A study on pulmonary function in children with obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the pulmonary function of children with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. METHODS: A total of 328 children aged 3 to 12 years old who were evaluated for a sleep disorder from January 2022 to June 2023 were selected as the observation group, classified into mild, moderate, and severe categories based on the apnea hypopnea index. The number of children with mild, moderate, and severe obstructive sleep apnea is 228, 62, and 28 respectively. Additionally, 126 healthy individuals aged 3 to 13 years old undergoing health examinations during the same period were selected as the control group. All subjects underwent sleep respiratory monitoring, pulmonary function tests, and impulse oscillometry. Comparative analysis was performed on pulmonary function indices (forced vital capacity, maximum ventilation, inspiratory capacity, total lung capacity, and inspiratory reserve volume), and respiratory impedance indices (resonant frequency, total respiratory impedance, viscous resistance at 5 Hz, 20 Hz, and 35 Hz). Pulmonary function indices were also compared among patients in the observation group with mild, moderate, and severe conditions. RESULTS: In the observation group, the FVC pre% of patients decreased by 10.5 ± 5.99 compared to the control group. The MVV of the control group decreased by 28.10 ± 2.22 compared to patients in the observation group. The IC of the control group decreased by 0.68 ± 0.44 compared to patients in the observation group. The TLC of the control group decreased by 1.354 ± 0.51 compared to patients in the observation group. The ERV of the control group decreased by 0.53 ± 0.30 compared to patients in the observation group. Additionally, the Fres, Zrs, R5, R20, and R35 of the observation group were higher than those of the control group by 10.73 ± 0.18, 1.78 ± 0.24, 0.11 ± 0.17, 0.86 ± 0.13, and 0.02 ± 0.21, respectively. In sum, the pulmonary function indices of the observation group were significantly lower than those of the control group, while the respiratory impedance indices were higher (P < 0.05). Within the observation group, the pulmonary function indices of severe patients were lower than those of moderate and mild patients, and moderate patients had lower pulmonary function indices than mild patients (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The pulmonary function of children with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is impaired and varies in severity. There are significant differences in pulmonary function, underscoring the importance of monitoring pulmonary function in these children for clinical assessment and treatment prognosis.

Lymphatic Malformation Initially Presenting as Snoring: A Case Report.

We describe a case of lymphatic malformation (LM) with snoring as the primary symptom. The patient, an 11-year-old boy, sought medical attention due to "snoring that had worsened over 3 years, accompanied by shortness of breath for 1 month." The preoperative examination showed that the apnea-hypopnea index during sleep was 33.4. The average overnight blood oxygen saturation was 95.3%, reaching a lowest level of 79.9%. Magnetic resonance imaging identified a space-occupying lesion in the postpharyngeal space, leading to significant compression and narrowing of the pharyngeal cavity. This suggested the possibility of a vascular malformation, with a higher proportion of vascular components. The patient underwent resection of the pharyngeal mass and temporary tracheostomy under general anesthesia, and intraoperative freeze and postoperative pathological diagnoses confirmed LM. Postoperative prognosis was favorable.

Treatment of Work Type II Congenital First Branchial Cleft Anomalies: A Summary of 35 Cases.

Objective: This study aims to summarize the data and treatment of 35 children with Work type II congenital first branchial cleft anomalies (CFBCAs) to provide significant insights into the correlation between these anomalies and the facial nerve. Methods: A total of 35 children diagnosed with Work type II CFBCAs who received treatment at the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Shenzhen Children's Hospital from August 2017 to March 2023 were analyzed retrospectively. Pearson chi-square tests and Fisher's exact tests were used to examine the relationship between clinical characteristics and the location of the lesion, which included the superficial and deep surfaces as well as the area between the branches of the facial nerve. Results: All 35 children underwent open incision and complete resection of fistulae. During the surgery, the lesions were found to be in the superficial facial nerve in 12 (34.3%) cases, between branches in 5 (14.3%) cases, and in the deep facial nerve in 18 (51.4%) cases. In those patients, lesions in females, with a lower edge of the lesion located below the angle of the mandible and the presence of a tympanic membranous attachment, are more likely to be located deep to the facial nerve or between its branches. The difference is statistically significant (P = .007, .032, .015). Conclusion: The treatment principle of Work type II CFBCAs consists of achieving a quiescent stage of inflammation, followed by a complete resection of the lesion on the premise of preserving facial nerve function. Certain clinical features of this disease can predict the relationship between the lesion and the facial nerve. The lesions in females, with a lower edge of the lesion located below the angle of the mandible, non-cystic type of Olsen, and the presence of tympanic membranous attachment, tend to be located deep to the facial nerve or between its branches.

