened new pathways for sufficient solar energy harvesting.Nanostruc-tures on top surfaces provide an efficient pathway for the propagation of light.Aside from suppressing incident light reflection,micro-structured back-reflectors reduce transmission via multiple reflections.Nanostructures themselves can be the absorber lay-er.Photovoltaics based on high-crystallinity nanostructured light absorbers demonstrate enhanced power conversion effi-ciency (PCE) and excellent mechanical flexibility.To acquire a deep understanding of the impacts of nanostructures,herein,a concise overview of the recent development in the design and application of nanostructures and nanomaterials for photovolta-ics is summarized.     

Dynamic Stabilization of DNA Assembly by Using Pyrrole-Imidazole Polyamide

We used N-methylpyrrole (Py)-N-methylimidazole-(Im) polyamide as an exogenous agent to modulate the formation of DNA assemblies at specific double-stranded sequences. The concept was demonstrated on the hybridization chain reaction that forms linear DNA. Through a series of melting curve analyses, we demonstrated that the binding of Py−Im polyamide positively influenced both the HCR initiation and elongation steps. In particular, Py−Im polyamide was found to drastically stabilize the DNA duplex such that its thermal stability approached that of an equivalent hairpin structure. Also, the polyamide served as an anchor between hairpin pairs in the HCR assembly, thus improving the originally weak interstrand stability. We hope that these proof-of-concept results can inspire future use of Py−Im polyamide as a molecular tool to modulate the formation of DNA assemblies.     

A Thermodynamics Model for the Emergence of a Stripe‐like Binary SAM on a Nanoparticle Surface

It has been under debate if a self‐assembled monolayer (SAM) with two immiscible ligands of different chain lengths and/or bulkiness can form a stripe‐like pattern on a nanoparticle (NP) surface. The entropic gain upon such pattern formation due to difference in chain lengths and/or bulkiness has been proposed as the driving force in literature. Using atomistic discrete molecular dynamics simulations it is shown that stripe‐like pattern could indeed emerge, but only for a subset of binary SAM systems. In addition to entropic contributions, the formation of a striped pattern also strongly depends upon interligand interactions governed by the physicochemical properties of the ligand constituents. Due to the interplay between entropy and enthalpy, a binary SAM system can be categorized into three different types depending on whether and under what condition a striped pattern can emerge. The results help clarify the ongoing debate and our proposed principle can aid in the engineering of novel binary SAMs on a NP surface.     

Emerging applications of nanotechnologies to probiotics and prebiotics

Fervid interests on nanoparticles are increasing within the scientific and non-scientific communities, as they are utilised in food and non-food applications. The versatility of emerging applications of nanoparticles makes them potentially harmful to the food, healthcare and environment sectors, and thus necessitates the development of nanonutraceuticals from nutritional substances such as antioxidants, vitamins, fatty acids, fibres, probiotics and prebiotics. This review excavated state of the art on nanotechnology applications such as gold and selenium particles, nanolayers, nanobeads, nanoemulsions and nanofibers to probiotics and prebiotics for the synthesis of anticancer, antimicrobial, antioxidant and photo-reactive products among others, and finally delved into other noteworthy considerations like safety. It is concluded that available literature on the current status of nanoprobiotics and prebiotics are exhaustive, despite their huge potentials and applications.     

Bilayer-mediated assembly of cationic nanoparticles adsorbed to lipid bilayers: Insights from molecular simulations

Understanding interactions between functionalized gold nanoparticles (NPs) and lipid bilayers is essential for biomedical applications. Experiments have shown that NPs that are stable in solution can assemble into clusters when adsorbed to a lipid bilayer, suggesting that bilayer-mediated interactions facilitate assembly. In this work, we use coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations to study bilayer-mediated interactions between NPs adsorbed to single- and multicomponent lipid bilayers. We perform unbiased simulations and umbrella sampling calculations using an implicit solvent force field to determine the thermodynamic contributions to assembly. We show that bilayer-mediated interactions drive the assembly of NPs into linear aggregates on liquid-disordered bilayers, which we attribute to a reduction in bilayer curvature. Similar bilayer-mediated interactions induce the alignment of NP clusters with phase boundaries in phase-separated bilayers. Together, these simulation results provide new physical insight into the balance of forces that dictate the assembly of charged NPs at multicomponent lipid bilayer interfaces.     