Tracheostomy-Assisted Foreign Body Removal: Insights From a Case Series and Literature Review.

BACKGROUND: Foreign body aspiration into the trachea is a common occurrence in children. While most foreign bodies in the airways can be removed using rigid tracheoscopy, there are instances where tracheostomy or tracheotomy is needed. This article presents a series of cases in which tracheostomy was necessary to remove foreign bodies, and summarizes the relevant experiences and lessons learned. METHODS: We reviewed a total of 7 cases in which tracheostomy and rigid tracheoscopy were combined for foreign body removal out of a larger cohort of 1559 cases at Shenzhen Children's Hospital in Guangdong, China over a 20-year period. RESULTS: The combined use of tracheostomy and rigid tracheoscopy resulted in successful removal of foreign bodies in all 7 patients reviewed in this study. Six patients developed complications of tracheotomy, mainly including mediastinal emphysema (5/7), subcutaneous emphysema (3/7), and pneumothorax (1/7). Tracheotomy was temporary in all patients. CONCLUSION: In cases where a foreign body in the trachea is too large or has irregular, sharp edges, is embedded in submucosal tissues with edema, cannot be passed smoothly through the vocal cords, or local endoscopic facilities are inadequate, a tracheotomy may be necessary. However, this approach should be used with caution, and close collaboration with anesthesiologists and careful management of intraoperative emergencies are crucial for improving the success rate of the procedure. Additionally, the complications should be noted, paying particular attention to early complications such as pneumothorax, pneumomediastinum, and bleeding.

Computational Analysis of Vibrational Spectra of Hydrogen Bonds in sII and sH Gas Hydrates.

The amount of energy in natural gas hydrates is thought to be equivalent to twice that of all other fossil fuels combined. However, economic and safe energy recovery has remained a challenge till now. To develop a novel method of breaking the hydrogen bonds (HBs) surrounding the trapped gas molecules, we investigated the vibrational spectra of the HBs of gas hydrates with structure types II and H. Two models of 576-atom propane-methane sII hydrate and 294-atom neohexane-methane sH hydrate were built. A first-principles density functional theory (DFT) method was employed using the CASTEP package. The simulated spectra were in good agreement with the experimental data. Compared with the partial phonon density of states of guest molecules, we confirmed that the experimental infrared absorption peak in the terahertz region mainly arose from HB vibrations. By removing the components of guest molecules, we found that the theory of two kinds of hydrogen bond vibrational modes applies. The use of a terahertz laser to enable resonance absorption of HBs (at about 6 THz, to be tested) may therefore lead to the rapid melting of clathrate ice and release of guest molecules.

Clinical features of Kawasaki disease initially mimicking retropharyngeal abscess: a retrospective analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Incomplete Kawasaki disease (IKD) initially presenting as retropharyngeal abnormality is very rare and is prone to misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis, often leading to poor prognosis. Most patients were misdiagnosed with retropharyngeal abscesses. Here, we describe and compare IKD patients initially presenting with retropharyngeal abnormalities, typical KD patients without retropharyngeal abnormalities and retropharyngeal abscess patients. METHODS: We performed a retrospective case-control study comparing IKD patients initially presenting with retropharyngeal abnormalities to both KD patients without retropharyngeal abnormalities and retropharyngeal abscess patients admitted to Shenzhen Children's Hospital between January 2016 and December 2021. RESULTS: We evaluated data from 10 IKD patients initially presenting with retropharyngeal abnormalities (Group A), 20 typical KD patients (Group B) and 16 surgical drainage confirmed retropharyngeal abscess patients (Group C). Compared to Group B, we observed that Group A was older and had a more intense inflammatory response. On the day of admission, Groups A and C had similar early clinical presentations, and there were no significant differences in any major signs or symptoms. Close observation for the development of new KD signs and symptoms and unresponsiveness to empirical antibiotic therapy after 3 days is extremely important. The CRP (p = 0.011), AST (p = 0.002) and ALT (p = 0.013) levels were significantly higher and the WBC (P = 0.040) levels were significantly lower in Group A than in Group C. Neck radiological findings, such as the presence of ring enhancement (p = 0.001) and mass effects on the airway, are also useful tools for distinguishing these two diseases. CONCLUSION: The careful observation of the signs and symptoms of this disease and the comprehensive analysis of the laboratory tests and neck radiological findings may help clinicians become aware of retropharyngeal abnormality as an atypical presentation of KD. Then, unnecessary treatments could be reduced, and the occurrence of serious complications can be avoided.

Stability-limiting heterointerfaces of perovskite photovoltaics.

Optoelectronic devices consist of heterointerfaces formed between dissimilar semiconducting materials. The relative energy-level alignment between contacting semiconductors determinately affects the heterointerface charge injection and extraction dynamics. For perovskite solar cells (PSCs), the heterointerface between the top perovskite surface and a charge-transporting material is often treated for defect passivation1-4 to improve the PSC stability and performance. However, such surface treatments can also affect the heterointerface energetics1. Here we show that surface treatments may induce a negative work function shift (that is, more n-type), which activates halide migration to aggravate PSC instability. Therefore, despite the beneficial effects of surface passivation, this detrimental side effect limits the maximum stability improvement attainable for PSCs treated in this way. This trade-off between the beneficial and detrimental effects should guide further work on improving PSC stability via surface treatments.

Functional characterization of two clip domain serine proteases in innate immune responses of Aedes aegypti.

BACKGROUND: Clip domain serine proteases (CLIPs), a very diverse group of proteolytic enzymes, play a crucial role in the innate immunity of insects. Innate immune responses are the first line of defense in mosquitoes against the invasion of pathogenic microorganisms. The Toll pathway, immunodeficiency (IMD) pathway and melanization are the main processes of innate immunity in Aedes aegypti. CLIPS are classified into five subfamilies-CLIPA, CLIPB, CLIPC, CLIPD, and CLIPE-based on their sequence specificity and phylogenetic relationships. We report the functional characterization of the genes that code for two CLIPs in Ae. aegypti (Ae): Ae-CLIPB15 and Ae-CLIPB22. METHODS: Clustal Omega was used for multiple amino acid sequence alignment of Ae-CLIPB15 and Ae-CLIPB22 with different CLIP genes from other insect species. The spatiotemporal expression profiles of Ae-CLIPB15 and Ae-CLIPB22 were examined. We determined whether Ae-CLIPB15 and Ae-CLIPB22 respond to microbial challenge and tissue injury. RNA interference (RNAi) was used to explore the function of Ae-CLIPB15 and Ae-CLIPB22 in the defense of Ae. aegypti against bacterial and fungal infections. The expression levels of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) transcription factors REL1 and REL2 in the Toll pathway and IMD pathway after bacterial infection were investigated. Finally, the change in phenoloxidase (PO) activity in Ae-CLIPB15 and Ae-CLIPB22 knockdown adults was investigated. RESULTS: We performed spatiotemporal gene expression profiling of Ae-CLIPB15 and Ae-CLIPB22 genes in Ae. aegypti using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. These genes were expressed in different stages and tissues. The messenger RNA (mRNA) levels for both genes were also up-regulated by Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli, Gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus and fungal Beauveria bassiana infections, as well as in the tissue injury experiments. RNAi-mediated knockdown of Ae-CLIPB15 led to a significant decrease of PO activity in the hemolymph of Ae. aegypti, while other RNAi experiments revealed that both Ae-CLIPB15 and Ae-CLIPB22 were involved in immune defense against bacterial and fungal infections. The mRNA expression of NF-κB transcription factors REL1 and REL2 in the Toll pathway and IMD pathway differed between Ae-CLIPB15 and Ae-CLIPB22 knockdown mosquitoes infected with bacteria and wild type mosquitoes infected with bacteria. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that Ae-CLIPB15 and Ae-CLIPB22 play a critical role in mosquito innate immunity, and that they are involved in immune responses to injury and infection. Their regulation of transcription factors and PO activity indicates that they also play a specific role in the regulation of innate immunity.

Comparative Analysis of Hydrogen-Bonding Vibrations of Ice VI.

It is difficult to investigate the hydrogen-bonding dynamics of hydrogen-disordered ice VI. Here, we present a comparative method based on our previous study of its counterpart hydrogen-ordered phase, ice XV. The primitive cell of ice XV is a 10 molecule unit, and the vibrational normal modes were analyzed individually. We constructed an 80 molecule supercell of ice VI to mimic the periodic unit and performed first-principles density functional theory calculations. As the two vibrational spectra show almost identical features, we compared the molecular translation vibrations. Inspired by the phonon analysis of ice XV, we found that the vibrational modes in the translation band of ice VI are classifiable into three groups. The lowest-strength vibration modes represent vibrations between two sublattices that lack hydrogen bonding. The highest-strength vibration modes represent the vibration of four hydrogen bonds of one molecule. The middle-strength vibration modes mainly represent the molecular vibrations of only two hydrogen bonds. Although there are many overlapping stronger and middle modes, there are only two main peaks in the inelastic neutron scattering (INS) spectra. This work explains the origin of the two main peaks in the far-infrared region of ice VI and illustrates how to analyze a hydrogen-disordered ice structure.