木质素纳米颗粒的制备及其功能化应用研究进展

木质素是一种天然生物质资源，来源广泛，成本低廉。近年来，利用纳米技术将木质素制备成木质素功能化纳米颗粒极大推动了木质素的利用，同时显著解决了传统材料无法解决的突出问题。详细介绍了木质素功能化纳米颗粒的自组装法、机械法、聚合组装法、冻干炭化法等制备方法及其在催化剂、助剂、吸附剂、紫外防护和抗氧化、抗菌、载体材料、聚集诱导发光材料等领域的应用研究，展望了木质素纳米颗粒的应用前景。指出实现木质素纳米颗粒的可控制备、功能化修饰，将有利于推动木质素功能化纳米颗粒在环保、能源、催化和生物医学等领域的进一步应用。     

Tungsten hexacarbonyl and hydrogen peroxide as precursors for the growth of tungsten oxide thin films on titania nanoparticles

W(CO)₆ and H₂O₂ were used in an atomic layer deposition (ALD)‐like process to grow thin WO_x films onto TiO₂ powders in a fluidized bed reactor. Carbonyl precursors are not widely used in this application, so that deviations from an ideal ALD process, previously not examined with W(CO)₆, were identified. The resulting WO_x films were a result of both ALD‐like and chemical vapor deposition‐based growth modes. A chemical reaction mechanism incorporating a combination of these two growth modes was inferred. As the move to expand the range of ALD precursors meets with the desire to scale up these processes, the simultaneous appearance of both these growth modes is likely to become more and more common, and so understanding the interaction of these two types of surface reactions is key to progress in the field. The films were observed to inhibit the anatase‐to‐rutile phase transformation in the TiO₂ powders upon high temperature annealing, while crystallization of the amorphous WO₃ was also not observed. Changes in the local bonding within the WO₃ were observed and associated with changes in the structural nature of the film and its interface to the substrate. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 60: 1278–1286, 2014     

纳米技术在挥发性有机废气处理中的应用研究

在简要介绍了纳米技术、纳米材料以及VOCs处理技术的基础上,概述了纳米技术在VOCs处理中应用方向,重点综述了近年来纳米光催化技术、纳米热催化技术、纳米吸附技术和纳米综合处理技术在VOCs处理中的应用研究进展,并指出了今后应着重研究的几个方面,旨在促进其相关研究的发展。     

Biodegradable,superhydrophobic walnut wood membrane for the separation of oil/water mixtures

The preparation of environmentally friendly oil/water separation materials remains a great challenge. Freeze-drying of wood after lignin removal yields wood aerogels, which can be used as substrates to prepare fluorine-free environmentally friendly superhydrophobic materials, However, they are more suitable for absorption rather than filtration applications due to their poor strength. A study using cross-sections of pristine wood chips as substrates retains the original strength of wood, but the use of the cross-sectional of wood pieces limits their thickness, strength, and size. In this paper, a degradable fluorine-free superhydrophobic film (max. water contact angle of approximately 164.2°) with self-cleaning and abrasion resistance characteristics was prepared by a one-step method using pristine and activated walnut longitudinal section films as the substrate, with tetraethyl orthosilicate as a precursor and dodecyltriethoxysilane as a modifier. The tensile strength results show that superhydrophobic films with pristine or activated wood substrates maintained the strength of pristine wood and were 2.2 times stronger than the wood aerogel substrate. In addition, after cross-laminating the two samples, the films had the ability to separate oil and water by continuous filtration with high efficiency (98.5%) and flux (approximately 1.3 × 10³ L∙m^‒2∙h^‒1). The method has potential for the large-scale fabrication of degradable superhydrophobic filtration separation membranes.     

DNA‐Scaffolded Multivalent Ligands to Modulate Cell Function

We report a simple, versatile, multivalent ligand system that is capable of specifically and efficiently modulating cell‐surface receptor clustering and function. The multivalent ligand is made of a polymeric DNA scaffold decorated with biorecognition ligands (i.e., antibodies) to interrogate and modulate cell receptor signaling and function. Using CD20 clustering‐mediated apoptosis in B‐cell cancer cells as a model system, we demonstrated that our multivalent ligand is significantly more effective at inducing apoptosis of target cancer cells than its monovalent counterpart. This multivalent DNA material approach represents a new chemical biology tool to interrogate cell receptor signaling and functions and to potentially manipulate such functions for the development of therapeutics.