Surface Reconstruction of Halide Perovskites During Post-treatment.

Postfabrication surface treatment strategies have been instrumental to the stability and performance improvements of halide perovskite photovoltaics in recent years. However, a consensus understanding of the complex reconstruction processes occurring at the surface is still lacking. Here, we combined complementary surface-sensitive and depth-resolved techniques to investigate the mechanistic reconstruction of the perovskite surface at the microscale level. We observed a reconstruction toward a more PbI2-rich top surface induced by the commonly used solvent isopropyl alcohol (IPA). We discuss several implications of this reconstruction on the surface thermodynamics and energetics. Particularly, our observations suggest that IPA assists in the adsorption process of organic ammonium salts to the surface to enhance their defect passivation effects.

Laser Beam Pointing Stabilization Control through Disturbance Classification.

In laser systems, beam pointing usually drifts as a consequence of various disturbances, e.g., inherent drift, airflow, transmission medium variation, mechanical vibration, and elastic deformation. In this paper, we develop a laser beam pointing control system with Fast Steering Mirrors (FSMs) and Position Sensitive Devices (PSDs), which is capable of stabilizing both the position and angle of a laser beam. Specifically, using the ABCD matrix, we analyze the kinematic model governing the relationship between the rotation angles of two FSMs and the four degree-of-freedom (DOF) beam vector. Then, we design a Jacobian matrix feedback controller, which can be conveniently calibrated. Since disturbances vary significantly in terms of inconsistent physical characteristics and temporal patterns, great challenges are imposed to control strategies. In order to improve beam pointing control performance under a variety of disturbances, we propose a data-driven disturbance classification method by using a Recurrent Neural Network (RNN). The trained RNN model can classify the disturbance type in real time, and the corresponding type can be subsequently used to select suitable control parameters. This approach can realize the universality of the beam stabilization pointing system under various disturbances. Experiments on beam pointing control under several typical external disturbances are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control system.

High-Performance Organic Photovoltaics Incorporating an Active Layer with a Few Nanometer-Thick Third-Component Layer on a Binary Blend Layer.

In this paper, a universal approach toward constructing a new bilayer device architecture, a few-nanometer-thick third-component layer on a bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) binary blend layer, has been demonstrated in two different state-of-the-art organic photovoltaic (OPV) systems. Through a careful selection of a third component, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the device based on PM6/Y6/layered PTQ10 layered third-component structure was 16.8%, being higher than those of corresponding devices incorporating the PM6/Y6/PTQ10 BHJ ternary blend (16.1%) and the PM6/Y6 BHJ binary blend (15.5%). Also, the device featuring PM7/Y1-4F/layered PTQ10 layered third-component structure gave a PCE of 15.2%, which is higher than the PCEs of the devices incorporating the PM7/Y1-4F/PTQ10 BHJ ternary blend and the PM7/Y1-4F BHJ binary blend (14.2 and 14.0%, respectively). These enhancements in PCE based on layered third-component structure can be attributed to improvements in the charge separation and charge collection abilities. This simple concept of the layered third-component structure appears to have great promise for achieving high-performance OPVs.

Incorporating Indium Selenide Nanosheets into a Polymer/Small Molecule Binary Blend Active Layer Enhances the Long-Term Stability and Performance of Its Organic Photovoltaics.

In this report, we demonstrated that the incorporation of 15 wt % two-dimensional transition-metal dichalcogenide materials indium selenide (In2Se3) nanosheets into a polymer (PM6)/small molecule (Y6) active layer not only increased its light absorption but also enhanced the long-term stability of the PM6/Y6/In2Se3 ternary blend organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the device was improved from 15.7 to 16.5% for the corresponding PM6/Y6 binary blend device. Moreover, the PM6/Y6/In2Se3 device retained 80% of its initial PCE after thermal treatment at 100 °C for 600 h; in comparison, the binary blend device retained only 62% of its initial value. This relative enhancement of 29% resulted from the In2Se3 nanosheets retarding or facilitating molecule packing in different orientations that stabilizes the morphology of the active layer. We adopted a modified kinetics model to account for the intrinsic degradation of the OPV; the degradation-facilitated energy for the degradation kinetics of the PCE for the ternary blend device was 5.3 kJ/mol, half of that (11.3 kJ/mol) of the binary blend device, indicating a slower degradation rate occurring for the case of incorporating In2Se3 nanosheets. Therefore, the incorporation of transition metal dichalcogenide nanosheets having tunable band gaps and large asymmetric shape appears to be a new way to improve the long-term stability of devices and realize the practical use of OPVs.

Enabling High-Performance Tandem Organic Photovoltaic Cells by Balancing the Front and Rear Subcells.

In tandem organic photovoltaics, the front subcell is based on large-bandgap materials, whereas the case of the rear subcell is more complicated. The rear subcell is generally composed of a narrow-bandgap acceptor for infrared absorption but a large-bandgap donor to realize a high open-circuit voltage. Unfortunately, most of the ultraviolet-visible part of the photons are absorbed by the front subcell; as a result, in the rear subcell, the number of excitons generated on large-bandgap donors will be reduced significantly. This reduces the (photo) conductivity and finally limits the hole-transporting property of the rear subcell. In this work, a simple and effective way is proposed to resolve this critical issue. To ensure sufficient photogenerated holes in the rear subcell, a small amount of an infrared-absorbing polymer donor as a third component is introduced, which provides a second hole-generation and transporting mechanism to minimize the aforementioned detrimental effects. Finally, the short-circuit current density of the two-terminal tandem organic photovoltaic is significantly enhanced from 10.3 to 11.7 mA cm-2 (while retaining the open-circuit voltage and fill factor) to result in an enhanced power conversion efficiency of 15.1%.

Transparent Hole-Transporting Frameworks: A Unique Strategy to Design High-Performance Semitransparent Organic Photovoltaics.

Thanks to the nature of molecular orbitals, the absorption spectra of organic semiconductors are not continuous like those in traditional inorganic semiconductors, which offers a unique application of organic photovoltaics (OPVs): semitransparent OPVs. Recently, the exciting progress of materials design has promoted the development of semitransparent OPVs. However, in the perspective of device engineering, almost all reported works reduce the thickness of back/reflected electrode to obtain high average visible transmittance (AVT), which is a trade-off between power conversion efficiency (PCE) and the transmittance of the whole solar spectrum (visible and infrared), and therefore limit the further development. Herein, a unique strategy of "transparent hole-transporting frameworks" is proposed. A hole-transporting large-bandgap polymer (poly[bis(4-phenyl)(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)amine (PTAA)) is employed to partially replace polymer donors in the active layer of PBDB-T/Y1. PTAA is a p-type polymer with a large bandgap of 2.9 eV; the partial substitution of PBDB-T by PTAA reduces the absorption of the active layer only in the visible region, keeping the hole-transporting pathways as well as the optimized film morphology. As a result, semitransparent OPVs with PCEs of 12% and AVTs of 20% are achieved, both on rigid and flexible substrates. To demonstrate the generality, this strategy is also used in three different active layers.

Steric Impediment of Ion Migration Contributes to Improved Operational Stability of Perovskite Solar Cells.

The operational instability of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is known to mainly originate from the migration of ionic species (or charged defects) under a potential gradient. Compositional engineering of the "A" site cation of the ABX3 perovskite structure has been shown to be an effective route to improve the stability of PSCs. Here, the effect of size-mismatch-induced lattice distortions on the ion migration energetics and operational stability of PSCs is investigated. It is observed that the size mismatch of the mixed "A" site composition films and devices leads to a steric effect to impede the migration pathways of ions to increase the activation energy of ion migration, which is demonstrated through multiple theoretical and experimental evidence. Consequently, the mixed composition devices exhibit significantly improved thermal stability under continuous heating at 85 °C and operational stability under continuous 1 sun illumination, with an extrapolated lifetime of 2011 h, compared to the 222 h of the reference device.

Potassium-Presenting Zinc Oxide Surfaces Induce Vertical Phase Separation in Fullerene-Free Organic Photovoltaics.

Bulk heterojunction (BHJ) structure based organic photovoltaics (OPVs) have recently showed great potential for achieving high power conversion efficiencies (PCEs). An ideal BHJ structure would feature large donor/acceptor interfacial areas for efficient exciton dissociation and gradient distributions with high donor and acceptor concentrations near the anode and cathode, respectively, for efficient charge extraction. However, the random mixing of donors and acceptors in the BHJ often suffers the severe charge recombination in the interface, resulting in poor charge extraction. Herein, we propose a new approach-treating the surface of the zinc oxide (ZnO) as an electron transport layer with potassium hydroxide-to induce vertical phase separation of an active layer incorporating the nonfullerene acceptor IT-4F. Density functional theory calculations suggested that the binding energy difference between IT-4F and the PBDB-T-2Cl, to the potassium (K)-presenting ZnO interface, is twice as strong as that for IT-4F and PBDB-T-2Cl to the untreated ZnO surface, such that it would induce more IT-4F moving toward the K-presenting ZnO interface than the untreated ZnO interface thermodynamically. Benefiting from efficient charge extraction, the best PCEs increased to 12.8% from 11.8% for PBDB-T-2Cl:IT-4F-based devices, to 12.6% from 11.6% for PBDB-T-2Cl:Y1-4F-based devices, to 13.5% from 12.2% for PBDB-T-2Cl:Y6-based devices, and to 15.7% from 15.1% for PM6:Y6-based devices.

Computing Investigations of Molecular and Atomic Vibrations of Ice IX.

The normal modes of ice IX were investigated using the CASTEP code package, which is based on density functional theory. We found that the translational modes could be divided into three categories: four-bond vibrations, which possessed the highest energy; two-bond vibrations, which possessed the medium energy; and cluster vibrations with the lowest energy. The former two categories represent monomers vibrating against neighbors and present as two distinct peaks in many ice phases recorded in inelastic neutron-scattering experiments. It is typically difficult to assign the molecular vibration peaks in the far infrared region. The method we developed to analyze the normal modes, especially in the translation band of ice IX, provided physical insights into the vibrational spectrum of ice.

Hydrogen plasma-treated MoSe2 nanosheets enhance the efficiency and stability of organic photovoltaics.

In this paper we report the effect on the power conversion efficiency (PCE) and stability of photovoltaic devices after incorporating hydrogenated two-dimensional (2D) MoSe2 nanosheets into the active layer of bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic photovoltaics (OPV). The surface properties of 2D MoSe2 nanosheets largely affect their dispersion in the active layer blend and, thus, influence the carrier mobility, PCE, and stability of corresponding devices. We treated MoSe2 nanosheets with hydrogen plasma and investigated their influence on the polymer packing and fullerene domain size of the active layer. For the optimized devices incorporating 37.5 wt% of untreated MoSe2, we obtained a champion PCE of 9.82%, compared with the champion reference PCE of approximately 9%. After incorporating the hydrogen plasma-treated MoSe2 nanosheets, we achieved a champion PCE of 10.44%-a relative increase of 16% over that of the reference device prepared without MoSe2 nanosheets. This PCE is the one of the highest ever reported for OPVs incorporating 2D materials. We attribute this large enhancement to the enhanced exciton generation and dissociation at the MoSe2-fullerene interface and, consequently, the balanced charge carrier mobility. The device incorporating the MoSe2 nanosheets maintained 70% of its initial PCE after heat-treatment at 100 °C for 1 h; in contrast, the PCE of the reference device decreased to 60% of its initial value-a relative increase in stability of 17% after incorporating these nanosheets. We also incorporated MoSe2 nanosheets (both with and without treatment) into a polymer donor (PBDTTBO)/small molecule (IT-4F) acceptor system. The champion PCEs reached 7.85 and 8.13% for the devices incorporating the MoSe2 nanosheets with and without plasma treatment, respectively-relative increases of 8 and 12%, respectively, over that of the reference. These results should encourage a push toward the implementation of transition metal dichalcogenides to enhance the performances of BHJ OPVs.

Rational Tuning of Molecular Interaction and Energy Level Alignment Enables High-Performance Organic Photovoltaics.

The performance of organic photovoltaics (OPVs) has rapidly improved over the past years. Recent work in material design has primarily focused on developing near-infrared nonfullerene acceptors with broadening absorption that pair with commercialized donor polymers; in the meanwhile, the influence of the morphology of the blend film and the energy level alignment on the efficiency of charge separation needs to be synthetically considered. Herein, the selection rule of the donor/acceptor blend is demonstrated by rationally considering the molecular interaction and energy level alignment, and highly efficient OPV devices using both-fluorinated or both-nonfluorinated donor/acceptor blends are realized. With the enlarged absorption, ideal morphology, and efficient charge transfer, the devices based on the PBDB-T-F/Y1-4F blend and PBDB-T-F/Y6 exhibit champion power conversion efficiencies as high as 14.8% and 15.9%, respectively.